Berlin’s been taken over by a rogue AI. The streets are crawling with murderous robots, the city’s famous landmarks are causing trouble, and your best chance of saving the German capital involves rounding up three friends and hoping at least one of them knows what they’re doing. Good luck with that.
Co-op Chaos in Berlin is bringing its mechanical mayhem to October’s Steam Next Fest. Developed by IndieGameDude, this four-player bullet-heaven roguelite sends you into the streets of Berlin to battle enormous robot hordes, experiment with shared upgrades, and discover just how much trouble four heavily armed survivors can get themselves into.
Four Friends, Several Thousand Robots
Things start out manageable enough. You’ve got a weapon, a little room to maneuver, and a handful of robots that seem fairly determined to ruin your day. Your attacks fire automatically, leaving you to concentrate on dodging incoming threats, collecting upgrades, and making sure you don’t accidentally wander into the middle of an enemy swarm.
Then more robots arrive. Before long, you’re weaving between mechanical enemies, projectiles are flying across the screen, and whatever sensible strategy you started with has probably been replaced by running in circles and hoping your weapons can keep up.
Thankfully, you don’t have to face the uprising alone. Up to four players can join forces online, combining their firepower to clear the streets and survive increasingly difficult encounters.
Working together should make things easier, provided everybody remembers that they’re supposed to be on the same team. There’s little point having three players clearing a path through the robots if the fourth has wandered off and found an entirely new army to annoy.
One Upgrade Board, Four Different Opinions
Rather than letting everybody pick their upgrades independently, the game uses a shared perk board whenever somebody levels up. That means the decisions you make can affect the entire team.
Perhaps you’re desperate for something that increases your damage, but your teammate would rather improve their defenses. Somebody else has spotted an upgrade that works brilliantly with their current weapon, while the fourth player is wondering why nobody’s listening to them. You’ll need to decide which upgrades give the group the best chance of surviving, especially once the robot hordes start getting bigger.
You also have different backpacks to figure out. The Body Guard can absorb damage on behalf of teammates, making them useful when somebody needs a little extra protection. Then there’s the VIP, who doesn’t carry weapons at all but provides additional firepower to nearby allies. Yes, you can choose to play a character who relies on everybody else to keep them alive. We’re sure that’ll go down brilliantly with your friends.
The different roles encourage you to think about how your abilities work together. A well-organized team could become a formidable little robot-destroying machine. A poorly organized one might spend half the battle arguing over upgrades while Berlin burns around them.
Even the Television Tower Wants a Fight
The robots aren’t the only things you’ll need to worry about. Co-op Chaos in Berlin also features bosses inspired by the city’s landmarks, including the Fernsehturm, Berlin’s famous television tower. This particular encounter comes with an interesting complication. When the tower enters the fight, the lights go out. Suddenly, the streets are plunged into darkness, and your characters’ faces become the main source of illumination. You’ll need to navigate the battlefield with limited visibility, keeping track of approaching enemies while trying not to lose your teammates in the chaos.
It’s a clever way to turn a familiar Berlin landmark into something that changes how you play, rather than simply giving you another huge enemy to shoot.
The game also brings a little of Berlin’s personality into the action through Berliner Schnauze, the city’s famously blunt sense of humor. This appears in the game’s cards, giving the upgrades a distinctly local flavor. So, while you’re desperately trying to prevent a robot army from flattening your team, there’s a good chance Berlin will have a few choice words for you, too.
Berlin Needs Heroes. You’re What It’s Getting.
Co-op Chaos in Berlin is participating in Steam Next Fest, running October 19-26, 2026. The full game is currently targeting a release later in 2026. Between its four-player battles, shared upgrade system, unusual character roles, and Berlin-inspired bosses, there’s plenty here for players who enjoy survivors-likes with a cooperative twist.
The shared progression could be especially entertaining with friends, forcing everybody to think about the team rather than simply grabbing whichever upgrade makes their own character stronger. Now you just need to assemble your squad, agree on a strategy, and survive long enough to save the city.