Centipede Gun review

The roguelike boom shows no signs of slowing. Between Vampire Survivors imitators, dungeon crawlers, and deckbuilders, it’s harder than ever for a small project to stand out. Mateusk2m’s Centipede Gun doesn’t try to be the next genre giant. Instead, it offers a dirt-cheap autobattler built around a simple but irresistible hook: you assemble a writhing creature out of guns, modules, and body segments, then unleash it on waves of enemies. At five dollars, it’s an easy recommendation for the curious. But just don’t expect to burrow in for the long haul.

As the name suggests, you steer your armed centipede around a single-screen arena using tank controls. It’s an unconventional choice that takes a moment to click, and the console twin-stick setup feels slightly less intuitive than the PC scheme. Still, once you adjust, the focus shifts where it belongs: positioning your segmented war machine so its attached weapons can auto-fire at anything in range. A persistent range indicator keeps targeting readable and clean.

A Centipede with Naval Ship Design

Between waves, you’ll spend collected currency in a shop to add new guns and extend your body. The arsenal is varied enough to encourage experimentation. Rapid-fire weapons handle crowds, while slower, heavy hitters chew through armored foes. Because each segment occupies physical space, coverage and placement matter. Success isn’t just about stacking the biggest numbers. Instead, it’s about building a creature that can protect itself from every angle.

Module placement and skills provide Centipede Gun with some legs. Modules slot in alongside your body, often affecting neighboring pieces by doing things like boosting fire rate, healing, redirecting shots. Stack duplicates and they’ll level up, eventually unlocking powerful upgrades that can transform a run. A beam weapon that suddenly siphons health or a rapid-fire gun supercharged by adjacent buffs creates the kind of cascading synergy that defines the best roguelite loops. There’s also a tech-tree with unlockable nodes that you’ll get to visit periodically. Ultimately, when you create a build that works, Centipede Gun can be satisfying.

Part Bug, Part Battleship

But this armored insect’s weakness is scope. You’ll likely see most of what Centipede Gun offers within a handful of hours. The pool of guns, modules, and enemies is limited enough that runs begin to blur together. An unlocked endless mode extends the challenge, but not the variety. What begins as breezy and inventive gradually feels repetitive.

Simplicity is a Potent Weapon

Even so, there’s something admirable about Centipede Gun’s restraint. It delivers exactly what it promises: a clever, compact roguelite with accessible build decisions, all for a few dollars. It may not sustain fascination, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome either. For the price of a tea or coffee, you get a handful of genuinely engaging runs and a few moments where your bizarre little creation feels unstoppable. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

Centipede Gun was played on PlayStation 4 with review code provided by the publisher.