AUTOGENESIS is a single-player roguelike deckbuilder that blends strategy and indie mechanics around a core loop of rewriting numbers during combat. Players control variables directly in a system where enemy health, attack values, card costs, and even the combat log itself become editable targets. The game runs on PC with full controller support and supports ten languages.
Gameplay
The central action involves selecting an exploit and targeting a displayed number to alter it through operators such as SWAP, ADD, COPY, NULL, or WIRE. Each hack demands a timing-based skill check that succeeds only when the cursor lands in the green zone. A miss corrupts the variable instead. Successful edits persist across the run, allowing the player to reshape their own deck by the final encounters. Damage calculations always follow the current values on screen, so adjusting an incoming attack often proves more effective than direct defense. Enemies respond by tampering with player variables, and repeated hacks increase system heat that escalates later threats. Over two acts, lore appears through enemy descriptions, random events, and the combat log itself. Every encounter presents hackable numbers rather than fixed choices, opening multiple paths through the same fight.
Progression centers on the PRETRAINING board, where earned knowledge unlocks new scripts, artifacts, and ROOTKIT kernels. Refunds remain free, permitting repeated reconfiguration of the board between runs. One hundred plus artifacts provide run-specific rule changes, while two hundred plus cards revolve around the listed hacking operators. The ROOTKIT tool offers four distinct archetypes that alter fundamental play patterns once equipped.
Game Modes
Standard runs form the primary experience, with each attempt ending in an archive upon defeat and a fresh session beginning afterward. LEARNING RATE levels allow players to increase enemy aggression and variable corruption frequency for greater challenge. Daily runs use one shared seed across all participants, complete with a public leaderboard for score comparison. Seeded runs enable manual entry of codes to recreate specific layouts and share them with others. These options sit alongside the core roguelike structure without introducing separate multiplayer or co-op formats.
Core Systems and Progression
Artifacts and cards combine to create layered strategies that scale through repeated edits. Permanent changes to personal variables mean later fights often feature decks the player has literally written during the run. Events outside combat also expose numbers for rewriting, turning narrative moments into tactical opportunities. The heat mechanic ensures that aggressive hacking carries escalating risk, forcing decisions between immediate power and long-term stability. Controller support extends to all these interactions, maintaining precision on the timing checks and target selection.
Is It Worth Playing?
AUTOGENESIS targets players who enjoy precise timing elements within roguelike deckbuilding and strategy games that reward experimentation with numbers and combos. The absence of current user reviews reflects its pre-release status, with a planned launch in Q2 2027. Those drawn to single-player experiences that emphasize permanent run alterations and variable manipulation will find the described systems align closely with that preference. Availability on PC with Steam Cloud and achievements provides standard quality-of-life features once the title reaches release.