Demonic Rampage in Underwear: Hands-On With Gennady
Green goo, Goop energy, and what happens when push the game to its limits.
When I first saw Gennady on the PlayStation store, it looked extremely unhinged. At first glance, I assumed this was just a guy who was dragged into hell, and just trying to get back to his couch and watch TV. I was dead wrong. After replaying the demo, I realized brother isn't trying to escape - he went into this nightmare world on purpose. He seems hopelessly addicted to this mysterious green goo that's apparently great for his skin. Honestly? It feels like he crashed out and went on a rampage because Gwyneth Paltrow invented Goop. He’s in his underwear, covered in green goo, and he has absolutely nothing to lose.
Visually and mechanically, Gennady plays like a hand-drawn, side-scrolling Doom but without the guns. Gennady is the weapon. You’re throwing his entire body across the screen like a meteor, smashing through anything in your path. The controls take a minute to click, but once they do, the movement rhythm is wildly satisfying.
The level design is merciless. Every biome forces you to adapt to new layouts where spikes, guillotines, and giant boxes full of mystery intestines are waiting to end your run. And the enemies are intriguingly weird. You’ve got creatures trying to be seductive to lure you in before sprinting at you like a zombie, and an octopus chef who throws knives straight through solid walls. The difficulty is punishing, especially with early-build quirks like freezes resetting your progress, but the core loop is so energetic that dying rarely deterred me from continuing.
The rogue-lite loop lets you buy upgrades between runs to make survival slightly easier: like bonus damage at full health or expanded shields for when you inevitably miss a jump. But I wanted to push the game to its absolute limit. I wanted to see what Gennady looks like when you stop surviving and start dominating. So, I modded my larva count and bought out the entire shop.
As you can guess, Gennady was an unstoppable, god-tier menace. I had multiple orbiting shields, spinning razors, hyper-speed dashes through boxes causing huge explosions, and near-one-hit-kill power. The bosses weren't fighting a random guy in his underwear anymore, they were fighting a demon worst than themselves. Modding the game gave me a fascinating preview of what high-level synergy feels like in Gennady. When you stack abilities, the game transforms from a tense survival platformer into pure, glorious chaos.
Gennady is a breath of fresh air in the indie scene. With its striking hand-drawn art, goofy protagonist, and high-octane gameplay loop, it’s a title that doesn't take itself too seriously while delivering an addicting playthrough. Huge thanks to Keymailer and Feed 64 for the preview key! Even without it, this is a game I would have sought out on my own. Keep an eye on this one when it officially launches. Anyone crazy enough to fight demons in their boxes deserves your attention, so definitely check out the demo on Steam and let me know what you think!