When a lab experiment goes terribly wrong, you get Demon Spore: a game about scientists desperately trying to escape a facility as a dangerous creature quickly spreads throughout. I stepped into the lab boots of said scientists to see how I fared against the creature during a demo at PAX East.

True to its roguelite nature, every run of Demon Spore is different. There is always a large grid of rooms to travel between, but the connecting pathways between them and the loot found therein is altered every time you start anew. The game offers a variety of weapons, but most runs begin with the Fire Extinguisher, which can be used to temporarily freeze creatures, allowing you to finish them off with a melee attack.

Every time you move through a room, so will the spore. You’re forced to think strategically and plan a route that’ll provide the least resistance, though there’s no avoiding confrontation with this unholy creature.

Some of the creatures I faced off against included small brain-like monsters that leaped at me from a distance, a bubbling growth that quickly spread across the ground, and large nodes that sent out flailing tentacles to attack me. It was all quite repulsive, and I breathed a sigh of relief every time I killed a creature and the exit door lit up green.

During my runs I found a laser gun that dealt a lot of damage really quickly, and chests that could be used to resupply my ammo. One of Demon Spore’s more rare finds is a token that can be redeemed at a security terminal, allowing you to close access to a single room, cutting off a pathway for the spore.

Demon Spore also supports co-op sessions of up to four players, which should help players deal with the game’s difficulty. The game is currently set for a 2024 release date on Steam.