TLDR: Noita takes all rogulike conventions and either throws them out the window or crushes them into tiny puzzle pieces, providing the player with droves of exploration both in the game's world and in its mechanics. An absolute must-play.

The proliferation of roguelike games over the years has led to a number of novel mechanics, but the vast majority of these games are fundamentally similar in essence: segregated rooms or relatively predictable waves, relatively simplistic combat, and progression through unlocks.

What sets Noita apart from these games is its complete disregard for almost every staple of the genre. Every aspect of a roguelike that you have likely come to expect is either absent or dismantled to allow the player more control over their experience.

In every run, you travel through a complex and dynamic procedural cave system with diverse biomes, each distinct in its environmental design, enemies, and elements, somewhat akin to Terraria. The coal mines are rife with flammable coal and gunpowder; the ice biome, with chilling air and fragile sheets of ice; the forest, with traps and fungal spores. Every pixel can be displaced or destroyed, and certain materials interact with others in interesting and unexpected ways.

As far as I know, the primary objective of a run is to go as far down as possible. What I learned, however, tens of hours into my time with the game, is that you can also travel to the left and the right to enter new biomes. It gets tricky in those areas, though, so I haven't dedicated much time to exploring them. The cherry on top is that the entire game world is ONE LEVEL. If you have the means to do so (which you usually won’t), you can travel five layers down and then cut your way all the way back to the top of the cave.

The combat is just as fluid as the level design. You cast spells using wands, which can be found throughout the run. Wands have a number of aspects that change their behavior: casting cooldowns, spell capacity, mana caps, and whether or not your spells are randomly selected are the most prominent. Spells can range from a puny linear projectile with low damage and low mana cost to a massive sawblade that slices through enemies and comes careening back to the player in an attempt to slice them as well. Certain spells also have modifiers that allow you to chain projectiles together—the puny projectile hits a wall and spawns a massive sawblade, for example. With great power comes great responsibility, though. It’s all too easy to create a wand that kills you instantly upon use. Change a few aspects of the wand's spells, however, and the wand will only kill you if you use it irresponsibly. Understanding the wand-making system is a form of progression in and of itself, and spell combinations can become so unique and volatile that learning to balance a wand that kills your enemies versus one that kills yourself can be an arduous but extremely rewarding journey.

On-paper progression in Noita is just about the only thing in the game that is immediately understandable. As far as I can tell, unlocking new spells is accomplished simply by finding them. There are no arbitrary challenges you must complete to get powerful spells; you simply discover them once, and they’re added to the pool.

Sound design is incredible in all aspects, as is the visual design. Watch gameplay if you're curious.

For the Steam Deck: This game seems to rely pretty heavily on the mouse for aiming. I attempted to use the Steam Deck's trackpads but wasn't able to get comfortable with them. Your mileage may vary. Frame drops are also a problem if you displace too much terrain at once.

Ultimately, Noita's core philosophy is complete, unbridled freedom. It’s akin to someone dropping a guitar in front of a 5-year-old and telling them to play math rock. It’s daunting at first, but open-mindedness and (if the player so chooses) community guides can unearth new concepts with multiple applications. It’s all too easy to spend five minutes with a roguelike and understand the majority of its mechanics nowadays, but such is not the case with Noita. I've put almost 50 hours into the game already, and I still feel like I don't understand a quarter of what there is to learn. It’s a truly unique and fresh experience and a prime example of video games as an art form.