PIXEL
An old-school, frantic roguelike action platformer with tower defense gameplay and light RPG elements.
XO-Planets has shipped a substantial update on Steam from solo developer myradann at $1.99 at the time of writing, an oldschool roguelike action platformer combining tower defense mechanics with light RPG elements where players explore procedurally generated planets, unlock movement abilities (double jump, dash, wall climbing), and fight to survive with one-handed weapons, turrets, missile launchers, and tesla towers. Death is permanent and most progress is lost with it, but rare Xolyriums can be spent to upgrade the base Reconn ship between runs. The recent patch expands the roguelike survival loop with balance refinements and quality-of-life improvements that the community has been requesting.
XO-Planets — Key Facts
From the Steam listing: An old-school, frantic roguelike action platformer with tower defense gameplay and light RPG elements.
- Developer: myradann (solo — also the publisher)
- Genres: Action, Indie, RPG
- Platforms: Windows
- Languages: English
- Release: Jun 30, 2026
- Price: $1.99
- Steam features: Single-player campaign, Co-op support, Steam Achievements
XO-Planets — Watch the Trailer
About XO-Planets: Gameplay & Details
An oldschool roguelike action platformer, tower defense game, and light RPG in one.
Explore procedurally generated XO-Planets, unlock abilities like double jump, dash, and wall climbing, and fight to survive with one-handed weapons, turrets, missile launchers, and tesla towers.
Death is permanent, and most of your progress is lost when you die. But rare Xolyriums can be used to upgrade your Reconnoiter between runs, giving you a fighting chance on your next expedition. Patience, skill, and smart preparation are required.
Are you ready to annihilate the abominations of XO-Planets and find a new home for mankind? Procedurally generated levels where no two runs are the same.
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Randomly generated weapons across 9 weapon types: sword, axe, whip, gun, shotgun, sniper, and 3 launcher types. Weapon enhancements including vampiric, fire, and ice effects. Modify your weapons with powerful mod drops. Hunt down and collect Legendary weapons. Over 25 AI Unit enhancement mods, including Jet-Pack, Teleport, and Juggernaut.
Unlock permanent upgrades using rare Xolyriums. Use the Distro Machine to buy enhancements for your AI. Outsmart and eliminate 5 major bosses. Track down and kill 5 bounty mini-bosses. Annihilate 25 enemy creatures with unique behaviors and immunities. Play with a friend in local co-op.
Unlock the Jukebox and listen to the soundtrack. Take on a variety of randomized mission types during each run: Search and Destroy: Hunt down and eliminate key enemy targets. Bounty Hunter: Track and kill dangerous mini-bosses for rewards. Bomber Man: Plant explosives and destroy critical enemy structures.
Treasure Hunter: Search the planet for valuable loot and rare resources. Tower Defense: Build defenses and survive waves of attacking abominations. Ruins of War: Explore ruined battlefields filled with danger, loot, and hidden threats. Unlock each member of the G-Raiders crew and discover their stories.
Collect intel on every invader you encounter. Play as 6 AI Reconnoiters, each with a different playstyle to unlock and master.
XO-Planets — Screenshots
How You Play XO-Planets
The core loop combines platformer traversal with tower defense positioning across procedurally generated planet environments. Players navigate the terrain using unlocked movement abilities — double jump enables vertical exploration, dash provides horizontal escape options, wall climbing allows navigation of otherwise-inaccessible areas. Between traversal, players deploy defensive infrastructure (turrets, missile launchers, tesla towers) to control enemy movement patterns and secure critical zones during combat encounters.
The permadeath commitment is the design’s standout hardcore signal. Death permanently removes the player character and forces a fresh start, which raises the tension of every encounter to genuine survival levels. The compensation is the Xolyrium meta-currency — rare drops that persist across deaths and can be spent on Reconn ship upgrades that make subsequent runs slightly stronger. The design balances permadeath severity against meta-progression, which is the classic roguelike compromise between challenge and player agency.
The Tower Defense Layer and the Ability Progression
Tower defense integration extends the traditional platformer combat vocabulary. Turrets provide automatic damage output that lets players focus on positioning and traversal; missile launchers deliver high-damage burst against dangerous single targets; tesla towers control large enemy groups through chain-lightning effects. Players who build their defensive infrastructure thoughtfully find their combat encounters significantly easier than players who rely purely on personal combat performance.
