It’s a rather “vicious circle” within the core loop, as mercenaries try and fight for available bodies in order to collect enough nuggets to win. Had your body stolen unceremoniously? Fret not, as you can still get one back as a Little Dipper yourself. The Little Dippers’ goal is simple: find a mercenary and take over his/her body, which effectively allows them to take more nuggets for themselves and win. Little Dippers can’t collect nuggets, but they can grapple around stealthily while searching for their prey. Vicious Circle found a way to balance this as well, as if you ever die as a mercenary, you’ll find yourself respawning as this small and nimble tentacled horror called a Little Dipper. Now, you may be thinking that since there can only be one mercenary at the teleporter, you should try your very best to let the bumbling chicken monster eliminate all of the competition by sabotaging everyone else. Interestingly enough, the system works well, encouraging players to not be complacent and always watch their backs. You can, however, use pick-ups to make mercenaries drop their nuggets, like stun grenades or audio mines that play a very loud advertisement once triggered. In a weird twist, you can’t really use your guns against other mercenaries. While the mercenaries are grouped together, you are not in any way a single group – only one of you can be teleported to safety and win the round. The game is played in rounds of five, and only one player can win the round: Peggy Sue, or one of the mercenaries. This attitude is not exclusive to Peggy Sue either, and extends to other mercenaries. See, the thing about Vicious Circle is that it forces you to be vicious and unforgiving. Once fully charged, the teleporters can be used by the mercenary, although with a few caveats.

Once a mercenary gets 75 of these nuggets, two teleporters start charging up. This allows mercenaries to harvest a ton from these deposits. The game throws events at the players every once in a while, in which a large deposit of nuggets appear on the map. Nuggets can be harvested with either your gun or a melee attack, with nuggets drifting towards the nearest player.

As mercenaries your goal is to get nuggets and survive the relentless attack of Peggy Sue. Gameplay-wise however, Vicious Circle is not lacking. The mercenaries themselves are different aliens.

The solo player takes on the role of a monstrous chicken-like creature called Peggy Sue, whose job it is to make sure that no mercenary escapes with the nuggets. You play as mercenaries in space stations as you search for resources called nuggets, which are extremely valuable. Vicious Circle does not have much in terms of story. However, after playing for what feels like only hours (in truth, Steam says I’ve played for a day and a half) I can safely say that Vicious Circle is an extraordinarily well-made asymmetrical shooter that is as unforgiving as it is extremely fun. It’s another one of those four people versus a single overpowered person in a closed-off environment situation, only this time it’s set in space and features a wacky, humorous and irreverent tone. When I first heard of Vicious Circle, I thought nothing of it as well. I’ve never been much into asymmetrical titles, mostly because they’re bound to one way or another always end up the same. It’s simultaneously the worst and the most exhilarating feeling in the world at the same time, and if you can condense Vicious Circle into one single feeling it will be just that. Then there’s you, squatting in a corner and hidden by some crates, with 75 nuggets (apparently worth more than your life) on hand and the teleporter a mere 20 meters away. In the distance, you hear the warbled ramblings of squiggly alien things as they nimbly grapple around the station with their tentacles. Picture the scene: there’s a gigantic mutant chicken out for your blood, clucking menacingly as its footsteps shake the ground.

Vicious circle player count