Stick It to the Stickman leaves early access with 96 per cent positive reviews, and a very clear idea of corporate life

Some games have store pages better written than most screenplays. This one contains the following line: here at this great company, we do the thing. To be clear, the thing is what we do.

And a few lines later: 50 per cent of office work is kicking stickmen out of windows.

What it is

A roguelite beat 'em up in which you climb the corporate ladder by hitting everything standing between you and a promotion.

The game puts it bluntly: every red stickman you defeat is one dead red stickman closer to a promotion.

You punch, slice, burn, staple-gun, throw fireballs, bring out the jackhammer and the chainsaw. Solo, or with a "friend", in what the studio calls a truly hostile work environment.

And you climb to the top of the tower to deal with your boss personally.

Why it works this well

Because the satire is in the mechanics, not in the dialogue.

You do not fight monsters, you fight colleagues who want the same job. You do not pick up magic weapons, successful applicants are issued a range of brutal weaponry to help them become the boss, administrative phrasing included.

You fight other CEOs for the prestige of being the CEO with the biggest muscles. You perform dubiously legal tasks critical to expanding the company: stealing cars, suppressing protestors, kidnapping building inspectors. All in the name of profit, because without profit there is nothing. Nothing.

It is written by people who have clearly read far too many internal communications, and it shows on every screen.

What surrounds it

Co-op, in split screen, which is the ideal format for this kind of nonsense.

A level builder, with which you construct your own company: hiring, firing, furnishing, marketing and catering decisions. Creations are shared through Steam Workshop.

That editor is probably what will sustain the game long term, as is often the case with Free Lives.

What it is worth

The game has been in early access since August 2025 and leaves it today, at 11.99 euros.

And the figures are eloquent: 7,669 positive reviews out of 7,947, roughly 96 per cent. One of the best receptions I have recorded this year, on a volume that leaves no room for statistical doubt.

Free Lives means Broforce, GORN and Anger Foot. These are people who know how to make stupid games with impeccable timing, and Devolver Digital knows how to sell them.

My only reservation belongs to the genre: a roguelite beat 'em up is judged on the variety of its weapons and situations, and even the best eventually repeat. With nearly eight thousand reviews and a rating like that, I would say this one solved the problem better than most.

And there is something healthy about a game on corporate violence leaving early access on the date it announced a month in advance.

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