Pathogenic

The goal of the game is to kill the human host, portrayed in the intro as a scientist whose leg is cut by a piece of broken glass containing a live pathogen.

• Developer — Aberrant Labs • Publisher — Slug Disco • Engine — Godot • Platforms — * Windows • MacOS • Linux • Released — July 14, 2026 • Genre — * Roguelike • Twin-stick shooter • Bullet hell • Modes — Single-player

Pathogenic is Aberrant Labs' first release, and was developed by a team of two. A demo was released on itch.io in 2025, and updated several times throughout the course of development.

• Illustration — An example of the editor, which enables the player to modify their pathogen's design on the fly. Pathogenic offers a tutorial for new players, which explains the controls, and moves through several linear levels, each one explaining an individual gameplay concept, starting with the modification system. The player can pause gameplay outside of combat to modify their pathogen, adding, recycling, and moving around organelles, weapons, and other features such as flagella, which are used as propulsion. Different combinations can have various effects – with some organelles having passive effects, such as increased health – and some providing a boost to other functions, such as weapon damage. Defeating enemies, which take the form of rival microorganisms and cells, allows the player to pick up DNA, which represents the game's form of experience points. After collecting enough DNA, a "mutation" is triggered, in which the player is required to select a modifier. Some mutations are referred to as "evolutions", which allow the player to choose a new form for their organism, many of which are named after real bacterial morphologies. The player can also collect "cores", which is the game's primary currency, used to purchase items in randomly located upgrade shops. Organelles and weapons are often presented as a choice between multiple options, with the remaining options disappearing after selecting, a common feature of roguelike video games. • Illustration — The game's interface, showing the health and DNA (experience points), as well as cores in the lower left, a map in the upper right, and a depiction of the pathogen in the upper left. The game's levels are procedurally generated, and the player can move from one section of a level to another via structures reminiscent of capillaries. When moving into an area with enemies present, the path back is blocked until they are defeated, after which the player can move freely or fast travel between areas. Each level features a boss which must be defeated before moving on to the next part of the body, such as from the site of infection – with the first being the skin – to another area, such as the intestines. Defeated bosses drop "plasmid" points, which allow for the selection of permanent upgrades for specific starter forms from a skill tree on the main menu. The goal of the game is to reach the heart and kill the human host, with the difficulty increasing as the player progresses up the body. The player can optionally solve puzzles to reach the brain as an additional challenge.