Game: Funguys Swarm
Genre: Action
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Stairway Games
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Price: US $8.99 | UK £7.99 | EU € 8.99
Release Date: August 25th, 2026
Review code provided with many thanks to Stairway Games.
Funguys – Assemble!
I think we can all agree that the survivor-like genre has got a little bit out of hand. Ever since Vampire Survivors came along and made the whole “stand in an arena while an increasingly ridiculous number of things try to kill you” formula incredibly popular, we’ve had an absolute swarm of games attempting to put their own spin on it.
So here we are again, this time with mushrooms. Funguys Swarm doesn’t exactly arrive waving a giant flag announcing that it has reinvented the genre. Instead, it takes the familiar survivor-like formula, gives it a rather amusing forest-themed makeover and gets on with the important business of throwing enormous numbers of enemies at you. And you know what? I quite like it.
A Funguy’s life
The basic idea here will be immediately familiar if you’ve played this type of game before. You pick one of the game’s wonderfully silly-looking Funguys and head into an arena where enemies will continuously spawn around you. Your job is to survive, collect the experience they drop, level up and gradually turn your little fungus friend into an increasingly ridiculous salad shredding machine. The interesting difference is that Funguys Swarm gives you direct control over your attacks. Rather than simply wandering around while your character automatically fires away, you can actually aim and attack yourself. It gives the game a slightly more traditional top-down action feel, which I appreciated. However, if you’re one of those people who prefers the traditional survivor-like approach of simply moving around and letting the weapons do the work, you can turn on automatic attacks too. And I like that.
Once you’re into a run, the familiar cycle begins. Enemies appear, you defeat them, collect the experience, level up and choose an upgrade. These can be new weapons, improvements to your existing abilities or various stat boosts. Before long, your harmless-looking Funguy is wandering around the screen surrounded by an increasingly silly collection of weapons and effects. It’s simple, but it works.
Reason to Explore
One thing I particularly enjoyed is that Funguys Swarm doesn’t encourage you to simply stand in one place and wait for everything to come to you. There’s a mini-map that highlights various points of interest around the arena. Exploring these can lead to additional rewards, whether that’s currency, health, useful items or other little bonuses. You might find something that needs destroying, discover a chest or stumble across another little event. It gives you a reason to move around rather than simply finding a comfortable corner and turning the game into mushroom-shaped tower defence. There are also random events during runs, including larger groups of enemies and other surprises, so things can change fairly quickly. At the top of the screen you’ll get an indication of what’s coming, which gives you at least a little time to prepare yourself before the game inevitably decides that you’ve been having far too much fun being awesome.
Getting Stronger
As you’d expect from a roguelite, dying isn’t quite the end of the story. Back at the hub area, you can spend the resources you’ve collected on permanent upgrades and unlocks. There are new characters, weapons and other improvements to work towards, giving you that familiar feeling that even a failed run wasn’t completely wasted. There’s also a rather entertaining curse system. Certain upgrades and choices can make your run more difficult, and you can use resources back at the hub to reduce some of those effects. It adds another little layer to the progression without making things unnecessarily complicated. I also liked the game’s sense of humour. There’s some suitably silly commentary throughout, which fits the whole thing rather nicely.
It’s Very Green
The presentation is probably one of my favourite things about Funguys Swarm. Everything has a bright, plant-based look. The characters are colourful and goofy, the enemies are suitably ridiculous, and the whole game has a friendly feel to it despite the fact you’re essentially committing mass murder against an army of vegetables. There are several environments to unlock as you progress, so you’re not stuck looking at the same arena throughout the entire game. It also gives the game a slightly more family-friendly personality than some of the darker survivor-like games I’ve played. There’s plenty of veggie splattering going on, but it’s all so silly that it never feels particularly gruesome.
Conclusion: Suitable for Vegetarians
Ultimately, I had a good time with Funguys Swarm. It’s easy to pick up, easy to understand and provides exactly the sort of short gaming sessions I often enjoy. There’s enough progression to keep you coming back, plenty of silly characters and weapons to experiment with, and the plant-based presentation gives it a personality of its own. Is it revolutionary? No. Does it need to be? Probably not. We’ve reached the point where there are so many survivor-like games that I’m less interested in whether a game completely reinvents the formula and more interested in whether it can make me want to play “just one more run”. Funguys Swarm managed that for me.
I still think its biggest obstacle is simply the enormous number of games competing in this particular genre. If you’ve already played dozens of them, there’s a good chance you’ll look at this and think, “Yep, another one.” But if you haven’t had your fill of watching increasingly ridiculous numbers appear on screen while your character becomes completely overpowered, there’s plenty of fun to be had here. It’s silly, colourful and pleasantly uncomplicated. And sometimes that’s all I really want from a game.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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