ErMa (Early Mammal)
Evolutionary action at an intelligently designed pace! Tear through hordes of enemies, thrash colossal bosses, and collect new body parts to adapt your way through the increasingly deathly levels of this arcade survival adventure!
Developer
Publisher
Release
April 2, 2025
1 year and 122 days ago
Steam Reviews
Positive10 reviews90.0%
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Game contextLatest: IGF Team
| ContextThe evidence factors used to assess whether this game belongs on IndieGame.Fan. | Status | Notes Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes |
|---|---|---|
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer. | ||
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher. | ||
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified. | ||
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game. | ||
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released. |
Media
6 itemsAbout the Game
Evolution sims.
Seldom representing the concept of "adaptation" all too well, and often not particularly fun in the first place, games like Evo and Spore have always been the epitome of "mixed bag, missed potential." But what if we took a different approach? Instead of attempting to adapt Darwin and Gregor Mendel's notebooks into a multi-genre anthology game about evolving from slime mold to a race of gods, ErMa (Early Mammal) focuses on being a heck of a fun topdown action game powered by triple-distilled character customization.
What makes Erma different?
- A highly developed movement and procedural animation system. Much work has gone into balancing ease of control with making it fun and challenging to chase down prey and flee from predators.
- Over 100 interchangeable body parts, organs, and elemental gland weapons let you turn Erma into anything you see fit. Want to play a fire-breathing dragon that flies over the land and snatches up prey with its pincer tail? A giant sea monster that picks off foes from the river with its elongated neck and tongue? A tiny rodent that avoids predators while scooping up small lizards with its vacuum mouth? A menacing mole that ambushes from the walls, swallows enemies its own size whole, and covers its retreat with a cloud of paralyzing electric vapor? The possibilities are as impactful as they are numerous!
- An arcady gameplay loop keeps the action and adaptation going nonstop. Spawn into large, procedural maps, complete various objectives while staving off starvation, and move onto the next challenge!
- Bosses; like, some PROPER, multi-phase action game battles with unique gimmicks and movesets, not just a handful of bigger enemies.
Seldom representing the concept of "adaptation" all too well, and often not particularly fun in the first place, games like Evo and Spore have always been the epitome of "mixed bag, missed potential." But what if we took a different approach? Instead of attempting to adapt Darwin and Gregor Mendel's notebooks into a multi-genre anthology game about evolving from slime mold to a race of gods, ErMa (Early Mammal) focuses on being a heck of a fun topdown action game powered by triple-distilled character customization.
What makes Erma different?
- A highly developed movement and procedural animation system. Much work has gone into balancing ease of control with making it fun and challenging to chase down prey and flee from predators.
- Over 100 interchangeable body parts, organs, and elemental gland weapons let you turn Erma into anything you see fit. Want to play a fire-breathing dragon that flies over the land and snatches up prey with its pincer tail? A giant sea monster that picks off foes from the river with its elongated neck and tongue? A tiny rodent that avoids predators while scooping up small lizards with its vacuum mouth? A menacing mole that ambushes from the walls, swallows enemies its own size whole, and covers its retreat with a cloud of paralyzing electric vapor? The possibilities are as impactful as they are numerous!
- An arcady gameplay loop keeps the action and adaptation going nonstop. Spawn into large, procedural maps, complete various objectives while staving off starvation, and move onto the next challenge!
- Bosses; like, some PROPER, multi-phase action game battles with unique gimmicks and movesets, not just a handful of bigger enemies.
