Erosion's time-bending twist stands out, but it's also a great roguelike twin-stick shooter

Erosion's unique selling point is obvious. You can completely alter the future of the game's world simply by dying or clearing out a little town. As the game's Steam description reads, "Die in a dungeon? Wake up ten years later. That peaceful farm is now a cultist compound worshipping the Great Ol' Rooster. That store owner you helped? They've built an empire." It's a fascinating feature that makes you think about everything you do, and while the focus was on other aspects during my hands-on time at SGF, it seems to be really smartly implemented. 

Erosion is more than a time-bending gimmick; it is a genuinely fun twin-stick shooter and a throwback to classics of the genre. The developer who was on hand while I played the game wanted to show me as much of the actual gameplay as he could, to make it clear that Erosion isn't just a one-trick pony.

While you'll be regularly exploring the hub world and taking on a variety of enemies, the core of the action takes place in Erosion's dungeons. That overworld, though- there's so much to see and do. You can race your speeder, gamble at the local casino, go sand fishing, or hunt for bounties. It's where you alter the game's story and build your own world, but it's not where you'll find the best of the game's chaotic combat.

It's fast, responsive, and challenging, with enemies and all manner of breakable items flying around the room as you fight. The dungeons are procedurally generated, too, so you'll need to figure out the makeup of the area you're in before diving into the action. Of course, you aim with the left stick and shoot with the right; the actual mechanics are standard twin-stick stuff, but where Erosion shines is in its build variety.

There are loads of unique weapons, more than 100 different skills to unlock, and many modifiers to change how your attacks work. There are rocket launchers, standard rifles, and even the Ebony Rooster that shoots bouncy eggs around the arena, taking out anything in their path. You also get the chance to switch skills up by opening certain chests and defeating bosses, potentially creating a wild build.

That chance of creating something overpowered is the best part of Erosion's combat. To close out my demo, I was spawned into a later game save, in which I had access to all of the skills in the game, and the developers had created a build to really show off what's possible. So much was going on during combat that I wasn't sure exactly what skill was doing what, but multiple abilities were reacting to each other to create even more powerful attacks. 

For example, one attack spawned a ball that would bounce around the stage to inflict additional damage, and I had a skill that made those balls duplicate whenever they hit an enemy. Suddenly, the room was full of projectiles, numbers flying around the screen as I did damage. Enemies melted before my eyes. I was flying through the rooms of the dungeon and even beat the boss in a matter of seconds. While that's not how the majority of the game will feel, it shows what's possible in Erosion. You're not limited in your builds; you have the freedom to play around with whatever you unlock to create something truly broken. I'm sure there'll be countless different options for each run - some experimentation will be needed to find your ideal playstyle, though.

My only concern so far was the underwhelming visual design of the dungeons. While the overworld oozes style, the dungeons I saw were pretty dull. Imagine smaller versions of the Horizon series' Cauldrons; lots of grey and very little to catch the eye. Hopefully, I was just limited by the sections of the game I saw, and more variety is added to the dungeons as you progress, and the time-travelling aspect starts to take effect.

I'm glad Erosion doesn't lean on that unique aspect too much, though. To really stand out, it needed to be a good twin-stick shooter as well, and from what I've played, it does that with aplomb.