Sodaman Preview

Are you looking for a game with a great sense of humour and an entertaining story that you can’t put down? I have a title that you need to check out: Sodaman. Since Vampire Survivors released at the end of 2021, we have seen an influx of twin-stick shooters hit the market. I am always looking for titles that feel satisfying to play with a great gameplay loop that makes me want to keep coming back for more.

In a comic book-style opening sequence, we see a futuristic cyberpunk world; here, we meet a supersoldier who was once a cyber thief, biker, and womaniser, along with being a self-proclaimed soda addict. So much so that he took a can of soda with him in a battle against enemy alien forces. During the fight, our soldier is shot, and his blood is mixed with alien tech and soda to create our protagonist, a hero named Sodaman. His mission is to take down Entity-X, the being who has caused the Soda-calypse, making all the soda in existence go flat. This is unacceptable; there has to be a place where soda is still fizzy and not bland!

Our supersoldier is such a fan of soda that instead of collecting spells or other weapons to attack with, he gets cans of sugary beverages to give him new attack abilities or improve his defence. In other twin-stick shooters, you usually have three cards to select from that you want to add to your deck. In Sodaman you get to choose which power-up from three different cans of soda.

If you are defeated, you can restart your run or go back to the base where you can purchase new weapons or turn in any blueprints you found to get new augments for Sodaman. These are permanent, so they will make all your future runs easier. Every run feels like you are making progress and getting stronger.

A love for the 80s and 90s is apparent here, between the great pixelated visuals and the neon pink-and-blue colour palette. Each of the characters has a distinct design that is full of personality, making it easy to identify them from a distance, along with great voice acting, which was a surprise to see considering the title was created by developer Tape Corps, a team of only four members! The other aspect that impressed me was the designs of the soda cans themselves: each can has its own unique branding, a lot based on things you see in other types of media, like Buff Beer, which is a play on Duff Beer from The Simpsons cartoon, or Slurn, which is like Slurm from Futurama. This made it exciting to see which types of soda you could choose from, each giving special attacks or defence perks.

Trying to figure out the ideal combination of soda types to pick up and use to be successful takes a lot of trial and error. But even when you are constantly defeated, you want to try again, repeatedly. Currently, I have played for over 13 hours, and I can’t wait to play more. This title reminds me of Vampire Survivors in the best way, as it is challenging and addictive. But with a few differences to make it unique, like the option to shoot your weapon yourself, or if you would rather, you can set auto-aim and auto-fire so that you can concentrate more on avoiding enemy attacks. Even in Early Access, Sodaman is a roguelike title that you will want to try for yourself. I can't wait to see the updates as the game gets closer to releasing. The story is so over the top and ridiculous, it's great!