PAX West Preview: Extremely Powerful Capybaras
One thing that makes the indie space wonderful is watching as different minds independently work to expand successful concepts. Roguelikes and soulslikes spread like wildfire in the gaming community, creating some mediocre games and some absolute gems. When it works well, you have a powerful refinement of a core gameplay loop. But when it works better, you have a new use of that gameplay loop that shakes up how people see the genre.
This is the case with Extremely Powerful Capybaras - a game that blew away the PAX West attendees, with consistent long lines and fascinated viewers. Extremely Powerful Capybaras is a Survivors game, following in the footsteps of the popular Vampire Survivors. The core mechanics are the same, you move your character through hordes of enemies as you automatically fire and continue upgrading until you’re blasting foes with all the particle effects.
What makes Extremely Powerful Capybaras stand out is that it is a pure cooperative experience. The game is designed around having a maximum of four players battling enemies and bosses together. The concept works extremely well, especially when mirrored with a death mechanic that has the survivors killing enemies near your corpse in order to revive you. The game goes from being a solitary, tense experience to being an explosive party game that would make a great addition to any household.
The premise is fairly simple - each player picks a class that has a base ability. As players kill enemies, they get experience orbs. When players level up, each chooses one of the four offered abilities. When you first play the game, the ability selection is fairly haphazard - you just grab something that sounds good and move on. But after multiple play throughs, I can imagine each person generating builds around specific types of attacks and weapon combinations.
Extremely Powerful Capybaras also stands out in this space due to its bright, cute visuals. In contrast to the dark, moody visuals of most Survivors games, Extremely Powerful Capybaras’ visuals make the game feel friendly and fun which adds to the party game vibe. They also help you distinguish your character from the environment, which is necessary now that you do not control the center of the screen.
We only played a quick slice of the game, so it would be hard to tell how well it holds up on a deeper scrutiny of abilities and meta-progression. But what we did see was a game that feels easy to jump into for a fun cooperative experience with good friends. We interviewed one of the lead developers of Extremely Powerful Capybaras. Check it out below!
