"Vigilant: Burn & Bloom Launches on iOS - Endless Survival Game"

Ever heard the phrase that two people are like oil and water? Well, what about fire and water? Ah yes, two diametrically opposed elements, sort of. And in the newly-released Vigilant: Burn & Bloom, it's your job to keep these two elements in check, lest an alien world be consumed by fire.

Burn and Bloom is an endless survival game with a difference, as you play the Sentinel, an underground guardian spirit newly awakened by the arrival of a mysterious meteorite on your alien world. You'll need to manage to keep the ecosystem in balance while keeping mysterious new, fiery elemental beings from engulfing the world in flame.

Oddly enough, you're not necessarily opposed to these fire beings. Your job is as much to manage them and keep them in balance as it is to destroy them when they become too powerful. Over time, you'll delve back underground to what the developers lovingly call your Batcave, upgrading and strengthening your powers and abilities.

The perennial battle between elements is one that pops up virtually everywhere in media. However, all too often it does feel like an absolute battle of good versus bad, whereas nature is hardly like that in real life. So it's interesting to see Vigilant: Burn & Bloom tackle it in a slightly more nuanced way.

Of course, you'll still be rotating your phone around, blasting fire elementals with water orbs and enjoying plenty of action in the process. But the fact it's not just a brutally satisfying, unquestioning kill 'em-all shooter, I think, gives significant points in Burn & Bloom's favor.

Vigilant: Burn & Bloom is currently in soft launch and available on the iOS App Store. A worldwide iOS launch is set for December, with an Android release coming in the first quarter of 2025! So keep an eye out, and keep your fire extinguisher handy.

Looking to check out another roguelike? Why not dig into our review of the recently-released Dungeon Clawer as UFO Grabber meets rabbit revenge tale?