The iconic Oscar Wilde is credited with saying the phrase “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”. If that’s the case then the smash-hit auto-roguelike-bullet heaven game Vampire Survivors must feel very flattered by Studio Bravarda’s new title ‘Extremely Powerful Capybaras‘.

There have been a number of high profile attempts to emulate the magic of Vampire Survivors since it rocketed in popularity. These titles have had varying degrees of success in that regard, ranging from a myriad of poor imitations you’ve never heard of that flopped on mobile phone stores to the quality titles like Death Must Die and HellEscape. Where does Extremely Powerful Capybaras fall on this spectrum?

Cosplaying Capybaras

Extremely Powerful Capybaras fills all of the check boxes that are required to count among the auto-roguelike-bullet heaven genre. Time limited levels? Tick. Endless waves of enemies that get progressively more difficult to kill as time roles on? Yup. Upgradable weapons and boons that can be chosen from a semi-random selection once you’ve picked up enough orbs to level up? Check. Auto firing weapons that repeatedly do the same looped attack? Sure. This game follows the base formula that has been laid out by its predecessors rigidly.

If you’ve yet to play a game in the auto-roguelike-bullet heaven genre, I’ll break it down for you here: These are typically top down, 2D games in which you control the movement of your character, but not the attack of your weapons. Your weaponry will loop their attack pattern according to a timer, such as a whip that will crack out every 1.5 seconds. The aim is to survive as endless waves of enemies spawn along the edge of the screen and approach you. Typically, enemies drop collectables which, when you’re collected enough, will grant you a buff to make survival that little bit easier, thus creating a risk vs reward loop. All of that is true of Extremely Powerful Capybaras.

This isn’t a total copy/paste of others in the genre though. The first and most notable element of originality in EPC is the art style. These types of games tend to have a grim-dark art style and medieval trappings. Here, you’re controlling cosplaying Capybaras (which are pretty cute) rather than grizzled warriors. You’re also doing battle on maps which are bold and reasonably bright, with crisp, clean outlines. It’s a breath of fresh air, and certainly might appeal to younger players that could bounce off the tone of many in this genre.

It’s a shame then that Extremely Powerful Capybaras didn’t really lean into the fact that you’re playing as these cute rodents. Aside from the visual appeal of the cartoony cappies, and the fact that you start the game relaxing in a steamy waterfall (which, as the memes have taught us, is the Capybaras’ natural state), you could be otherwise playing as any type of anthropomorphic cartoon character. I personally feel like the developers could have really leaned into this with some chittering when picking up weapon upgrades, or a wheek (the actual term for those high pitch squeals they make) when they get hurt. None of that is present. It might have really elevated the level of charm that could have been achieved here.

Whacking, Not Wheeking

Of course, you don’t come to a game like Extremely Powerful Capybaras for the charm along. You come primarily to watch the screen explode with a horde of enemies as you attempt to cut a path through it with flashy weaponry. Aside from some brief screen freezes (we’re talking half a second, at the maximum) when the screen freezes up, the game manages to deliver that competently.

There’s a shallow bench of villains that will be attacking you here, with only a dozen or so variants. They also lack variety in attack patterns, with enemies falling distinctly into one of two groups; enemies that simply follow you around the screen and will damage your health bad should they touch you, and enemies that tread the same path, but will shoot ranged attacks at you. Compared to the likes of Vampire Survivors that mixed it up with mid-level events, it’s a disappointing showing from Extremely Powerful Capybaras.

That doesn’t mean that this game is easy, however. The sheer volume of enemies that attack in the last two levels can easily overwhelm you if you manage to walk yourself into a corner. Equally, you’ll find yourself having a tougher time surviving, having to dodge more often, if you mismanage your character build by choosing less effective weapons when given the option.

Many of the weapons you unlock in Extremely Powerful Capybaras feel mechanically lifted from Vampire Survivors, thankfully given there own visual tweaks. Before you start a run at a level, you get to choose your outfit which determines your starting weapon. One cappy weirds a spear, which is essentially the Knife from VS, for example. The weapons you’ll be randomly offered while playing to bolster your arsenal also feel familiar; the Potato Battery, which does damage in a circle surrounding your character is essentially the Garlic from Vampire Survivor. If you’re a veteran of this genre, the weaponry here will all feel a little too samey.

Don’t Worry, Be Cappy

There are a few more original elements to Extremely Powerful Capybaras. Take the levels themselves. While many of these games are played on massive maps that feel almost impossible to cross, this game focuses the play into much tighter areas with barriers preventing you from crossing. This does tend to create a bit more tension, especially early on in levels when you have nothing but your base weapon, because dashing into space isn’t always an option. The game will also regularly point out areas for you to go too in order to unlock better weapons, money or temporary buffs. Rather than just walking over loot chests to unlock them, you’re tasked with surviving in a defined area in order to get your reward.

This game is also far more geared towards repetition than many of its peers too. The character classes (thus, your starting weapon) and the weapon pick ups can be upgraded using the rewards from successful runs. This in turn will make the subsequent, more difficult levels a little easier as you’re able to do more damage, or survive for longer. This might be a contentious aspect to some players, as these upgrades really do make a difference. If you’d prefer the more purist approach, playing a level a few times in order to make the next one easier might grate. Personally, I was happy to retread some old, previously conquered ground.

I do suspect that Extremely Powerful Capybaras opts for a more grindy, repetitive style because the game is quite light on content. There are only 4 maps in the game, 4 boss battles and 6 classes to evolve. If you simply want to play the game from beginning to end, upgrading the bare minimum, you’ll have finished the 4th level in about 5 hours. Upgrading everything and unlocking all of the costumes will add a good 10 hours onto that total.

Extremely Powerful Herd

The one aspect that really helps Extremely Powerful Capybaras stand out from the crowd is that it includes local and online multiplayer. Rather than battling against waves of evil shrimp, zombies and what look like Beholders from D&D alone, you can team with 3 of your friends. There’s no match making here, meaning you can’t just drop into a match with people you don’t know, but if you have friends that also have the game, you can add them to your party. In local co-op, you can simply tap a button and your team mate appears.

I can imagine it was a real challenge getting a bullet heaven co-op system to work, but it works relatively well here. Each player can pick their own starting class, and choose there own weapon pick ups and upgrades as they progress. Combining powers, standing cappy-back to cappy-back as a horde decends upon you is effective in creating a shared experience.

There’s a few niggles however. The main issue is that the camera will zoom in and out depending on where you and your team are in relation to one another. This is obviously to keep you all in view and in the battle, but in a game where there are fine margins between life and death and accuracy is needed, having the camera suddenly move can be very jarring.

Despite its issues, Extremely Powerful Capybaras feels like a worthy entry point to the auto-roguelike-bullet heaven genre for younger players. It’s bright, bold, cute and the co-op means that more experienced players can help guide (and even revive) younger players through a genre which can take a little getting used too. I had a few decent hours with my kids playing this game, and I imagine others will too.

Extremely Powerful Capybaras is available now on PS5 (review platform), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Developer: Studio Bravarda
Publisher: PM Studios

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we purchased a copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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