Waves 2: Notorious on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Waves 2: Notorious is an arcade twin-stick shooter set in Cyberspace. Build Combos, earn Adrenaline and unleash powerful Burst attacks as you Dive into the Net and do battle against an AI that adapts to your weaknesses!

Waves 2: Notorious is a early access, action roguelike and arena shooter game developed and published by Squid In A Box Ltd.
Released on December 16th 2015 is available in English on Windows and Linux.

It has received 311 reviews of which 287 were positive and 24 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.5 out of 10. 😎

The game is free to play on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Waves 2: Notorious into these genres:

Early Access Action Roguelike Arena Shooter Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up Top-Down Shooter Twin Stick Shooter Shooter Arcade Top-Down Cyberpunk Bullet Time Procedural Generation Action Abstract Colorful Score Attack Psychedelic Hacking Multiplayer

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Waves 2: Notorious through various videos and screenshots.

Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot
Waves 2: Notorious screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS *: Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
  • Processor: 2GHz Dual Core
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Shader Model 5.0 compatible graphics card
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 500 MB available space
Linux
  • Processor: 2GHz Dual Core
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: SM 5.0
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 600 MB available space
  • Additional Notes: Requires up to date proprietary graphics drivers.

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Aug. 2022
As a massive Geometry Wars fan I love this game I have kept coming back over the years to watch it's progression. Not sure why it only says 0.9 hours on Steam but I have definitely played more than a few hours. I have been hoping for a release one day but when I read the sad news today that the author has died of cancer and his partner has released his games for free as his final gift I found it quite sad. This gem will forever be in early access but since it is now free there is no reason not to give it a go.
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Nov. 2016
tl;dr: I love this game. Buy it. Review: Just nominated Waves2 for the "Just 5 more minutes" Steam Award. This games has cost me more hours of badly-needed sleep than any other game, in addictive little 5 minute increments. tight controls smoothly escalating difficulty awesome visuals great soundtrack intelligent array of weapons/power-ups well thought-out enemy spawning I'm as close to 100 years old as I am to 20. My gaming time is limited and precious to me. Waves2 delivers. Always a joy. Never thought anything could equal the arcade version of Tempest. I was wrong. My favorite twin-stick (hell, one of my favorite games). Ever.
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June 2016
Reviewing Alpha 3.5. This review is most useful if you've played the first Waves, a game I am a huge fan of. Waves (the first one) was a simple twin stick shooter. There were only a few enemy types, a gun, a bomb, slowmo and a few game mechanics. This made it simple fun and you could play for a few minutes or for a couple of hours. Waves squared (this one) is better in almost every way. The same game modes are there, however the game is much faster paced and aggressive now. No more waiting 2 - 3 minutes before it got exciting, now you wait 1 minute and you're swamped. To counter this however you can take a certain amount of damage, rather than the 1 touch kill of the first game. Overall I would say this game is slightly harder because it is so quick. The arenas are no longer round, they're oddly shaped with obstacles that both benefit and hinder you. No longer can you simply run in circles and shoot backwards. The big change is an upgrade system where you can change your primary weapon (the gun), secondary weapon (default: the bomb) and utility (default: the slow motion). This means you can adapt the setup to your specific way of playing, whether it be shooting enemies from across the grid or up close, using slow mo to think or instead an extra shield to take a burst of damage. The game mechanics are about the same but with additions, e.g. collecting data to unlock upgrades, and the tutorial doesn't (yet?) explain everything. Hopefully it will because there are quite a few things going on. Then there's the grid. This is basically challenges. I'm not a big fan but certainly it will appeal to some. All in all this is a good solid easy to pick up game that you can play for 3 minutes at a time or 30. And at it's budget price, it's worth a look if you like the look of the videos. Downsides: 1. There is one music track - turn the music off in the options for now. 2. Tutorial is basic which will lead to confusion, especailly for those who didn't play the first Waves. 3. The upgrades take quite a lot of work to unlock, and there are loads of them. You're gonna need to put in a lot of hours to unlock everything. 4. The main menu is really hard to navigate using the gamepad, you need the mouse.
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Feb. 2016
Great game. Very different from the original with many great changes. Hope a lot more gets fixed during the early access phase. Pros: + Huge replay-ability + Beautiful Visuals + Nodes offer great challenge + Lots of smart additions to the original + Challenging arenas Cons: - Same terrible song over and over (worse than all songs from the original) - Audible triggers and queues are tough to distinguish - Loadout section makes no sense at all - Cubes seem nearly impossible to kill now Wish List: - Explanation of the loadout screen - Make killing cubes a bit easier (seems like sure death when one shows up) - More track selection, or allow for custom tracks to be added via music folder like GTA5 - Multiplayer support - Better sense of accomplishment progressing through the grid Overall, this is one of my favorite twin stick shooters now, but I just hope a few of the cons get fixed up in the upcoming patches. Keep up the great work devs!
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Dec. 2015
I love the original Waves and have so far not been disappointed by the promises of this sequel. Can't wait to see how it shapes up over the course of Early Access. Pros: - Faster pace than the original - very frantic and enjoyable in combination with the new shield/energy mechanic - New GRID mode is great - The updated graphics are very shiny! Cons: - I may need new right thumbstick for my 360 controller by the time this game makes it to full release!
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Frequently Asked Questions

Waves 2: Notorious is free to play on Steam.

Waves 2: Notorious is not on sale because is already free to play on Steam.

Waves 2: Notorious received 287 positive votes out of a total of 311 achieving a rating of 8.48.
😎

Waves 2: Notorious was developed and published by Squid In A Box Ltd.

Waves 2: Notorious is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Waves 2: Notorious is not playable on MacOS.

Waves 2: Notorious is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Waves 2: Notorious offers both single-player and multi-player modes.

Waves 2: Notorious offers both Co-op and PvP modes.

Waves 2: Notorious does not currently offer any DLC.

Waves 2: Notorious does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Waves 2: Notorious does not support Steam Remote Play.

Waves 2: Notorious does not currently support Steam Family Sharing.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Waves 2: Notorious.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 09 June 2025 07:29
SteamSpy data 10 June 2025 17:25
Steam price 09 June 2025 07:29
Steam reviews 13 June 2025 05:58

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Waves 2: Notorious, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Waves 2: Notorious
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Waves 2: Notorious concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Waves 2: Notorious compatibility
Waves 2: Notorious
Free to play
8.5
287
24
Game modes
Multiplayer
Online players
0
Developer
Squid In A Box Ltd
Publisher
Squid In A Box Ltd
Release 16 Dec 2015
Platforms
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