Ovis Loop Early Access Review

I came for the post-apocalyptic retelling of the tale about The Wolf and The Sheep set amongst a rogue-lite backdrop, but I stayed for its unique Slay The Spire inspired upgrade system and fluid gameplay feel that was reminiscent of Dead Cells. Just like those two games, Ovis Loop is a joy to play and very hard to put down.

WHAT IS OVIS LOOP?

Ovis Loop is an action rogue-lite created by a small three person team that on the surface, appears to be heavily influenced by Dead Cells. Despite surface similarities, such as the fluid gameplay and the highly detailed pixel art, the original intent when development started was to create Slay The Spire, but from a fast paced action gameplay perspective. This will make more sense in a few minutes.

In Ovis Loop, you play as Omega, a test subject sheep, which is classified under the scientific genus Ovis, who has bonded with a robot consciousness to become one unstoppable killing machine. Your only objective is to put an end to the big bad Dr Wolf, and his cruel experimentations. You begin each run with nothing more than your great-sword.

The standout feature of Ovis Loop is the upgrade system, which was modelled around Slay The Spires deck-buidling, where you have the ability to add a new card to your hand or strengthen your existing ones. Abilites in Ovis Loop work in a similar manner, as you have the choice to select a new ability or augment the one you already have equipped.

If you choose to augment the one you have equipped, you will need to decide if you want to add passive or active skill to augment the ability. You start with two abilities, but there is currency to find in the way of crystals called Mantium, which work similar to Dead Cells, that you can use between runs for permanent unlocks such as new special ability slots, increased starting health and even changing your main weapon.

This upgrade system not only rewards experimentation, but it also negates a lot of bad luck that can be associated with rogues as you now have a multitude of ways to apply your rewards. Instead of being forced to equip a skill in a primary slot as an active ability, you can add it to an existing power. If you decide to augment an existing ability, you will then have a choice to add passive effects to it or combo skills.

The Slay The Spire influence is nowhere more evident than by how the map works, where you are shown the map of each stage prior to the journey and at each stop along the way have the option to choose between 2-3 potential paths depending on what you need or how risky you are feeling. Each stop on the journey can take a few minutes to battle the foes and reap the rewards. At the end of each section is a major boss with potential mini bosses throughout. Throughout your journey, you will uncover fragmented documents and data which will help you slowly piece together what has happened.

The pace of gameplay is fast, frenetic and at times, there is a lot going on at once on the screen. Luckily, Ovis Loop features very strong audio and visual cues to relay all of the essential information to the player, which allows you to navigate the chaos with ease, if you are skilled enough because as important as the upgrade system is and integral it is for the true Ovis Loop experience, the developers wanted to ensure that at the core of the game was skill.

No matter if you get bad luck with items or your build doesn’t have the synergy that you were hoping for, skill will still be able to carry you far. This is large part thanks to the audio and visual cues, but also the gameplay feel. Combat is nicely weighted, fluid and highly responsive. Rolling allows you to dodge all damage except for a few heavy attacks, and animations can be cancelled, allowing for a higher level of precision.

Ovis Loop is launching in Early Access, but from a position of strengh, which is beginning with a solid foundation. The gameplay is great, the mechanics are sound, the shortcomings are minimal and the roadmap is already laid out. At launch Ovis Loop will include 3 stages, 5 main weapons and a limited version of hard mode. Throughout early access intended plans include a fully realized hard mode, expanded narrative with additional scenarios and events. New weapons, skills, modules and much more.

CRITICISMS AND AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Ovis Loop does feel a little small right now, in my first run, I made it to the second stage boss. Environments and enemies could you additional visual variety. However, the biggest issue at the moment is the UI and UX. The upgrade mechanic is unique as you can either add a new skill or use your reward to upgrade an existing one, but there are a lot of slots on each ability, plus the slots on the weapon and it’s always a little unclear what the outcome will be.

Maybe you can do it, but when I augment one of my existing abilities, I want to have to possibility of taking a skill that I already own and making it even stronger. On my fire dash, I added a fire shotgun combo and at the next stop I drew another fire shotgun, and while I equipped it into a slot having two fire shotgun rounds, I would have loved to have been able to increase the power of the original combo and leave a slot open.

Ovis Loop does a pretty great job relaying all of the essential information to the player as mentioned, but there are occasiona times when the screen just gets too busy with all of the enemies, damage numbers, and special abilities. These might be in the game and I just cant find them, but I wish there were also a few more hidden areas with small rewards to encourage exploration.

IF OVIS LOOP WORTH IT?

The intent was to create an experience that captured the feeling of Slay the Spire, but from an action gameplay perspective. Not only did Ovis Loop capture the mechanics of Slay The Spire and the gameplay of Dead Cells, but it also supersedes them with a highly engaging narrative with a post apocalyptic tale of The Wolf and The Sheep.

Beginning with a strong Early Access period, Dead Cells grew beyond the wildest dreams of the creators and Ovis Loop has strong potential to do the same.

LAST UPDATED - AUGUST 2025