Game intel
Terminull Brigade
Rise in the virtual rebellion to free the Nullverse in this action-packed roguelike game together with other players, or alone. Master your Rogueteers with dis…
Terminull Brigade caught my eye because it’s the perfect 2025 snapshot of how free-to-play can go sideways. The new co-op shooter from Pew Pew Games, published by Level Infinite, hit a peak of 6,219 concurrent players on Steam on August 2, just days after its July 29 launch. That sounds great-until you see the average session length: roughly 15 minutes. The reason? A Discord promotion that paid out “orbs” for simply having the game running. That’s not a breakout; that’s an incentive farm.
The headline number-6,219 concurrents-came with an asterisk. Players report that Discord dangled 700 orbs if you played for 15 minutes with the Discord app open. Those orbs could be exchanged for cosmetic perks like badges or even Nitro credits. Many did exactly that, and then bounced. As one Steam user put it (translated): “I installed the game just to leave the EULA tab open while I slept and got the 700 Discord orbs. I didn’t play at all.” Another chimed in: “Thanks for the Discord orbs. I uninstalled after. Not even an hour of play, I didn’t even accept the EULA.”
Stuff like this isn’t new—platform quests and engagement bounties are everywhere—but it’s a reminder: concurrency without context is marketing, not meaning. The team seemingly didn’t anticipate how many people would treat their launch like a Discord errand. If you measure success by peaks, you can fool yourself. If you measure it by day-two retention and player spend satisfaction, you can’t.
Strip away the promo and you’ve got a third-person co-op shooter with roguelite progression. Terminull Brigade’s “Rogueteers” operate like a hero roster—think Overwatch-style archetypes—with distinct playstyles, talent trees, and mods that mix up runs. You hop into futuristic arenas, chase upgrades, and stack synergies as you push further each session. On paper, that blend of hero identity plus roguelite spice is a strong pitch, especially for a free-to-play squad game in a sea of grimdark looter-shooters.
And to be fair, some players say it’s fun with friends and praise the variety of heroes. That tracks with what’s worked for other co-op roguelites: quick runs, snappy unlocks, and the “one more try” dopamine loop. If Terminull Brigade can keep runs fresh and the roster distinct, there’s something here for the Friday-night-with-the-crew slot.
The Steam verdict so far is “Mixed” (59% positive across 4,563 reviews), and the common gripe is predictable but important: aggressive monetization. Multiple reviews call out characters and weapons hiding behind what players describe as effectively impassable paywalls. That’s poison for a hero-led game where identity is the hook; if the most interesting playstyles live behind a cashier, your meta becomes “the free few” and your players bounce.
We’ve watched this play out across the genre. Overwatch 2 learned the hard way that pushing heroes through a battle pass can backfire. The Finals saw backlash when progression felt miserly compared to time investment. The lesson is simple: free-to-play players will grind, but only if the path feels fair and the wallet asks feel optional, not mandatory. If Terminull Brigade wants a life beyond Discord quests, it needs to move core roster access out of paywalls, make early progression generous, and save monetization for cosmetics and convenience.
If you’re curious, go in with realistic expectations. The moment-to-moment gunplay and roguelite layering can click in co-op, but the current economy may frustrate solo dabblers. Give it a few patches and watch how the developers respond: do they unlock more heroes through play, rebalance rewards, and communicate clearly about the roadmap? That’ll tell you whether this is a quick promo blip or a game finding its footing.
For the devs, the path is clear: turn those 15-minute “tourists” into a community by rewarding actual playtime, not idle time; trim paywalls around identity-defining content; and deliver meaty updates that evolve runs and shake up builds. Do that, and Terminull Brigade might earn its concurrency the honest way—one post-midnight “just one more run” at a time.
Terminull Brigade’s launch spike was powered by a Discord reward, not organic hype. Underneath is a co-op, hero-roguelite with potential, but monetization is dragging it down. If the team fixes paywalls and boosts progression, this could graduate from promo farm to Friday-night staple.
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