Ability progression gives the platformer traversal meaningful growth. Early runs are constrained by limited movement options; unlocked abilities open new exploration paths and enable strategies that were impossible before. The progression rewards patient play — players who invest in ability unlocks find their overall run efficiency improves compounding, while players who focus purely on combat progression find their traversal options limited.
How It Compares to Other Roguelike Platformers
For comparison, look to Rogue Legacy for the roguelike platformer tradition, Spelunky for the procedural platformer framework, and Dead Cells for the modern action-platformer roguelike design. XO-Planets differs from those benchmarks by combining platformer traversal with tower defense positioning, which is a mechanical combination that traditional roguelikes typically skip. The design vocabulary is more aggressive than pure platformer roguelikes but less pure combat than dedicated tower defense.
The Action, Indie, and RPG genre tag set defines the design’s territory. The Single-player focus is the classic roguelike commitment. myradann has stayed disciplined about the scope — no multiplayer, no live-service pressure, no gacha mechanics. Just the traversal-plus-defense roguelike loop with clear progression structure.
The Recent Patch and the Ongoing Development
The recent update signals myradann’s continued commitment to XO-Planets post-launch. Solo developers who sustain post-launch updates across extended time periods signal editorial dedication rather than launch-and-forget development philosophy. The updates typically address balance concerns the community has raised, quality-of-life improvements that reduce friction, and content additions that extend the run-to-run variety.
For players evaluating XO-Planets now, the updated state benefits from months of post-launch refinement compared to the launch version. Community-tested strategies inform current build recommendations, balance tuning has settled toward the studio’s intended difficulty curve, and any launch-window bugs have been resolved through the ongoing development cycle.
The Xolyrium Meta-Progression and the Reconn Ship
Xolyrium as meta-currency gives the permadeath structure long-form investment payoff. Rare Xolyrium drops let players upgrade the Reconn ship between runs, and those upgrades persist across deaths permanently. The upgrade tree gives dedicated players meaningful long-term goals beyond individual run success — players who commit to Xolyrium accumulation find their fresh runs progressively easier as the ship upgrade accumulates.
The rare drop rate for Xolyriums is the design’s pacing mechanism. Players who commit to serious engagement see steady meta-progression; players who dabble briefly find the meta-progression slow enough that they might not experience its full impact. myradann has clearly tuned the drop rate to reward committed play without punishing casual engagement excessively.
The Oldschool Aesthetic and the Design Philosophy
For players who bounce off modern accessibility-focused designs and want a platformer that expects real effort, XO-Planets’s design philosophy is refreshingly demanding. The updated state preserves the difficulty commitment while smoothing the quality-of-life friction that could have alienated players unnecessarily.
Buy or Skip — XO-Planets
Yes if oldschool roguelike platformers are a comfort genre and you appreciate design commitment to classic-era difficulty expectations. Yes if the combination of platformer traversal and tower defense positioning sounds mechanically interesting rather than compromise design. Yes if the deep-budget price point makes it a low-commitment try. Less yes if you prefer accessibility-focused modern platformer design or if permadeath severity frustrates you. For the roguelike platformer audience at extreme budget pricing, this is a confident recommendation with the ongoing post-launch support and recent updates. myradann has earned the install for the genre faithful.
— Laz
Editorial note: Article curated from publicly available Steam community posts and dev announcements. PFN reports on launches and updates as a junction for gaming news — we do not represent the developers or publishers featured.
XO-Planets Verdict: 7/10 and Sits Well Within Its Space
XO-Planets lands with enough substance to justify serious attention from genre fans — the mechanical hook is functional, the aesthetic identity is clear, and the developer clearly cares.
Visit the Steam page for details: XO-Planets on Steam. The Steam page carries authoritative pricing and reception data.
The community perspective on XO-Planets, refer to the XO-Planets Steam Community Hub for the Steam Community Hub for reviews, screenshots, guides, and player-created content.
Live XO-Planets Steam Data
The XO-Planets storefront widget from Steam carries current pricing, review sentiment, and screenshot data.
At a glance — verified Steam listing
| Developer | myradann |
| Publisher | myradann |
| Release date | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Price | $1.99 — verified 10 September 2026 |
| Platforms | Windows |
| Genres | Action, Indie, RPG |
| Steam features | Single-player, Multi-player, Co-op, Shared/Split Screen Co-op, Shared/Split Screen, Steam Achievements |
| Languages | English |
| Store screenshots | 29 |
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