Source of Madness

Would just like to point out that this game is older than ChatGPT and the entire "AI slop" thing. If you laughed at Deepdream and compared it to Lovecraftian horror, well, apparently the devs thought they could work with that. Unfortunately it's (personal opinion) not a great game, but I'd say that it has a place as an artistic experiment of its, albeit short-lived, time. Labeling it AI slop to protect real art is an ironic tragedy.

Game is literally advertised as using AI. The main attraction is basically the interesting use of AI to make eldritch-esque enemies (albeit it's not free of some shenanigans). Reviews saying otherwise shouldn't have bought the game in the first place, much less make a negative review. That's like giving a negative review to a visual novel game for having an anime art style.

Imagine Bloodborne mixed with Symphony of the Night, then drenched in thick Lovecraftian horror that’s Source of Madness. It’s a roguelite with RPG elements, wrapped in beautiful pixel art and backed by a haunting soundtrack that absolutely nails the cosmic horror vibe. The monsters are genuinely unsettling, constantly shifting into new grotesque shapes that keep every run feeling strange and unpredictable. But for all the style and ambition, the game struggles with consistency. Character personalization is pretty limited, and the combat while flashy feels floaty and imprecise. Aiming is especially unreliable, which turns fights into chaotic flailing more often than deliberate skill. Procedural generation can also be hit or miss some runs feel varied and exciting, others repetitive or unbalanced. Performance hiccups and frame drops show up during busier moments, adding to the already wobbly combat feel. And while the progression system works, it doesn’t meaningfully change your playstyle, making long-term runs feel a bit samey. There’s a genuinely great idea here, and the atmosphere is spot on. With more polish and tighter mechanics, this could be something incredible. As it stands, it’s a unique, eerie experience but one that needs refinement before it reaches its full potential.

Of course it's experimental and weird, but that's probably what caught your attention, as it did mine. I moved on from it though because people were saying it's AI slop. But then it's on 85% discount and I was like surely there is something worth it at that price, so looked again and found this info from the dev, which says it all really;
"Soooo okay, this is NOT AI slop, this was made way before AI art became a big thing. There are a few cutscenes that were made with an old Diffusion model and later animated with another system. This game was made with love between mainly the years 2018-2021.
I do regret adding the diffusion cutscenes especially with the stigma anything neural network based comes with these days. But the game is mainly made with hand drawn art that was later treated with an algorithm that I find ethical called deep style transfer which basically redrew our own art in the style of a source texture that we photographed or made ourselves.
Personally I am proud of the world building I made in this game and it has a very unique physics based world and procedural enemies.
As for fun, I think it could be better but a lot of people have enjoyed and loved it. I am trying to perfect fun in my new game Midnight Horde that is not using any of that stuff at all this time. I think it is more than worth it, if it sticks with you it is at least 10-12 hours of unique worlds."

Foreword: Not AI slop (at least not in the modern sense)
This is an older creative use of early generative AI before the slop craze of more recent years, using some generated patterned cutouts to play into the game's narrative themes of eldritch horror, just as early diffusion models produced manmade horrors that were absolutely maddening and eye-straining to look at.
What the game has always needed was more polish, especially for its control inputs.
Was definitely an interesting art experiment.

Don't listen to the reviewers crying about AI!
This is one of the most underrated games of 2022!
And by far one of my top 10 favorites of all time.
While I have only 27 hours on Steam, I have nearly 100 more on PS5 and Switch.
First of all, to address the AI so many want to cry about all of the sudden, it is used to make some of the most amazing monsters I have ever seen in a game. Also every major boss is not AI generated. Which is good because sometimes it can take you a try or two or three to fully learn their attacks and patterns. And since the monsters are generated each playthrough, you never fight the same monsters twice. I believe this makes it so that every weapon, hat and accessories are useful. While there are some that are generally more useful than others, I have used every one like it's my favorite of all time.
Next, the movement is floaty. It took me a few runs to get used to it, but once you do, it feels so intuitive. Combine the floatiness with physics based attacks and you can do triple and quadruple jumps if you can get the timing down right.
The atmosphere of the game is dark and lovecraftian to it's core. This pairs extremely well with the glowing bloom from your weapons.
There's exploring to do to unlock altars, which is basically your classes. There are six in all. The meta progression is based on accumulating blood and using it to unlock additional weapons to drop in the world at random. The best part is you can also lower the drop rate of unlocked weapons, so you can sort of tune certain builds more easily. The bloodmancer is my favorite, but it also really changes the gameplay.
Depending on your class, your dodge ability changes effects. For example, the pyromancer leaves a bomb behind when you dodge. You can use this with some well placed timing to make quick work of almost any monster. Especially when you start being able to have 4 charges for your dodge. The Generalist leaves behind a magical cloud that makes any monster that touches it take more damage for a short period of time. The cooldown on your dodge is very generous.
Overall, I highly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys rougelites and anything lovecraftian in nature. You won't be disappointed.

Weird game, not the best game, but fun enough. Good if you like Lovecraft.