First bites

Dylan: For a solo-dev project, Nom Nom Apocalypse is creatively impressive but held back by several bugs and a repetitive loop. In co-op, the latter hurts less. It took us a little over four hours to beat the game using Steam’s Remote Play Together, and for the most part I enjoyed the ride.

It’s a straightforward twin-stick that won’t redefine the genre, but the hook is the inventive food-themed enemy designs. More than once we yelled, “What the hell is that?!” as we spotted doughnut bats or charging hamburgers.

Ciaran: The on-screen variety is solid. We saw everything from basic cheeseburgers to a rum ball that only appeared in our final playthrough. That randomness helped keep runs from feeling stale; even after replaying levels, new enemy mixes would change the flow.

Boss platter

There’s a pool of possible bosses across the first four stages before the final encounter in stage five, and they’re selected at random. Even in our last run we found a teleporting cookie we’d never seen. Difficulty swings with the draw, which can make a run much easier—or rougher.

Dylan: The bosses were weird in a fun way. I’m not sure we saw them all; it took several runs before we even reached the final level.

Runs, roguelite tweaks, and gear

This is a roguelite: five stages per run, try not to hit a game-over before credits. While stage 1 and the finale stay fixed, the middle stages, enemy mixes, weapons found, and bosses are shuffled each time.

Moment-to-moment level structure rarely changes: grab a key, open a gate, clear a few combat rooms, fight the boss. The biggest variance is in weapons (utensil/food-themed, of course) and the power-ups you buy with run currency.

Dylan: I wrote off over half the guns quickly and kept hunting for favorites—particularly a freezing shotgun. Similar story with abilities: roughly half felt underwhelming.

Ciaran: Characters add more variance, each with a unique ability and “super.” We both rotated through the roster but quickly found some kits far stronger than others.

On top of that are unlockable perks purchased with run earnings—anything from healing on cash pickup to a pigeon companion that shoots at enemies. The quirkier perks were generally weak (despite my insistence that the pigeon carried our first win). We both ended up sticking with straightforward bonuses.

Balance & co-op quirks

It’s not always clear whether the game is tuned for solo or co-op. One magnet perk, for example, pulled all pickups (ammo/health/cash) to a single player, starving the other.

Dylan: A quick solo run suggested going alone is easier—no resource sharing and your ultimate charges faster when you’re doing all the damage. I’m not against co-op being intentionally tougher, but here it feels accidental rather than by design.

Less would be more: fewer characters and perks, but better balance; fewer throwaway guns, but clearer risk/reward. That focus would strengthen runs and reduce “auto-skip” options.

Ciaran: Agreed. Quality over quantity. If the quirky stuff stayed and became viable, picking builds would be more interesting. Likewise, more structural variety would help; the game is built for repeat play, so it needs more than enemy variance to keep run ten feeling fresh.

Controls, bugs, and the couch factor

We both tried mouse/keyboard and controller. Controller wins. With M&K I’d occasionally lose the cursor mid-chaos (or follow Dylan’s by mistake); movement and aiming just feel better on sticks.

Dylan: Same. I’m a controller guy anyway. We also hit several bugs—roof geometry occluding the view, audio glitches, items dropping into unreachable spots, and once I fell through the level. In solo those would have been far more aggravating.

Verdict

Nom Nom Apocalypse is a fun afternoon with a friend—ideally while sharing a couple of McDoubles—thanks to its playful enemy designs and breezy co-op chaos. But limited variety, balance oddities, and bugs undercut long-term appeal. Play it with a buddy; skip it solo.

Score: 6/10