Take the most fun weapons in your game, then make them practically unusable due to an extremely strict mana system.

Put really fluid and smooth movement in your game, but then make all the enemies track you perfectly and all the projectiles homing.

Put tons of enemies, projectiles and environmental hazards on screen for a challenging experience, then make taking damage blur your entire screen so you can't see anything.

Then wrap it up in a neat roguelite bow with random upgrades during level ups, and you've got yourself Ziggurat.

It's got so much potential to be better than it is that it genuinely hurts to talk about it so negatively. The game shines when you have the ammo reserves for weapon switching and you're zooming around the arenas like you're in Quake. And on the plus side, it honestly doesn't look too bad. It's got a Hexen-like grunginess I find interesting. Then it just squanders all that potential with these inane design decisions. It's too often you're just pinging bullet sponges with your wand while taking way too much damage in return. This makes it feel like a frustrating chore, which is the last thing you ever want in a title that hinges on constant replayability.