My horror-loving friends and I have sunk dozens of hours into friendslop games such as Lethal Company and R.E.P.O, and often return to these titles. Hoping to find an addition to our rotation and lured in by the promise of next-level AI doppelgängers, we gave co-op horror looter Mimesis a try.

Both developed and published by ReLU Games, a creative studio under KRAFTON, Inc., Mimesis launched in early access on Steam on October 27, 2025, to mostly positive reviews. A major update on June 15, 2026 significantly changed certain gameplay mechanics and added new features. Did my group think there was enough here to tempt us? Yes, but there are issues that, at least for now, have us continuing our search for our next co-op horror adventure.

Gameplay and Mechanics 

The setting is a bleak, post-apocalyptic world which is subject to frequent “cursed rains” that bring on the eponymous Mimesis, or enemy mimics of you and your friends. Operating out of a rickety tram that needs constant repairs, the gameplay loop has you traveling to abandoned buildings to gather scrap, then heading to a service station to repair your vehicle. 

Each run starts at a base of sorts. There are some vending machines here and you have enough money on hand to buy a couple of basic items for your group before heading out. Your tram offers two destinations which vary in danger and reward. Pick one, pull a lever, and you’re on your way. You arrive at 0900 and can stay until 2400, and have the equivalent of 3 in-game days to loot. 

All scrap has value, and once you collect enough to cover tram repair costs you can head to the station. Or, if you have time left, you can opt to continue looting. More scrap means more money to spend at the station where you'll find items for sale, a gear upgrade shelf, and radiation healing showers. This can be a risky call though. It’s easy to get lost inside the large buildings which are occupied by a myriad of enemies. In addition, rains and environmental hazards cause radiation poisoning that will eventually kill you if you don’t deal with it. Thankfully each stop has kiosks where you can trade scrap for a radiation healing green juice. A run is over if you aren’t able to collect enough scrap to cover tram repair costs in the allotted time, or if everyone in your group dies. 

The Good:

The standout mechanic is the incredibly convincing Mimesis. They’re not like the ones you’ve encountered in other games - these are some tricky bastards. Your voices are recorded, but instead of just feeding back out of context phrases, they can respond appropriately. If you think you can use emotes to distinguish between friend and foe, think again. They copy these too. Their movement doesn’t raise any red flags either. They don’t attack immediately, even if you hit them. When they do, depending on their weapon they may only cause harm, fooling you into thinking one of your teammates is a little trigger happy. I encountered one that walked with me for a bit, engaged in a perfectly normal conversation, then abruptly threw a bomb and killed me. Nicely played, Mimesis. 

One of the major updates introduced the ability for spectators to momentarily take over a Mimesis near the player they are spectating. This allows you to prank your friends to hilarious effect by convincing them the Mimesis is not a mimic. Or, if you want to keep them as friends, it’s also a great way to give a warning. 

It’s not just the mimics that are fun. The variety of enemies, with a cartoony art style that contrasts with their malicious intent, will have you screaming like a small child. There’s an adorable little squirrel who suddenly latches on to your face and sucks the life out of you, a ballerina who looks nice until she starts spinning and you realize her tutu is made out of blades, and an Easter Bunny from hell to name a few.  

If you can get to the station with enough extra funds, you can build some nice weapons. The basic items are, well, pretty basic, but add a few upgrades and you can create some really fun to use gear. There are interesting tools to try out as well that can help with navigation, including an incessantly yapping dog and a megaphone.

And finally, the game ran great on our PCs, with none of my group encountering any bugs, glitches, or frame rate issues.

The Bad

The sheer number of enemies makes the game feel too hard. It’s not marketed for solo play, and I’d say failure is likely with anything less than 4 people. The danger starts out reasonably, but then ramps up quickly. Spend too much time in any location, and enemy swarms become hard to manage. This was the biggest complaint coming from my friends.  

Contributing to the difficulty is an economy that can feel unfair. Much of the scrap is low value and seems scarce. Or maybe the buildings are so big that it's spread out. In any case, given just 4 inventory slots for scrap and gear, to make any stop worthwhile you’ll need to trudge back and forth to your tram. This takes time, and time is not your friend. You could go in empty handed, but it wouldn’t end well for you. Adding insult to injury is the fact that for every teammate that dies, a random item disappears from your tram, including any gear you might have dropped to make space.

Still on the economy, another complaint we had was the high cost of items and upgrades. Having a good weapon is critical, and the starting melee weapon available at your base won’t take your group far. There are nice options for sale at the service station, and the weapon upgrades are creative and effective, but they cost so much that you and your teammates will be fighting over who gets the one good weapon you can afford. 

There aren’t alot of maps, at least early on which is where we largely remained stuck, and it didn’t take long for looting to start to feel repetitive and tedious. While this is usually a staple of roguelikes and friendslops, for us it also had the adverse effect of draining morale and the desire to continue playing.  

Our group's last complaint was about character movement. It feels rigid, impacting combat and navigation. There’s no crouch ability, and stealth doesn’t seem to factor into the game at all. You can jump, but it feels more like a small, unsatisfying hop. It won’t help in combat, and you won't be able to get over any of the low barricades throughout the levels which feel like they exist to make navigation difficult.

Final Verdict

After trying on several occasions, my friends and I couldn’t get into any kind of rhythm. Looting felt like a grind, and the difficulty spikes were very frustrating. The mimics are amazing though, and made for some truly hysterical moments. That alone makes me conclude that if you like games like Lethal Company and R.E.P.O, give Mimesis a try at the current early access price of $9.99. We may re-visit after future updates, but for now we’re still looking for our next game.