RAD
RAD is a 3D action rogue-like set in a post-post-apocalyptic world, where humanity has faced armageddon not once, but twice. Playing as a teenage protagonist, you must venture into the Fallow — an ever-changing, radioactive wasteland filled with unknown and unspeakable creatures. But humanity’s future comes at great personal cost, as the deeper you journey into unknown lands, the more you will expose yourself to gnarly toxins which will wreak havoc on your fragile human form. The fate of the world depends on you, your trusty bat, and whatever strange new abilities you gain as the world around you ravages your body — twisting and mutating you into something far less than human, but far more powerful. But forget all that — go grab that sweet bat and help save the world…or what’s remaining of it anyway!
Game Discussion
Steam User 2
Pros: mutations are fun, world design is fantastic with fun lore drops, it was fun to explore and discover things in this world, and combat was fun. All in all, very fun to play, for a while.
Cons: I know this isn’t really a story based game, but the world and lore was interesting enough I started getting interested in the story development with each successful run. However, it ended up being a very lackluster story in the end. That was a bummer. The worst part was the RNG, though. It was annoying to end up with several successive runs with basically the same mutations, and it happened more often than what can be attributed to a random fluke. And I love getting all the achievements I can, but the Nerd achievement and the faction achievements are just frustrating as heck. I think I found only 2 of the 10 or more cave lore statues in the 80 or so hours I invested in the game. And these statues are only found in the caves in the middle two levels. I found so many empty rooms in caves like where the statues are supposed to spawn, but no statue spawned. I had similar bad luck with certain artifacts and never saw them in all of my playthroughs. I got lucky with 2/3 of the factions, but the Cathode Raiders just ended up giving me the same quests over and over again (I tried the tricks). I might only be one quest away from completing that achievement but I just can’t take it anymore. I’m throwing the towel in.
All in all, I recommend this game if you like these kind of games and if it’s on sale. The world and lore are fun, just don’t expect much from the overarching story. Play until you’re tired of it and move on - 80 hours of playing is easily twice as long as I should have played, in retrospect.
Steam User 2
Pretty fun as quick dungeon crawler with random upgrades. Great to play as break in AAA games. Worth to buy in big sales and as Steamdeck game for wuick sessions.
Steam User 0
It's a rogue-like in the vein of Hades, and if you don't have Hades, you should probably get that instead.
That said, it's a fun action rogue-like. The aesthetic is pretty fantastic and it has a lot of variation in the powers and builds you can create. If you like the genre, and especially if it's on sale, I definitely recommend it. Below I get into some of the things I wasn't crazy about.
The pace of movement and combat is much slower than Hades, which makes runs feel quite long. I think my average runs are about an hour, but I think they feel a little longer than that.
Your mutations (power ups and weapons) are entirely random. Usually in this genre, you get to pick between multiple options, but here one is randomly assigned to you each time you level up. On the plus side, you're forced to adapt to the mutations and pushed out of your comfort zone on builds, which I like. On the other hand, you can end up with a funky build that will end your run prematurely. In the final area, having so much left to RNG seems particularly cruel, since there are zones that can replace one of your mutations with a faulty version if you remain in them too long. I encountered shops selling multiples of the same artifact, which is completely useless.
A minor note, it does run fine on Steam Deck, but it gets pretty hot and I was surprised at how quick my battery went down. Since the runs are an hour or so, I'll probably stick to playing on my desktop from now on.
In the end, if you like Double Fine and want a Double Fine flavored roguelike, or you dig the aesthetic, definitely check it out. I've gone through about 6 runs so far and haven't seen everything yet, and I'll likely play more. I doubt my opinion is going to change much as I keep going.
Steam User 0
Good, but VERY frustrating, never gets easier, enemies are annoying, it doesn't feel like with all of your mutations you hit harder. You just get more health (if you are lucky), and/or environmental immunity.
Steam User 0
pretty fun. though its got a very tiny dodge shield window. so its either you do it perfect or you get hurt. kinda brutal when your facing later levels but its pretty fun overall.
Steam User 0
Stylized to be 80s apocalypse rogue-like, Rad provides action compact adventure as a teen destined to become a mutated monster for the sake of humanity.
There are many different combinations of mutations that you can play around with, a niche game that you either love or hate. Great sound track and interesting map designs.
Steam User 0
I have to back up my save to avoid losing my character each time I die. But the permutations of the mutations seem endless enough to keep the permadeath fun.