Ovis Loop shows the electric sheep androids could only dream of.

Dead Cells is a fantastic game that really pushed what a rogue-lite kinda game can be. But for all the things the main character can do, there's one glaring thing he cannot. And that's grow hair. Need a head for that one, fella.

But the main character of Ovis Loop, can not only do everything the Beheaded can do, but, as an android sheep, can also grow a complete coat of wool. Take that!

Ovis Loop is a brand new title from brand new studio Lifuel. In it, you take control of a shepard, an android sheep protecting your flock in an apocalyptic setting from armies of wolves in various shapes and sizes. From little bitty guys to whatever this gentleman is.

And while I have already made some references to Dead Cells, I will say this, the art in this game is, in a lot of ways, a lot more clean. It's the same play speed in many regards, but the characters are crisp, clean, heavily detailed, and you can actually tell how they're attacking. Most of the time.

This game is absolutely stunning when it comes to it's usage of pixel art shading, giving each attack a glowy almost neon look. And you can see from the way they shaded the wolf in the picture above, he's actually being lit by his own attack. That's a beautiful touch.

It can make things tough during regular stages though, especially when there's a lot of enemies on screen at once. Battles with many enemies can some times become a confusing blur of color that looks like a glow stick truck crashed into Las Vegas and exploded.

That's not to say the battles still aren't fun though. Ovis Loop incorporates a really fun combo system in the fact that you can actually have FOUR items on you (unlike Dead Cell's two) but each thing can actually be modified many times allowing it to have different elemental activities and follow up attacks. Sure, it's fun doing a sword special, but it's even more fun when the first swing causes a wave of electrity to cause foes to drop their guard as the follow up attack causes you to do a backflap, whilst letting fly a small swarm of grenades at your vulnerable foes.

One thing I really love about this game is that it has a heavy feel very similar to the show Murder Bots (which I love) where the game is set in a really dark world with a really dark story and a lot of blood shed with the occassional gore but also has no problem being way cuter than it needs to be.

My personal favorite is when you're in the main hub worlds and you decide to visit one of the vendors who happens to be a tiny mouse. Now, they could have just had a small cluster of sprites hanging out in the village where you could talk to them, but no.

Instead your character gets a small running start, slides on their stomach at the hole to the mouse shop and...woomph.

This game has no right getting this cute out of nowhere

I love that touch so much. No character is left behind. Every part of the world is loved. And unlike a lot of the games like this, these worlds feel lived in. Not by miserable sods that can barely even tell what life is like, but by living creatures doing their best.

And honestly, even after many many many many many runs of this game, trying different combos, unlocking more of the story, meeting new characters, dying, dying, and dying again. No matter how many times this Ovis Looped, seeing that sheep never once made me sleepy.

Ovis Loop is an absolute blast that is going into early access soon on August 14th, 2025. Play it today here!