REVIEW #88
HROT
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In all honesty, HROT has genuinely shocked me with how fun and addictive of a single-player FPS it is. Playing like a cross between Quake 1 and DUSK, it checks all of the boxes for great style, control, combat, sound design, level design, sense of humor, art design, and background music. The graphics and color palette can be a little "beige-on-beige", but they still work surprisingly well in creating this game's sense of style. The main campaign is divided into 3 episodes, and even after those are completed, there's a fantastically addictive endless mode as well as mod support.

Things that I can critique on are few and minor. For example, how to move forward in a level doesn't always feel completely clear. There were a couple of times where I felt stuck and it took me a moment to figure out how to progress, but with that said, I never needed to consult a guide and was able to complete each level on my own, even if it took a second for me to identify what I needed to do next. Additionally, the enemy AI can sometimes cause your foes to get a little stuck when walking into walls. With that said, your adversaries still behave very intelligently for the most part, featuring pretty solid path-finding capabilities and even the ability to jump over obstacles to fire a volley in your direction.

Again, I'm so surprised and happy to discover the hidden gem that I believe HROT to be. Also, I believe that the game is at least 3 times better than how its Steam store page presents it to be, so if it looks even just vaguely interesting, get it. I promise that it's worth every bit that you'll pay.

I'm quite confident that this will be one of my favorite Steam purchases of 2024.

Simple concept, flawless execution.

Stylistically inspired by Quake and CHASM: The Rift, HROT is a retro FPS that is absolutely not out to reinvent the wheel like some of its contemporaries (see: Ultrakill), but rather to offer you a glass of wine, dig up an old photobook and show you what the wheel looked like in 1986 Czechoslovakia - cracking jokes about things that'll make your skin crawl once you stop and think about it sober.

Nothing about its gameplay is particularly complex: all your weapons barely stray from the standards set by Doom, Quake and more recently Dusk - yet, they're also all interesting pulls from the history of Czech firearms history. You don't get an AKM in this game, but rather a CZ Model 23/25 submachine gun.

The level set follows that same exact philosophy: every single level is, in fact, set in a simplified and stylized rendition of a real place in the Czech republic: from railway stations, gymnasiums and major residential areas, to a variety of castles, cathedrals and fortresses dating back to the middle ages. It's incredibly soulful.

That same approach also applies to the props, items and miscellaneous interactibles scattered around the levels: from particularly rowdy washing machines, to scrappy bikes and children's toys, most props in HROT carry this sort of nostalgic aura to them - which will probably resonate with folks who grew up in the same time and place, while functioning as an extremely charming time capsule for everyone else.

On top of that historical weight however, the game's tone swings from dreadful to absurd at a moment notice, in a balancing act that creates a progressively surreal atmosphere as you carve a path through the hordes of infested military policemen, biomechanical, lenin-headed drones and hooded hussars with equally hooded horses. One of the few videogames in which a cinematic adaptation could work well in my opinion, as the whole game already feels like a sort of avant-garde silent comedy in all the best ways.

Also, if you interact with a toilet while facing away from it, you can take a dump.

The feeling of slipping into your beer stained wifebeater, kicking handicapped people in the face and shooting gorillas with a tesla gun.
It's great honestly.