A Pathogenic game review from Ars Technica’s Aaron Zimmerman describes Aberrant Labs’ new PC roguelite as a fast, nasty little twin-stick shooter with the one thing this crowded genre still needs: a build system that lets players break the game on purpose. Zimmerman wrote that the indie title has already passed 100,000 sales and carries an “overwhelmingly positive” Steam rating.
The setup is gross in the correct way. A lab assistant drops a vial, has a cut on his ankle, and becomes the unwilling map. Players control a pathogen that pushes through the host’s body, beginning in the skin before moving through areas including the intestines, liver, stomach, lungs and heart. Each zone ends with a boss fight. Beating the heart wins the run, while a secret brain boss offers an extra challenge, according to the review.
What is Pathogenic?
Pathogenic is a roguelite twin-stick shooter built around procedural rooms, permadeath runs and escalating character upgrades. Players move and dodge with one stick while aiming attacks with the other, fighting immune cells such as macrophages and T cells, plus rival pathogens.
Zimmerman compares the broad structure to The Binding of Isaac: combat rooms sit alongside safer rooms that offer upgrades, some free and some bought with in-game currency. The hook is the organism’s internal upgrade grid. Weapons, effects and abilities fit into slots, and their placement changes what they modify. A weapon can gain fire or electric damage, a projectile can become larger or stronger over time, and connected nodes can pass bonuses through the build.
That modular system is where the review is most enthusiastic. Zimmerman says the game rewards experimentation because upgrades can interact in surprising ways. One example he gives starts with a mine-spitting weapon, then adds mines that grow, electricity that chains between them, extra damage for the electric effect and homing behavior. The result is the familiar roguelite fantasy: enough power and visual noise to make the frame rate sweat.
Progression has two layers. During a run, defeated enemies drop DNA helixes that let the pathogen level up and choose from random passive mutations. Every few levels, players can evolve into a new pathogen form with additional upgrade slots. Between runs, a meta-currency earned largely from bosses unlocks permanent bonuses on skill trees. Zimmerman notes that each pathogen has its own tree and that the pace is slow but steady.
How hard is Pathogenic?
The review says Pathogenic is demanding. Rooms can be tight, hazards can stack up, and later fights lean into bullet-hell patterns. Zimmerman also flags occasional frustration from crowded screens, though he notes that players can reduce visual clutter in the settings.
The body-horror theme carries into the stages. The lungs use wind that pushes the player around, while the intestine level includes a long, winding corridor. Zimmerman praises the visuals, music and sound, and says the game’s “soft body physics” make characters squish and shove into enemies and walls in a way that affects play as well as animation.
On Steam Deck, Zimmerman says the game runs well enough for his purposes, though busy late-game effects can cause slowdown. Console players do not have an option yet: the game is currently available only on PC. At $10, his verdict is bluntly favorable for players who already like action roguelites. Anyone allergic to permadeath and random runs should diagnose themselves accordingly.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
