Why Genesis Rising Is the Weirdest Sci-Fi RTS You've Never Played

Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade Review – Glorious, Gross, and Glitched

There are games you forget a week after playing, and then there’s Genesis Rising—a cosmic fever dream of living ships, blood-based economies, and a story that feels like Warhammer 40K took acid and read Invader Zim fanfic.

Released in 2007, broken from the jump, and based on a one-off Serbian comic nobody’s read, this is a game where your fleet oozes across space, harvesting corpses for currency and mutating into abominations.

Oh, and the final boss is basically a rock who’s mad at God.

Humanity's Final Form: Mutant Flesh Cult

In this unhinged future, mankind isn’t just evil—they’re the villains of the universe. After getting smacked by aliens one too many times, we bounced back by inventing organids: bioengineered, living ships that drink blood and evolve on the fly.

Now humans rule the entire universe (not just the galaxy, mind you), and all surviving aliens are slaves or worshippers of the human God—who used to be a dude.

It’s every Warhammer fan’s twisted dream... if the Space Marines were drunk and horny and piloted cancer.

The Ship Is Alive. And So Are the Bugs.

Let’s talk gameplay.

Genesis Rising is a real-time strategy game that takes place on a 2D plane, with persistent fleets and customizable ships that mutate with genes you collect in combat. Sounds cool, right?

It is. But also, it’s a mess.

You can equip ships with new limbs, weapons, and shields—each visible as the model literally grows. You can drain enemies of blood mid-fight, harvest mutations, and Frankenstein your vessels into techno-organic monsters.

But…

• The UI is pure pain.
• You can’t save gene builds.
• Mutations overheat.
• Missiles can one-shot you from across the map.
• There's no in-mission save.
• And the game crashes. Constantly.

This is Homeworld if it was held together by duct tape, fleshy tubes, and prayer.

Visuals: Stunning, Slimy, and Surreal

Even broken shaders can’t ruin the aesthetic. These ships don’t just look alive—they twitch, pulse, and bleed. Stations are hunks of meat. Resource collectors are mosquito monsters. When you zoom out, it’s beautiful. When you zoom in, it’s disgusting.

And that’s the point.

The world feels alien and uncanny in the best way. You’re not a noble hero—you’re the freakshow the rest of the galaxy fears. You look like the villain because you are the villain.

Which is why it’s so frustrating that the writing tries to paint you as some well-meaning adventurer. More on that in a bit.

Sound & Music: Gregorian Metal and Cringe

The audio is a mixed bag from the abyss.

• Voice Acting: Half is B-movie brilliance. The rest feels like rejected audiobook auditions. Iconah (your main character) sounds like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson doing a tired Saturday morning cartoon.
• Ambient Sound: Non-existent. Sometimes it’s just dead silence. No space hum, no music—just existential dread.
• Combat Effects: Bad lightsaber toy energy. Pew-pew with zero weight.
• Music: Now this is where it slaps.

The Genesis Rising soundtrack goes from bog-standard RTS battle loops to weird, haunting Gregorian chants and whispering choirs that sound like they’re trying to summon Satan through your headphones. It’s underused, but brilliant in moments.

Lore & Story: When the Rock Met God's Nemesis

So… the plot.

You’re Iconah, child of a powerful human general, gifted a living ship on your fifth birthday. Later, you’re sent to find the Universal Heart, a mysterious force tied to all life.

You run into aliens who also have organids (blasphemy), a church led by weirdos, a fascist time traveler (who’s also your romantic interest?), and a sentient rock named Mellagio who is literally pissed off at God for making other life.

It goes full Metal Gear in space, with clones of yourself, time travel, betrayal, and a scene where you argue with your own duplicates over which god rock to control.

By the end, you're basically forced into one of three endings:

• Let Mellagio keep the Heart and trap Juno.
• Destroy the Heart to "return it to God".
• Mutate the Heart and rule the galaxy as a new space tyrant.

The “bad” ending is also the most honest. And shortest.

Is It Fun Though?

That’s... complicated.

The ideas in Genesis Rising are incredible. Bio-ships, blood economies, space-fascism, parasitic weapons, rock titans—it’s all dripping with potential.

But it’s buried under:

• Clunky controls
• Terrible UI
• Unbalanced combat
• Constant crashes
• A tone that can’t decide between Warhammer 40K, Farscape, and Mass Effect fanfic

It’s one of those games that’s way more fun to talk about than to actually play.

A Mess Worth Remembering

Genesis Rising is the video game equivalent of a gorgeous alien corpse floating in space. Fascinating. Horrifying. And very, very dead.

But it sticks with you.

The organid ships, the insane lore, the haunting music—it all lingers in the back of your mind like space mold. If someone ever remade this with a decent budget and modern polish, it could be legendary.

Until then? It’s a beautiful disaster. A game that fails in fascinating ways, and deserves to be remembered for the insane ambition it dared to try.

Stay gross, stay curious, and keep your bio-ships loaded—more deep space gaming relics await at Land of Geek Magazine!

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