Source of Madness

Good, not great. It's a rogue-lite, procedurally generated game without much variation. I think some monsters and bosses are random, but a lot aren't. Also a lot of levels variation isn't really relevant, its just variation without much actual effect. Compare with Sundered that makes the bite sized chunks interesting to traverse versus this. It doesn't help that by default your movement speed is on the slow side.
I love the style of the game (Gustave Doré-esque) and the combat is fine pretty good even if the dash gets a bit sticky sometimes. Generally you'll fall into a decent build pretty quick especially once you learn what everything does. I went with arcane damage and cooldown, using King's Rings and Arcane Bursts almost exclusively from start to finish.
It's too long per run, with levels like the caverns being tedious to explore. You'll have seen pretty well every variation after a few runs. The tower of knowledge is ridiculously large, just to explore for NPCs who say the same thing every time even after you complete the 3 Acts of the game.
From there it's a rogue-lite, meaning you gradually get stronger. The issue for me is the left upgrade tree makes more items drop and opens up more classes. This just dilutes the pool of weapons and classes I want. You can set their drop rates to low but it still adds more that I don't want compared to what I want.
Now that I've beaten the game I just need some more boss blood and to be poisoned a bunch of times before I've 100% it. Except for killing 10,000 monsters which is an obnoxious amount.
Pro-tip: In the forest there are red rings that sometimes spawn which continually teleport in monsters. With precision weapons (like King's Rings) you can farm at a rate of 30 per minute or so. At the very least get a bunch of money from them before killing the ring.
Main criticisms:
Story is severely lacking despite being able to draw upon the whole Lovecraft Mythos. See Hades and Rogue Legacy 2 for effective rogue-lite storytelling.
Physics engine. Pardon me but I wasn't finished with those monsters that shot into the sky, and I'm sure they weren't done with me.
Level length: too long, too winding in many areas. Also no maps. The more linear levels are generally about the right length.
Item and monsters sometimes spawn in solid rocks. Not often but enough to be noticeable and fixable.
The randomness adds little, if anything, to the game. It rarely makes encounters interesting. Again, see Hades or ScourgeBringer for meaningful randomness of encounters.

I think a lot of the negative reviews are being a bit too picky. Carry Castle is a one-man development studio, and they're trying to do something pretty cool. I think we should be generally supportive of such efforts.
The AI generated beings in Source of Madness are quite possibly the closest we've gotten to the unintelligible madness at the core of lovecraftian cosmic horror. AI is particularly suited to this, since it is, well unintelligible, having no actual connection to logic. I wouldn't accept AI being involved in any other game, but strangely, it works here.
It's a bag of jank, to be sure, but it's fun and intriguing. The crazy things still manage to pop out at you with one, none, or 1,000 legs. It works.

The game is a mix of both good and bad, with elements that seem to clash. Instead of calling it simply bizarre or alien, I think terms like 'chaotic' or 'confusing' better describe its nature. It feels like a glimpse into true, indescribable madness that resists easy explanation. I believe it could have been much better with just a bit more refinement and focus.
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the game is pretty fun. I haven't beat it so i can't quite say if 20 is completely valid. Also people are terrified of the term "AI" and think the whole game has no thought. idk why the game advertised with so much emphasis on the AI because now I feel like i have to explain how that impacts the game for me. As much as I've seen. its not bad and the game looks good
the main AI people seem to dislike is the enemy design and movement patterns. here's the way that goes in game play. basically, there are enemy types you can categorize in limbs, color, or abilities. but the REAL random part is the various extra limbs and appendages they'll have. enemies can feel like a gore mess of limbs and bodies that just lunge at you. honestly. with the spastic movement of everything along with the visual effects of me dashing around and shooting spells for my life. i really don't look too hard at the details of the enemies. the game looks fine, great even.
the AI enemy design does not make the combat hard to read or play. the spells and unlocks for the wizard are nice and fun with item building and two different spells at a time. the enemies may have a bunch of legs. but its pretty clear what limb will be used to swing at you, the limbs that will be used will literally glow before they swing, and as wizards. all you have to do with your range spells is back away from the enemy as you fight and dash around. As someone that has only gotten to the worm boss with a 26% achievement of simply reaching the boss. the game is fine. a bit overpriced.
I'm not gonna larp about AI morality. people can just be scared of the term "AI" while the dev might have used a micro-amount in the game. or maybe it was obscene. I'll never know. I just care about the game play. and its fine.
also the game feels lacking story. I'm not a story person tbh.

yes with asterisks.

Simply put, the game has a vibe in terms of aesthetics and feel that can make people overlook the flaws, as I did.

this is essentially procedurally generated, sidescrolling, roguelite, lovecratian Diablo
if any of those words are red flags, I wouldn't get it.
I like lovecraftian stuff, and the gameplay isn't bad, ergo, I like what I'm playing.

I'd buy it on sale. Beat it after 6 hours and only died 3 times. Balancing can be a bit off as 100% of my runs eventually ended with OP arcane spells. Maybe that's user error, but either way, it's enjoyable for a while.
Some games you buy for their mechanics, but this is not one of them. Other games are bought for their feel/atmosphere, and this has it in spades.

Yes but wait for a sale. I doubt I’ll play enough to get the full value out of it. It feels like a roguelike diablo-esque metroidvania, despite the lack of backtracking typical of a MV title. The concept is neat and it’s a good use of AI (to randomize enemies and maps), with good progression and multiple classes. May be a tad too easy for some. If you love Lovecraftian themes, this nails cosmic horror and fleshy enemy masses.