Misery Review

A Bright Spark in a Bleak, Unforgiving World

Misery absolutely lives up to its name—at times, it is just that: miserable. But it is miserable in the absolute best way possible. Coming from unforgiving survival experiences like Project Zomboid or The Sons of The Forest, and a souls-like difficulty out of the gate, I felt right at home in this brutal roguelike. It is a game defined by extreme early-game difficulty, deep mechanics, and a world that is incredibly bright despite its overwhelmingly bleak atmosphere. And the most impressive part? This was all made by a single developer

Souls-Like Combat & Brutal Survival

The early game is extremely difficult and heavily leans into souls-like territory. You are dropped into a hostile world with no mini-map, no compass, and threats everywhere. 

• The Arsenal: You usually start with a short-range blade of some sort, which forces you to get up close and personal with enemies that are remarkably strong. Personally, I have evaded every fight I could unless I had to fight. I didn’t even find my first usable gun until 10 hours in.

 • Unique Enemies: The enemy design is incredibly unique. From boars with faces covered in horns to literal houses walking around on chicken legs, the character designs are funny yet bizarre

Deep Crafting & Freeform Base Building

Where Misery truly shines is in its downtime. The base building feels entirely fresh and rewarding.

 • Looting the World: The game features an extensive inventory system and a massive crafting catalog. One of the best features is that if you find a piece of furniture out in the world and have the inventory space, you can literally just pick it up and take it home to decorate your bunker. 

• Hands-On Power Systems: You can expand your bunker however you please, including setting up outdoor areas for gardening and wind turbines. Connecting power isn't just a menu click—you physically have to run cables to hook up batteries, wind turbines, and gas generators

The Glimmering & The World

The map is dynamic and terrifying. Every couple of days, an event called The Glimmering occurs, which actively changes the map. If you are caught outside your base during this event, your character dies and drops everything. You have a very small window to retrieve your gear, adding massive stakes to your exploration. Fortunately, there is a city hub where you can buy and sell items with NPCs to help you prepare for these excursions, and an underlying story that slowly but surely unfolds as you progress.

Charming Presentation

Let’s talk graphics. Visually, it sits at the level of a Nintendo 64 James Bond game. But honestly? It's charming. What the game lacks in modern graphical fidelity, it entirely makes up for in atmosphere and relentless gameplay.

The Verdict

Sure, the game is hard, but it’s intended to be. Not once was I not enjoying myself, because that punishing difficulty is perfectly broken up by small, deeply immersive moments of joy and humor. 

There is nothing quite like barely surviving an anomaly field, practically glowing with radiation, and sitting down at a campfire to eat cooked roaches while you smoke a cigarette, drink a beer, and play a jolly little tune on a guitar you found in the back of an abandoned car.

 If you enjoy a massive challenge and aren’t a stranger to the roguelike genre, I cannot recommend Misery enough for your next adventure.