## 2026-08-20 I don't even remember how I stumbled across **Sephiria**. I think it crossed my desk[^1], I saw the protagonist was a bunny and that the game had overwhelmingly positive reviews, so I passed it over to resident bun fan [Loz](https://bsky.app/profile/burgerbuan.bsky.social). But then I saw that it had a demo, so I gave it a look. I'm not usually one to play [[Roguelikes]], with [[Roguelikes and Landslides|some exceptions]]. But when I finished **Sephiria**'s demo, I shouted in frustration. I was enjoying it so much and cooking so hard during my run that I was upset that it got cut short by the game. Needless to say, this was high praise. So I grabbed it in a bundle along with **Cinderia**[^2], and then I proceeded to put in 20 hours in like 3 days. **Sephiria** is like crack, man. It hits every spot perfectly as far as my interest in roguelikes go. The combat is satisfying, with multiple weapons that all control differently. The aesthetic is adorable but eerie, a cute mix of adorable woodland critters contrasted against some **Look Outside**-esque horror imagery. The music is catchy front to back. The progression systems do just enough to make you more powerful without guarantying you a dub. And the synergies…the *synergies* bro. In **Sephiria** you have an inventory that you place all your power-ups in. They each have numbers attached to them. The higher the number, the better the power-up becomes. But to make those numbers go up, you need relics. There are relics of all shapes and sizes that increase the numbers of your power-ups in various ways. Aligning them perfectly is your job, in a **Resident Evil 4 Suitcase Simulator** sort of way. ![[Sephiria-1787245969565.png]] 80% of the battle in this game is spent in your inventory, trying to figure out which relics to get to power up which items you've managed to grab during the run. The right rotation can be the difference between popping off or being sent to an early grave. And like I sort of hinted at above, **Sephiria** is much more interested in letting you pop off. It does not have the razor-thin balance of a **Slay the Spire**. More often than not you're obliterating enemies in a swarm of frost crystals while a companion bat amplifies its damage, or launching Flame Swords that, when picked back up, proc the buff of the flame katana you just upgraded. It's phenomenal. The high of clutching up a run thanks to some thinking, good decision making, and a bit of luck was enough to make me start searching for that same high in other games in the genre. But I've yet to find another that comes close. I'm sure it's out there, but until I find it - or until **Tiny Rogues** finally hits 1.0 - **Sephiria** is going to be the undisputed king of roguelikes for me. It's simply that good. [^1]: and by "desk," I mean my [[Steam]] calendar lol [^2]: which is also fire and which I am also likely to talk about in the future