For you it’s new, for the veteran Doomers, it’s the expected thing, we knew it was going to be like that. With this I mean the dev, Mechadon, is known for this particular style of big maps, somewhat labyrinthine and that always have the risk of the player getting stuck not knowing how to advance. The exploration needed to unstuck yourself in those situations can be a bit of an acquired taste, yeah.
I got pretty stuck on map 4 or map 5 and needed seven or eight minutes going in circles until I got it. Hell on map 1 I didn’t notice some trigger or new area and I needed a pair of extra rounds going around, I thought "damnit already stuck on the first map!.
I don’t mind labyrinthine or large maps, but I think there’s a way to make them a bit less of a chore. Like I said, more environmental cues would help.
It’s amazing to see such an impressive turnaround by a solo dev without a publisher. For contrast, the more pricey Wrath hasn’t received a single content update since HROT was unveiled and will likely miss its latest unrealistic release window, three-and-a-half years behind schedule.
I liked it, but let me be clear, it’s more an acquired taste thing. If you aren’t specifically into retro shooters, it’s very possible you won’t like it.
It is… it is an indie game, all right. Only 15€, 4 hours of game distributed into 23 levels, not that many different weapons or enemies, not very replayable.
It’s definitely the type of game that has a small scope but it does the main thing it has to do right, that vibe of oppressive, sad 80s in Eastern Europe mixed with that weird abstractness of a 90s shooter, like if it was a forgotten janky european FPS from the 90s, although to its credit, it does it while offering a smooth, consistent action in the firefights. It drinks a lot from the well called Quake 1 in the gameplay, while also offers a more creepy experience playing more with darkness, weird enemies, and a few scares. Although it’s a very idiosyncratic game that reflects the personality of a single author, and it also has some weird humor notes here and there (and in the final boss, that is a sight to behold).
Perhaps the real flaw that I see is that the level design is pretty homogenous in the first two episodes, after a while you get the feel they all play similar in what pace they have, they tricks they use, their length, etc.
Just a reminder that when the conversation about a game gets buried in these catch-all threads, the conversation is invisible to everyone who isn’t reading that particular catch-all thread. I realize there’s no way to know in advance whether a game, movie, TV show, or whatever will get enough posts deserve its own thread, but once the conversation starts to build up steam, maybe someone reach out to a mod like me or @telefrog to suggest splitting it off into its own thread?
Okay, that’s enough of my silly tut-tutting for one day. Imma go try Boltgun and then post in its Brand Spankin’ New thread.
EDIT: edited out the actual tut-tutting, which was unnecessary
A little heads-up. Trepang² (That’s Trepang Squared, there never was an earlier part) is coming out on the 21st of June. Took it’s sweet time, but the results look good.
Gameplay is heavily inspired by classic Hong Kong action cinema, with some (supernatural) abilities for the player like slow time, invisibility, casual neck-snapping and the ability to grab enemies to use as a shield (or toss them as an improvised weapon), while the story supposedly takes inspiration from F.E.A.R., blending shooting with horror elements. The devs were particularly proud of the enemy AI, which is designed to act naturally, covering potential places the player could come from as well as reacting tactically to the players presence. We’ll see.
For some reason I thought it was out but discovered it wasn’t when I went and looked. Think I’ll wait, although it seemed a lot had changed since the last time I put 10 minutes into it. It’s a bit dark (I ha d to turn up brightness and gamma).
To sum up 30 minutes:
The shooting is absolutely exquisite.
The campaign is barely realized, mostly an excuse to string together scenarios.
The horror elements - are there, but mostly an excuse to shoot something else.
The combat simulator mode is probably the high point of the game, basically THE sandbox murderspree simulator.
Yeah, for that alone, I’ll probably pick this up, but the lack of an iron sights is currently troubling me. It’s possible that iron sights don’t work well for this type of pure action game, but it still seems like an oversight to me, as I’ve been using that option in every shooter I’ve played for decades now, and I know I’m gonna be spamming my RMB for a while out of habit.
