Imagine a roguelite shooter that mocks the AI-powered, dopamine-fuelled world we’re heading towards with frightening levels of precognition whilst also simultaneously delivering exactly the shot in the arm that it claims all humans will soon need to survive. That’s Mullet Madjack — the neon-soaked, lightning fast romp through a dark future — and my God, it’s absolutely brilliant.
There are several modes in Mullet Madjack and quite a few difficulty levels that change the game more dramatically than you might expect. The campaign features a storyline about a kidnapped streamer who has been snatched by a robot billionaire — and Madjack must livestream his way through 100 levels (with a boss every ten) as he fights his way to saving her.
The twist here is that once he goes live, Madjack can only survive ten seconds before he dies. Thankfully, shooting enemies gains him more time (whilst being hurt reduces his time) and better kills typically reward more time. Head and nut (yes, nut) shots add bonus time, whilst as the levels pass, Madjack will gain access to weapons and buffs that might either extend his total time or award more time for specific things — like kicking enemies or blowing them up.
An endless mode and a boss rush are also featured, but these play a clear second fiddle to the main campaign mode — at least until you’ve completed that on all difficulty levels. On that note, playing on the “Lenient” or lesser difficulty levels can really help novice players by granting more life/time and weakening enemies, but on “Challenge” or “Hard” Madjack not only has less time, but enemies become far more threatening.
These things all really, really matter in Mullet Madjack since each level lasts for something between 40 seconds to just over a minute at most (excluding bosses). Initially, you’ll prioritise speed — but you’ll quickly learn that (as the game advises you) Mullet Madjack is more about the flow or rhythm of the gameplay. There’s no auto-aim and the controls feel decidedly retro — fast and fluid like a DOOM or Duke Nukem however the auto-aim is replaced by a generous level of bullet magnetism.
When I talk about the flow of gameplay, I really mean how you react to the decisions you’ll need to make in the moment from one run to the next. On one run, armed with a shotgun, I found myself entering rooms, kicking one guy to stun him, shooting his buddy, then turning back to finish the first guy. On another run, my Ice Katana could be thrown with a return buff that made it come back almost instantly, so I could throw it to freeze someone at range, kick the next guy, chop a drone or two and then finish the first guy (still frozen) in the space of about 2 seconds.
This rhythmic gameplay is both fun and refreshing, but also hugely satisfying — especially as the difficulty level rises. Boss fights add a different element, with most of these taking the form of an arena fight of some kind, but some adding completely new ideas into the mix. One of these (which I won’t spoil) completely changes the gameplay loop and has a significant impact on the story that I just thought was super cool.
If I have any criticism of Mullet Madjack, it’s probably that the levels often feel very much the same even as new ideas (like wall running or acid bath segments) are introduced. There are visual differences, but the liberal use of neon and the general theme tends to mask the more subtle ideas. Another small issue is that the weapons don’t have any real “feel” to them, with perhaps the shotgun and railgun as the only exceptions.
Mullet Madjack is an incredibly polished game based on a superb, original idea. The retro looks and gameplay mesh perfectly with the modern, fast-paced concepts and the difficulty levels are perfectly aligned to change the experience from one session to the next. Permanent upgrades every ten levels make you feel like you’re making progress overall, but the level by level “shop” upgrades really define the gameplay experience and help you tailor your play style for your current difficulty level. Super, super stuff.
You can purchase Mullet Madjack on PC and Xbox.
