Exo.Sect

Hey. So. I probably should’ve explained the game earlier. My bad.

This is Exo.Sect — a bullet hell rogue-lite that’s basically my messed-up little lovechild between Binding of Isaac and Slay the Spire. You’re some broken failed experiment trying to blast your way out of a cult obsessed with machines and eyeballs and weird religious tech nonsense.

Rooms are quick, bosses go very hard, and upgrades mutate your body in cool (and occasionally awful) ways. It’s a mess. I know. Some of the bugs are obvious. I’ll fix ‘em. Probably.

How the game works (sort of a tutorial, I guess):

There is a tutorial on the first menu. It’s not good. It tells you the basics. Try to read it.

On the map, once you hit Play:

Press Spacebar to enter the next room. Use WASD to move between rooms that aren’t half-transparent. In the room: kill everything. Don’t get hit. That’s it.

Dead enemies drop “gold” — couldn’t think of a better name. They’re little hexagons with eyeballs. You’ll get it.

After the room’s clear, pick 1 of 3 upgrades.

If it has a charging bar, it’s active.

No bar = passive.

The upgrades are weird and do weird things to your body. That’s intentional. It’s fun. Or horrible. Both.

Difficulty-wise: yeah, sorry.

It’s hard. Like, actually hard. There’s no easy mode. It’s sort of souls-like in that way — you’ll probably get absolutely battered for the first hour or so until you learn the patterns, get a feel for movement, and build up some reflexes. But trust me: once it clicks, there’s real depth here and some nasty surprises later on.

A few helpful tips (or just cheat a bit, idc):

Big Bullets + Rapid Fire is a disgustingly strong combo. Huge damage, massive chaos.

Websnare + Momentum Boost + Adrenaline Core makes a great speedy build. You’re small, fast, and sticky. It’s disgusting. Love it.

Or go full greed goblin with Magnet Coin + Hemostim Surge. Gold comes to you, and healing triggers after picking up 8 gold in a room — which is basically every room.

Stack gold, buy heals, grab heart containers, speed upgrades, etc. Profit.

Other random notes:

The volume’s a bit fucky. I’ve never done audio design before and it shows. If your ears get assaulted by 80s robot screeching, maybe drop your PC volume to 20% or so.

Yes, the game looks like ass. It’s meant to. I put 100+ hours into this anyway ‘cause my girlfriend’s in China and I’m stuck in the UK. Womp womp.

Beam upgrades (like Beam Stab and Overcharge) charge off hits. Beam Stab takes 5. Overcharge takes, like, 100 or something. But when it goes off? Goodbye, everything.

They’ll shake when ready. Press E or Q depending on the slot.

Oh — and avoid skull rooms if you’re trying to progress.

They’re brutally hard and exist purely to ruin your day. Unless you want coin. Or clout. Then yeah, go nuts.

Anyway. Thanks if you actually play this. I appreciate it more than you know. There’s a lot of broken glass, bug guts, and weird cult brain-mush under the hood here — but it means a lot. Even if it breaks. Especially if it breaks.

Cheers,

– some guy who really needs sleep

Also — everything in this game — the art, the music, the programming, the bugs, the weird little wriggly things — was made by one very sleep-deprived guy over the course of about 10 days. Just me. No team. No budget. Just vibes, coffee, and a worrying amount of staring at Unity at 7AM.

Thanks for giving it a shot. Seriously.