EAT THE RICH

do you want to be confused? play this game.

EAT THE RICH is a strange little action game that immediately caught my attention because it takes the idea of class warfare and turns it into a ridiculous roguelite. The setting is completely over the top, with a future where money has become worthless and pitchforks have effectively become the new currency. I play as a worker trying to build up a mob, survive waves of enemies and take down increasingly wealthy enemies. I like how shamelessly silly the whole concept is.

The combat is the part I enjoyed most. My pitchfork can attack automatically while I can also click to throw it harder, which gives the game an unusual mixture of idle gameplay and direct action. As I progress, I can pick up different weapons and abilities that make the combat much more chaotic. Bricks, guillotines, tomatoes, bees and even tax audits can become weapons, and I found the ridiculous combinations much more entertaining than I expected.

Building up the mob gives the game another layer of progression. I can recruit different workers including farmers, miners, blacksmiths and agitators, with each recruit helping increase my overall power. Watching the group grow from a small collection of workers into a much larger crowd is satisfying, and it gives me a reason to keep improving my run. There is also a large amount of equipment and upgrade potential, so I can experiment with different builds instead of always doing exactly the same thing.

The bosses are where the satire really comes into its own. I get to fight enemies based around things like landlords, speculators, central bankers and tech oligarchs, with each one acting as another ridiculous target for my growing mob. Defeating them gives me access to more rewards and helps push the run forward. I liked that the enemies are not simply generic monsters because the whole game is clearly designed around making fun of wealth and the economy.

The biggest weakness for me is that the gameplay can become repetitive after a while. The basic loop of fighting, collecting rewards, upgrading and fighting again is enjoyable, but there are only so many times I can repeat it before I want something different. The idle elements also mean that some parts of the game can feel less interactive than a normal action roguelite. The Early Access nature of the game is noticeable too, although the developers are clearly building around seasonal progression and continued changes.

I also found the multiplayer and economy systems interesting. Other players can have their own vaults that I can raid, while I also have to protect my own wealth from being stolen. That adds a slightly more competitive side to what could otherwise have been a completely single player idle game. I like the absurdity of the idea that after fighting the rich, I can simply become rich enough to become somebody else's target.

Overall, I think EAT THE RICH is a fun and deliberately ridiculous action game. The combination of idle progression, roguelite combat, growing a mob, strange weapons and political satire gives it a personality that is difficult to miss. It is not the deepest action game I have played and the repetitive nature can become noticeable, but I still enjoyed watching my little revolution grow into an increasingly chaotic army. For a free game, I think it is worth trying if I enjoy silly roguelites with lots of upgrades and dark humour.

Rating: 7.3/10