Mayhem Triple

I went into Mayhem Triple expecting a rough freeware relic someone had slapped onto Steam and came out the other side genuinely charmed. Dustin Gunn spent roughly a decade wrestling this thing into existence, hit a wall with his tools, capped the project at what he had, and shipped it anyway. That kind of stubborn sincerity shows up in the game itself: the setpieces are weird and committed, the tone is knowingly tasteless, and the controls feel like someone who cared deeply about how movement should feel. The core loop is a 2D platform shooter built around stylish acrobatics. You play as Mig Carter, a man of extremely misplaced confidence, and the apocalypse in question involves killer rabbit-esque aliens pouring in from the future. The movement system lets you wall-jump and dive freely while aiming in a full 360 degrees with the mouse, which sounds simple but produces these satisfying mid-air combat moments where you dodge a shot, return fire downward, and land on a pile of alien rabbits. Weapons have unlimited ammo but meaningfully different properties, and dropped enemy guns combined with a small economy for upgrades and extra carry slots give you enough choices to keep things fresh across the five levels. The arsenal runs from sensible (shotguns, machine guns) to genuinely deranged (a gun that fires bear traps, hidden Illuminati devices scattered through the levels). There are also boss fights and short cutscenes that punctuate each stage, keeping the pacing from going flat. The New Game Plus system adds some replay value, and the Mayhem Maker level editor with Steam Workshop support opens the door to community content, which is a generous addition for a game at this price point. Controller support with Xbox pads was added in the Steam release alongside widescreen graphics and cloud saves, so the version here is the most complete one Gunn has put out. Where the game shows its seams: the runtime is short, the story is more of a comic premise than an actual narrative, and the visual style is functional rather than distinctive. If you arrive hoping for something with the pixel craft of a Shovel Knight or the atmospheric weight of a Cave Story, reset those expectations. This is a kinetic, goofy shooter that knows exactly what it wants to be and mostly delivers that. The Steam review count is modest and the game sits outside most algorithmic recommendation paths, which is a shame because the movement system alone is more considered than half the action platformers that got ten times the coverage. If you have thirty to ninety minutes and you want something loud, fast, and genuinely odd, Mig Carter and his bear-trap launcher are waiting. Not everything needs to be a thirty-hour masterwork.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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