
Sisyphus Paradox is a fusion of roguelike tactical elements with classic side-scrolling shoot 'em up gameplay. Explore and fight your way across the galaxy as you try to get back home to Earth in this hand drawn indie game.
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About
Sisyphus Paradox mixes traditional side-scrolling shoot 'em up gameplay with many roguelike mechanics, such as procedurally generated star maps to explore, bonuses that are persistent between runs, and multiple different builds you can try to conquer your enemies. Course through hand-drawn battlefields, lose, try again, until you solve the Sisyphus Paradox.
The Story: An ordinary person finds themselves flung across the galaxy. They are lost far away from home, with a voice in their head as their only guide and companion. Strange alien looking creatures are in pursuit. Help them fight their way back to Earth.

3 Playable Ships: Each has very distinctive mechanics that go well beyond simply having different stats.
56 Unique Items: You have weapons, passives and active-use specials, all of which can be upgraded, and some can change significantly as they level.
10 Timestreams: Each more challenging than the last. As you become better at the game, more options are revealed to you.
The Antagonists: There are three different factions to face, each with their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own Bosses and Minibosses.
Infinite Universes: Choose your path across the stars as each run will offer you a new map to explore, full of random encounters and enemies to deal with.
Multitude of Options: Each ship has slots for two weapons, two passives, and two specials, giving you a multitude of build options with which to approach each game.
Sisyphean Task: Every time you are defeated you set out on a new journey, hopefully moving closer to your end goal, this time with new bonuses to help you out.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 28 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Not bad. Could be improved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBR9B36CBE
An lovely indie gem! I don't know if it's because it combines some of my favorite game genres, but I loved it. It's like "what if Rtype and FTL had a Roguelike child?" "But like a really well-implemented and addictive child?" This doesn't make sense, but you got it. I have put many hours into the game, and have yet to try to 2nd and 3rd ship, each of which have a totally different playstyle. Pros: - Many build options: you can be a "tank" with loads of energy / a "ranger" shooting from far away / a "melee" attacking from close up etc. - Nice hand-drawn visuals - A bit on the hard side, but very well balanced and rewarding - Lots of content to unlock - Awesome music! - More-than-a-basic-story, with much narrative and some lore if you're into it. Cons: - Higher timestreams are reaaally hard (or maybe I'm not good enough or lack dedication...) - Some enemy ships and bullets are very difficult to distinguish on specific backgrounds - I find some weapons and power ups really enjoyable (both practically and visually) but others seem way less interesting (and I avoid them after I tried them once - twice) - A run may be 1-1.5 hour, I would like shorter "cycles" in a roguelike - Some minor bugs here and there, but nothing that got in my way of enjoying the game (also, this is expected from an Early Access game)
English. It is like forgotten 2D side shooter like Jets-N-Guns with some permanent progression and not bad idea with randomizing BUT - looks not so good, gameplay is lacking a lot of fireworks elements, doesn't clear what gear is doing what. It would be fun but poor graphics and not fun grind undo all of good stuff. Ukrainian. Схоже на забуті 2-вимірні стрілялки з видом боку як Jets-N-Guns з постійною прогрессією і непоганою ідеєю випадковості шляху проходження, АЛЕ - виглядає ніяково, ігровий процес сірий і невиразний без вибухів та інших графічних еффектів, неясні функції обладнання. Було б весело але через погану графіку та незрозумілий грінд усе пішло шкереберть. Russian. Похоже на старые и забытые 2-мерные стрелялки с видом сбоку как Jets-N-Guns с постоянным прогрессом и неплохой идеей рандомности пути прохождения, НО - виглядит плохоб игровой процесс серый и невыразительный без взрывов и других графическиз эффектов, непонятно с функциями оборудования. Было бы нормальным но из-за плохой графики и непонятного гринда все пошло не так.
Hey Dev,i dont know if reading it or not,but i wanted to say to you:you created a great game,not perfect,but very great!I hope that in the future you will do even more updates to this game ,and also create other interesting and unusual game like this! I just hope that you wont abandon game developing because of small amount of players on this game.
If you're REALLY into shoot em ups and roguelites, yeah you'll probably be fine with it. But for a game to look, feel and play like a 2008 flash game when it came out in 2026 just doesn't feel right. Okay to buy it on a deep sale. But aside from that, it feels very unpolished.
An overly chaotic game where runs just plain take too long to complete. I wanted to like it but was generally frustrated by the lack of metaprogression to help make progress easier. It's there, but it's something like "1% damage reduction from projectiles" and each upgrade is expensive, especially the one I just mentioned. Some stages are too long and some stages vomit out a huge number of enemies that also vomit out projectiles like mad. Boss fights are also generally unenjoyable and slow. I never got the feeling of being powerful or having an insane run like a good roguelite does. The intro fluff to each run can be disabled apparently. I had complained about it here but the dev mentioned in the forums that it can be disabled. Good to know and I kinda missed that somehow. I can't confirm since the game has since been uninstalled and I won't reinstall it unless there's some sort of balancing update. TL;DR: If you don't like overly hectic and twitchy games and you like your roguelites to have good metaprogession that actually makes you noticably stronger then give this a skip. It's not worth it. I'd refund it if I didn't have too many hours to do so.
🚀
Despite a rather large number of graphical errors, complete lack of on-screen keyboard inputs and spartan presentation, Sisyphus Paradox plays well, respects the players time and relies on proven combat mechanics and persistent progression. I won my first run and would have no issues playing further, especially since I have yet to unlock the other two player ship options. I wish Unruly Mob success in refining the game post-launch.
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Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Momentum
Pace estimated from the game's recent review growth (our daily snapshots) at its own sales-per-review ratio — a momentum signal, not booked sales.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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