Mother Machine: The Gross, Gremlin-Fueled Roguelike You Didn’t Know You Needed

If you love being the idea of being a gremlin, and you and your gremlin friends are doing your best to run, jump, and use (an increasingly popular mechanic) fart-dashes to traverse gremlin-eating biomes to save something called a Mother Machine. Then Mother Machine is the next co-op game in your cart.

This 2D multiplayer roguelike platformer is now available on Steam, and it’s dripping with weird energy, chaotic charm, and just enough polish to feel like a hidden gem waiting to be discovered.

Chaos Creatures, Unite

Developed by Maschinen-Mensch, Mother Machine drops you and up to three friends into randomly generated alien catacombs, where the goal is simple: survive, evolve, and bring salvation to your beloved robotic mother. (Yes, really.)

You’ll platform your way through atmospheric alien levels, collect mutations that range from “wow, that’s helpful” to “please stop leaking green goo,” and slowly transform into an upgraded, chaotic nightmare Gremlin.

You can:

• Play solo
  
• Team up in a duo split-screen
  
• Or go full feral in 4-player online mode, complete with matchmaking or social clubs.
  

And yes, this does work on Steam Deck.

Early DLC & Future Ambitions

The game launched with a pretty fair price tag at $14.99, and its first DLC, Misty Grove, introduced a new biome, fresh threats, and a creepy new boss. Best part? It was free until April 9th—which, for a game like this, feels like a nice little win if you were able to snag it.

But here’s the big tease: in a pre-launch interview, Johannes Kristmann (from Maschinen-Mensch) mentioned that the dev team has bigger goals—like maybe, just maybe, building a full-on MMO down the line.

“After experiencing the excitement of designing for multiplayer, I think it would be really difficult for us to return to strictly single-player games.”

So yeah, Mother Machine might just be the beginning.

Final Thoughts

Look, Mother Machine isn’t subtle. It’s gooey, it’s weird, and it’s got fart dashing as a mechanic. But that’s what makes it great. If you’re tired of polished, serious roguelikes and want something more unhinged (in the best way), this game is absolutely worth checking out.

Between the mutations, chaos, and ridiculousness, it’s a blast. And with future expansions and MMO dreams, this might just be your new favorite gremlin simulator.