Things aren’t going especially well for humanity in Vortica. Earth has been lost, hostile aliens have spread across the solar system, and the survivors are scattered between outposts and abandoned space stations. Some need rescuing. Others can help rebuild what’s left.
First, though, you need to get to them without being eaten.
Vortica is a 2D twin-stick shooter roguelite from Vortical Studios that launched back in May. It currently has fewer than 100 Steam reviews despite earning a Very Positive rating, which means there’s a fair chance this one flew straight past you.That would be a shame, because it’s actually a great little roguelite that lets you wander into a broken space station with a rifle, some jumping boots, and whatever else you managed to squeeze into your bag.
You Can’t Take Everything With You
Every mission starts before you’ve fired a single shot, you need to decide what to bring. There are more than 100 items to find and craft in Vortica, covering everything from weapons and explosives to traps, utility gear, and automated sentry turrets. Jumping boots can help you get around, while other equipment can protect you or help squeeze more resources out of a trip.
The problem is that your carrying capacity has limits. You can expand it over time, but you’re still going to have moments where something useful drops and there simply isn’t room for it. Now you’re standing in the middle of an alien-infested station deciding whether you really need those explosives more than whatever is already in your bag.
These are the important decisions humanity is facing now.
Space Stations Have Problems
The locations you visit aren’t just different arrangements of corridors filled with enemies. Things can go wrong.
The power might be out, leaving you exploring in darkness. Radiation can turn an area into somewhere you really don’t want to hang around. Some stations have no gravity at all, which changes how you move and fight while you’re trying to complete the mission. Procedural generation changes the layouts too, so you won’t know exactly what you’re walking into each time.
Your objectives can vary too. You may need to rescue stranded civilians, gather resources, clear out alien threats, or kill a boss before heading home with whatever you managed to collect. Heading home matters too. Once the job is done, you need to find a Vortal and extract.
There’s no prize for hanging around after you’ve finished, only possibly more aliens.
Bring Home More Than Loot
The things you recover feed back into your home base. Resources can be used to craft new equipment and utility items, giving you more options for future missions. Rescuing survivors is useful too, as some of them can improve the facilities at your base or open up new objectives.
So you’re not only collecting better gear from run to run. You’re gradually rebuilding a little corner of civilization while the rest of the solar system remains a complete mess.
There are Adventure, Survival, and Custom modes available, plus local shared-screen co-op if one person being chased around a space station by aliens doesn’t sound chaotic enough. The base also has a cat and a small robot vacuum, which may not help much with the whole humanity-on-the-brink-of-extinction problem, but I’m glad someone thought of morale.
Still Flying Under the Radar
Vortica launched on Steam on May 25th, 2026, with Vortical Studios developing the game and Caketown Interactive publishing it.
Months later, it’s still sitting below 100 reviews. There’s a free demo available, so you don’t need to take much of a risk to see whether its mix of shooting, scavenging, crafting, and extraction works for you. If you like roguelites where preparing for the run matters almost as much as what happens once you get there, Vortica is worth digging into. Just leave some space in the bag as you know you’re going to find something better five minutes after leaving the base.