“Survive a minimalist wave-survival rogue-lite. Keep the fire alive. Read its flame. Defend your fire against creatures that crawl from the dark across endless waves. Every wave survived, the fire grows. Over time, it consumes everything.”

When I read Per Sidera Industries‘ Steam synopsis for their game, Undying Flame, an ember of interest was immediately lit. The tone of finality. The picture painted of a flame flickering against endless darkness and enemies. And that final statement: “Over time, it consumes everything.” While I’m relatively unfamiliar with wave-survival rogue-lites and have never played a bullet hell before, the description alone intrigued me enough to give the demo a shot. Here’s what I found.

A Spark Ignites

As the synopsis says, the gameplay of Undying Flame is to ward off wave after wave of enemies, the max number of waves in the demo being 50. To do this, you shoot bullets, throw grenades, and place turrets, all while adding wood to the fire so it doesn’t die out. Between waves, an upgrade screen comes up, and you are able to spend the coins you earned to have your bullets hit harder, maximize turret range, have woodworkers gather more wood for you, and all sorts of other ways to defend against increasingly difficult enemies. You can change the mode for a different challenge, too, with the demo offering Normal, Hungry Dark, Dim Light, and Ember Vow.

And as I previously said, I had never played a bullet hell before. But I found it pretty easy to pick up on. The tutorial explained the controls well. The settings have an option to turn it back on whenever needed, which I definitely appreciated.

The upgrade explanations are also clear, and it’s honestly really fun to see how much each one boosts your power. There are also random events that can happen between waves, and I found those incredibly enjoyable, too. Not only did the writing style stay consistent, but the relics, curses, upgrades, and other surprises kept the game interesting and could completely change a playthrough. One run you could become a flame god raking in the gold. Another you’re fighting to keep the flame alive the entire time because the enemies are coming at you at 2x speed. The main gameplay component -shooting- was also really fun, and once I got it down, it ended up being very satisfying.

The Beauty Within

Now back to the game’s aesthetic. Clearly, I enjoyed the writing before I even started playing, but that enjoyment continued into the game. The way everything is worded, from the tutorial directions to certain achievement descriptions to, as previously mentioned, the events between waves, have an air to them that draws me in like a moth to a flame. This could entirely be the narrative lover in me, but I can feel hints of a hidden narrative underneath, and it has the potential to ignite into something so interesting.

Beyond the writing, I enjoyed the art style as well, along with the animations and colors used. In more intense moments, the animation of the flame expanding and shrinking and the colors that emphasize its strength are very pleasing, and the ambient mode is a nice addition for a calmer moment. My only complaint here would be that some of the enemies are difficult to see in the orange firelight, but there is an option to change the fire skin. And not only does Witchfire look great, but it makes those enemies much easier to see, solving that issue immediately.

Fuel for the Fire

There are some improvements that could be made before full release, however. Some work definitely needs to be put into controller compatibility with PC. For example, when using a controller to scroll a page, it’s impossible to fully go up or down to view all the options, and I’d have to switch to using my mouse. The game will also not respond to the controller at times, so I’d have to switch to my mouse again to choose an option or to even exit the game.

Another area to improve upon is the game’s music. There are two different soundtracks in the demo: one for the menu and one for when the game is played. While I like both of them and they suit the aesthetic, the gameplay music constantly loops and becomes a bit repetitive. It doesn’t stop or switch between waves, either. This highlights the rogue-lite aspect of the game in a way that doesn’t really benefit it and makes the game itself feel unchanging, diminishing the experience.

A Potential Inferno

Overall, I believe Undying Flame has a ton of promise. My personal hopes are the devs end up doing some visual storytelling, and improve upon the music. I can see the fire growing to its peak, and the music stops when it consumes the screen, then completely changing, the fire and background entirely different. Basically, I want what this line on Steam says: “Survive long enough, and the fire consumes the screen, and the game becomes something else entirely.” And different soundtracks could also be implemented between waves to break up the experience a bit and keep it feeling fresh. Maybe certain achievement waves could have a soundtrack of their own!

But as I’ve said, I’m unfamiliar with this genre and all my suggestions could undermine how the game is meant to be experienced. And if that is the case and none of my wishes come true, the game is still very fun to play! With the promise of even more modes, such as Void Walker, Classes to play as, such as a Pyromancer, and the inclusion of an Idle Mode where your responsibility is solely to feed the flame, I’m extremely excited to play the full game when it releases!

Check out the demo on Steam. Wishlist it to be notified of its full release on September 8, 2026!