Deep, experimental build crafting
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“the way organels interackt to create the most costamasble build system in any game i have sean is so fun to mess around with.”
Steam review · 81.5 h played ↗
Pathogenic
Worth buying? What 296 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 296 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 93%Very Positive · 93%Aberrant Labs2026Roguelike · Bullet Hell · Action Roguelike
−30%$9.99$6.99
US Steam price, checked 5 h ago
The verdict
A polished, addictive microbe-themed twin-stick roguelite with deep build crafting and great music at a low price. Skip it if you dislike RNG-heavy runs, cluttered screens or the brutal Lungs difficulty spike.
Great for
Roguelite and twin-stick fans who love experimenting with synergy builds, Spore/Isaac vibes, and great music
Main risk
Lungs difficulty spike, cluttered screen and RNG that can leave you with a useless build
What players love
Great music and visuals
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“The Liver OST reminds me of some old school techno soundtrack but I can't for the life of me remember which one. It's so good.”
Steam review · 8.6 h played ↗
Charming biology theme and Spore feel
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“There's tonnes of microbiological facts and references in the game, which is so incredibly cool to see.”
Steam review · 9.8 h played ↗
Great value for the price
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“This game is 10 bucks and is worth at least 15 if not 20.”
Steam review · 37.4 h played ↗
Varied pathogens and replayability
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“Each one feels distinct enough to be its own experience, which adds a ton of replayability.”
Steam review · 2.7 h played ↗
Addictive "one more run" loop
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“TLDR game is crack and one of them "thinking about it at work even" games for me”
Steam review · 51.3 h played ↗
What players complain about
Heavy RNG and weak item pool
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“Feast or famine loot, mostly famine.”
Steam review · 116.5 h played ↗
Spongy enemies, scarce variety
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“Every enemy feels like a bullet sponge past intestine.”
Steam review · 0.9 h played ↗
Lungs and later areas spike in difficulty
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“Seriously, rebalance the Lungs, they're so demoralizing to play though”
Steam review · 10.4 h played ↗
Cluttered screen and poor readability
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“Attack telegraphing is nonexistent and I have never played a game with more screen clutter.”
Steam review · 13.5 h played ↗
Lag, stutter and crashes
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“by the time I got to the lungs I my game wouldn't go past 10 fps”
Steam review · 7.2 h played ↗
Misleading co-op
Mentioned in ~1 in 18 negative reviews
“You cannot play as two independent pathogens. Both players control two halves of the same organism”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support2 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 10 64-bit
ProcessorIntel Core i5-6500 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or equivalent
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsGeForce GTX 1050 / Radeon RX 560
Storage2 GB available space
OSWindows 10 64-bit
ProcessorIntel Core i5-6500 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or equivalent
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsGeForce GTX 1050 / Radeon RX 560
Storage2 GB available space
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