Twinstick Rougelite Revita Gets Major Update ‘Beasts and Bees’ Today

Pixel-artist and solo developer Benjamin Kiefer (aka BenStar) has released the first major Early Access update to his pixely rougelite Revita, entitled Beasts and Bees. The game is supported by publisher Dear Villagers, and released in EA on Steam back in March of this year.

While pixel-art and rogue-lite aren’t particularly unique traits nowadays, BenStar has infused his game with an interesting twist on the formula: Revita forces the player to trade their health for upgrades — the more life you give up, the stronger you become, but at the cost of becoming more and more of a glass cannon. The knife’s-edge gameplay adds tension as you climb the clocktower in search of your lost memory.

Today’s Beasts and Bees update is substantial. See the full list of changes and additions (and a nice note from the developer) below:

• More stuff: 2 NPCs, 18 relics, 1 new branching path, and a brand new Celestial weapon, plus hats, achievements, secrets, and frogs.
• Rebalanced Relics: Upgrades have been adjusted to make for a more balanced experience: increased chance of critical damage, stat boosts, etc.
• Smoother Gameplay: Numerous quality of life improvements based on player feedback, including dialogue skips, a quick restart button, and a proper mouse lock system.
• Early Access(ibility): Players can zoom the camera out to better view the level, mashes and holds are now skippable, and they now have the ability to dash towards the mouse.

“Phew! This update was a huge amount of work, but totally worth it,” says Benjamin Kiefer, the developer behind Revita. “None of this would be possible without the feedback from players. I’m so grateful, and I hope I’ve done you all proud.”

The dev also released a roadmap that included a new area and new gameplay mechanics for the next update, so those of you already enjoying Revita only have more content to look forward to in the coming months. It’s also apparent that Kiefer is paying close attention to player feedback, which bodes well for the finished product.

You can grab Revita in Early Access on Steam now. Let us know what you think of Revita and Beasts and Bees in the comments!