A slot machine for gags disguised as a Vampire Survivors-like is taking over Steam, and I'm just as addicted to pulling the lever as the other 90K people playing it

A screenshot of Megabonk from its Steam page. A 3D monkey wearing glasses and a grin on his face stands on a flat grassy texture. In the background the faint image of the rest of the low-res level can be seen.

One of the most popular games on Steam right now looks like it came from the mobile game ads I scroll by on TikTok. Every clip I saw of Megabonk before I actually played it seemed primed to yell "EPIC BATTLES", "INFINITE XP", and "FREE GOLD" at me until I hit the download button.

Megabonk almost didn't look real at first: Its aesthetic is like some kind of 3D asset nightmare where skeletons pop into Mario coins and a fox wizard shoots fireballs at Piggsy from Manhunt. It's a crude mixture of pixel art and chunky 3D models that wouldn't look out of place on a TV in the background of an episode of NCIS. But despite the assault on my eyeballs, Megabonk is a coherent, surprisingly cerebral auto-shooter roguelike in the style of Vampire Survivors.