Pathogenic: An evolutionary bullet-hell

Do you remember in biology class when you learned about microscopic organisms using microscopes and Agar plates? Did you perhaps think there wasnt enough action in that lesson? If so, Pathogenic is the game for you. Blending simulation and rogue-like elements with tight shooting to great effectiveness. 

We just can’t help but talk about this standout title. We will be covering Pathogenic’s gameplay, its release schedule, and include a few comments from the developer about this fantastic project. Let’s examine exactly what makes Pathogenic infectiously addictive.

What is Pathogenic?

In Pathogenic, you play as an organism making its way through a human body, one organ at a time, with the eventual goal of conquering your host’s immune system. To achieve this, you must make your way through procedurally generated rooms, destroying any rival organisms you come across. To assist you with this, Pathogenic features a long list of customizations and upgrades you can make to your pathogen. 

The customisation options available, especially when considering the game is still in its pre-release demo stage is truly astounding. You start with an attack organell and a traversal organell, both of which can be swapped and upgraded as you progress. There are also slots available on the main body of your pathogen for passive abilities. Most of these abilities have specific interactions when placed adjacent to other such upgrades, meaning that well-thought-out placement of these upgrades is essential.

At any point during a playthrough of Pathogenic, the player can enter customisation mode. This allows them to hot-swap upgrades and abilities whenever desired, resulting in builds constantly changing and evolving, almost like a particularly aggressive virus. When paired with a not often seen mechanic in rogue-likes, a fast travel system results in a fast paced action packed gameplay loop of constantly changing strategy. Combined with some incredible art direction, this game appeals to fans of the rogue-like genre and bullet-hell fanatics alike.    

When is Pathogenic being released?

Currently, Pathogenic’s release date is unknown. Considering the demo was released on October 31st, 2025 (a rather fitting date given the scary themes of the game), it is unlikely we will see any new information about the full release too soon. In spite of that, the demo itself has been receiving updates since this date, with the devs taking particular note of community suggestions. 

While we are very excited to see this game fully realised, it’s clear that the devs are putting their hearts and souls into the project, so we would not dream of rushing them to realise their vision. What we can say, however, according to the developers of Pathogenic, is that they are hoping for the release to be in the first half of 2026. Suffice to say, we were very happy to receive this news, as the demo is an incredible amount of fun and has us eagerly anticipating more additions. 

Who’s developing Pathogenic?

Pathogenic’s developers are a team called Aberrant Labs. Additionally, the game will be published by Slug Disco. The publishers have a few other games listed on Steam, all of which look charming and well-designed. Aberrant Labs, however, does not have any other listed projects on Steam, despite having a very active social media presence.

We felt that we had to learn more about this project and team, so we reached out to the devs. We received a response from Matt, the main developer of Pathogenic. Within the response, he informed us that after being a software engineer at Google for 7 years, he quit sometime around early 2025 to start a game studio, now called Aberrant Labs. Stating that the conceit of the game was a “deeper first stage of Spore, as a roguelike,” adding that he was inspired by games such as The Binding of Isaac and Hades.

Matt also stated that to assist him with the creation of Pathogenic is an artist from Brazil who goes by Rettroper. It’s very refreshing to see a small team with limited resources construct a high-concept game from the ground up, especially without falling back on safety nets like AI.

However, it isn’t unexpected to see this level of dedication from the team, as they have been a significant part of some other titles. It didn’t surprise us to hear that Matt had actually been behind the soundtrack for Brotato, especially when considering the great sound design of Pathogenic.     

The Pathogenic demo

The Pathogenic demo is an incredibly fun look at what this game might look like when it’s fully realised. Within it are a few unlockable Pathogens, a brief look at the permanent upgrade tree, and a healthy dose of incredible gameplay. In preparation for this article, we played the game for around two hours and had an incredibly fun time while doing so. The only reason we stopped is that this article had to be written.

Pathogenic’s roguelike gameplay is stunningly addictive, and the permanent upgrade tree had us constantly going back for different playthroughs to see how far we could get. Suffice to say, if this game even vaguely piques your interest, download the demo immediately. It’s just a lot of fun with a surprising amount of challenge, meaning that out of the demo alone, you will get hours of play time. 

Pathogenic vs Spore?

As mentioned, a significant inspiration for the game was the first Stage of Spore, where you play as a microscopic organism evolving to eventually make it to land. You can see a little of this inspiration in Pathogenic’s trailer, within the customisation shown. However, there are not many similarities aside from this.

Spore’s first stage acts as a way of introducing the player to the more general mechanics of the game, with the creature editors and the rival factions you will see later on. Pathogenic is an incredibly detailed, action-packed shooter that will have you on the edge of your seat. As such, although the inspiration is clearly there, this comparison should end with the superficial. The gameplay is incredibly different, with a much greater focus on action here than Spore’s more slow-paced simulation style of gameplay. 

To conclude, we will say that while Pathogenic’s price is currently unknown, we would pay a premium for the game’s full release, as the creativity and finesse on show is incredible, especially when considering the small team. We would like to thank Matt for the comments made in this article, and honestly, we’d like to thank both him and Rettroper for making this game; it really is just a whole lot of fun, and we are excited to see how it evolves further.