5/5 — because sometimes a game just gets it right.
There are games that you play.
And then there are games that pull you in by the soul – grind you through legend and filth until you feel a little less human, a little more divine.
SWORN does that.
Windwalk and Team17 have made something that feels halfway between Hades and a fever dream about the fall of Camelot. The premise: Arthur’s gone bad, the land’s rotting, and you, some half-doomed knight with a god complex, are trying to put it all right. Or die beautifully trying.
It’s an action roguelite, but not one of those joyless grind-loops that forget why we love pain. This one drips with lore. It wants you to swear fealty to Fae gods, build weird little power combos, and die in style.
And I swear, the first time you take a run with a mate and start chaining magic like a pair of possessed paladins, you feel that hit of holy chaos.
Visually? Think comic-book medieval. Every swing feels like it’s been inked with someone’s blood and regret. The palette is moody, shadowed, a little sexy — like Darkest Dungeon went to therapy and learned about lighting.
The sound design hums in that sweet space between battle hymn and acid trip. When you swing, it lands heavy. When you die, it echoes like a confession booth.
The Flow
Each run throws you through cursed halls, arenas, and shattered keeps. You pick blessings from the Fae — Oberon, Titania, Mab — each one dripping with attitude.
You die, you return, you upgrade.
You die again.
But each time, you feel smarter, filthier, stronger.
It’s that loop of becoming — pleasure through punishment. Neuken would call it “the tantric cycle of gaming.”
Co-op Chaos
This is where it sings.
Four players, one cause: cleanse a kingdom that’s rotted from crown to crotch.
Unlike other roguelites that lock you into isolation, SWORN thrives in shared destruction. The chaos of multiple builds smashing together, the shouts, the accidental betrayals — it’s glorious.
The Critique Bit (because we’re honest bastards)
Yeah, it’s still a little rough around the edges. Early Access jitters. Some animations feel like they’re waiting for divine intervention. Enemies could pop more.
But here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter.
You can feel the ambition humming underneath. This isn’t a studio phoning it in — it’s a team building a cathedral while the candles are still burning.
The Verdict
5 out of 5.
Not because it’s perfect – but because it’s alive.
SWORN remembers that games can be ritual. That you can feel both violent and holy in the same button press. It’s the kind of thing you load up at midnight, half-stoned, and suddenly it’s 3AM and you’re whispering, “One more run, my lord.”
If you love Hades, myth, and moral decay – play this.
If you love watching worlds collapse with beauty – play this.
If you love the idea of getting knighted by chaos – you already have.
We swear by the sword, the sweat, and the respawn button.
