Glitch Busters: Stuck On You is a colorfully competitive co-op shooter

The internet is a dangerous place, especially as viruses, glitches, and bugs begin to infest it. That's when it's time to call in the Glitch Busters. Glitch Busters: Stuck On You is a competitive co-op third-person shooter from the team at Toylogic. Competitive co-op may sound unusual on the surface, but there's as much fun to be had getting the high score over a buddy as there is in beating the big bad bug at the end of a stage. Shacknews recently had a chance to go hands-on with Toylogic's latest.

Glitch Busters is set in a bustling digital world, one that is under attack by a dangerous array of nasty viruses. It's up to the titular Glitch Busters, who are basically walking emojis, to save the day. Fortunately, there are always four helpers ready to roll. Each are equipped with a blaster to shoot at enemies and magnetic legs to maneuver across walls and do some daring platforming.

What's intersting about Glitch Busters is that even if someone decides to embark on this journey alone, it's still going to be a four-person job. If there aren't enough humans available, the game will fill the other roles with AI. The first thing to note is that in my few hours with the game, the AI helpers were competent and able to hold their own.

Helpers are mainly there to help with Glitch Busters' competitive element. The game will keep track of who defeats the most enemies, who revives the most teammates, and other stats in order to offer bragging rights at the end of every stage. That's a fun idea in itself, but there are practical reasons for deploying additional characters.

As an individual, players can blast enemies, hit switches, and use parts of the environment to launch across the stage. However, there will be times when team-up tactics are necessary. Sometimes, players will encounter multiple switches, requiring teams to communicate and complete every step to open up the next part of the level. Other times, switches may be out of reach, which requires team members to stack on top of each other in order to reach greater heights. In multiplayer, this is a little easier. As an individual player with AI, this adds a degree of strategy, as players must issue commands to their teammates in order to progress.

While taking on hordes of glitches can be intense, this game keeps fun at the forefront. This is especially true in-between stages, as players will frequently encounter mini-games. This is where friends can all compete against one another to see who comes out on top while moving along to the next part of the story. Fun also comes in the form of customization. Users can unlock custom emoji expressions, outfits, and colors over the course of the campaign and give themselves a unique look before joining up with friends.

Head of Video Greg Burke and myself last checked out Glitch Busters: Stuck On You back at 2022's Summer Game Fest and had a blast in a four-player setting. The game works differently as a solo outing, but still has room for fun. If nothing else, it's a uniquely colorful world like few others in the indie gaming space. Players will soon be able to check the game out for themselves when Glitch Busters: Stuck On You comes to PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday, May 23.

This preview is based on a pre-release Steam code issued by the publisher.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?