I can't recommend this experience to the average gamer. It's trippy, it's slick, and it's stylistic, sure. The premise and ambience are cool and the overall visual execution is pretty good. However, it's riddled with gameplay issues that ultimately bring the entire experience down.


Don't take it the wrong way, there is some fun to be had here. If you enjoy extremely fast-paced top-down violence with a degree of luck, then this might be your sort of thing. For most folks, this will likely end up being more of a headache to play.

While it visually nails a retro vibe, this can also be to its own detriment. For some players, you may experience motion sickness or headaches after small amounts of play. The text pops out, vibrates, and changes colors. The game world wobbles a bit and has a static/VHS filter over it. The extremely fast nature of the gameplay can become visually exhausting after a while. The music can become throbbing or annoying during certain sequences.


I wouldn't call this game difficult, but brutally random. The AI and hit detection specifically. The AI in this game seem to have some kind of random omniscience. You can attack an enemy head on, and sometimes they'll instantly kill you. At other times, they won't even react. This is compounded by the fact that there is no wind up or hit spark for any attacks made by enemies. They only need to touch you and you are dead. They also have super speed, meaning you'll have only fractions of a second to react most of the time.

Gun-toting enemies are especially egregious of this behavior. Sometimes you can sneak up on an gun armed opponent and K.O. them easily. At other times, they'll sense you immediately, do a 180 degree snap turn(like an aimbot), and kill you from several yards away. They'll even snipe you from outside your view. It's almost bizarre, as sometimes the AI purposely plays "poorly", as if to be a good sport about it. Occasionally, I'd encounter enemies who couldn't shoot straight, or had trouble turning. At other times, they'd resort to the same "snap and kill" behavior.

The big keyword here is "Sometimes", because that's pretty much this game in a nutshell. Sometimes the AI is brutally efficient to the point they might as well be cheating. At other times they are so clueless they won't hear gunshots even when you fire right next to them. Sometimes doors will cover you, and other times enemies will see you through them and shoot you. Sometimes you can fire a full-auto weapon and no enemies will come running, and other times the entire level will be alerted. Sometimes your weapon will hit the enemy, sometimes it misses entirely.


Which leads to the next point, the hit detection is very spotty. The weapon mechanics in this game are fun, but they also seem to not connect half the time. Melee weapons seem to hit in a cone in front of them, but if you are too close to your opponent, you'll do no damage. However, they can still hit within a certain distance. If you end up walking on top of your enemy before swinging or shooting(say, in a furious brawl with multiple opponents), too bad. They'll instant kill you and you'll be forced to restart.


I think it really all comes down to consistency. I'm fine with the idea of a super fast murder spree retro game, but only if the rules are internally consistent. A lot of my victories feel like luck, and a lot of my losses feel cheap.

I haven't played the second game, so hopefully these issues are ironed out. It's a solid concept, I just wish it was executed better.


Steam Curator

[b]I can't recommend this experience to the average gamer. It's trippy, it's slick, and it's stylistic, sure. The premise and ambience are cool and the overall visual execution is pretty good. However, it's riddled with gameplay issues that ultimately bring the entire experience down.[/b] Don't take it the wrong way, there is some fun to be had here. If you enjoy extremely fast-paced top-down violence with a degree of luck, then this might be your sort of thing. For most folks, this will likely end up being more of a headache to play. While it visually nails a retro vibe, this can also be to its own detriment. For some players, you may experience motion sickness or headaches after small amounts of play. The text pops out, vibrates, and changes colors. The game world wobbles a bit and has a static/VHS filter over it. The extremely fast nature of the gameplay can become visually exhausting after a while. The music can become throbbing or annoying during certain sequences. I wouldn't call this game difficult, but brutally random. The AI and hit detection specifically. The AI in this game seem to have some kind of random omniscience. You can attack an enemy head on, and sometimes they'll instantly kill you. At other times, they won't even react. This is compounded by the fact that there is no wind up or hit spark for any attacks made by enemies. They only need to touch you and you are dead. They also have super speed, meaning you'll have only fractions of a second to react most of the time. Gun-toting enemies are especially egregious of this behavior. Sometimes you can sneak up on an gun armed opponent and K.O. them easily. At other times, they'll sense you immediately, do a 180 degree snap turn(like an aimbot), and kill you from several yards away. They'll even snipe you from outside your view. It's almost bizarre, as sometimes the AI purposely plays "poorly", as if to be a good sport about it. Occasionally, I'd encounter enemies who couldn't shoot straight, or had trouble turning. At other times, they'd resort to the same "snap and kill" behavior. The big keyword here is "Sometimes", because that's pretty much this game in a nutshell. Sometimes the AI is brutally efficient to the point they might as well be cheating. At other times they are so clueless they won't hear gunshots even when you fire right next to them. Sometimes doors will cover you, and other times enemies will see you through them and shoot you. Sometimes you can fire a full-auto weapon and no enemies will come running, and other times the entire level will be alerted. Sometimes your weapon will hit the enemy, sometimes it misses entirely. Which leads to the next point, the hit detection is very spotty. The weapon mechanics in this game are fun, but they also seem to not connect half the time. Melee weapons seem to hit in a cone in front of them, but if you are too close to your opponent, you'll do no damage. However, they can still hit within a certain distance. If you end up walking on top of your enemy before swinging or shooting(say, in a furious brawl with multiple opponents), too bad. They'll instant kill you and you'll be forced to restart. I think it really all comes down to consistency. I'm fine with the idea of a super fast murder spree retro game, but only if the rules are internally consistent. A lot of my victories feel like luck, and a lot of my losses feel cheap. I haven't played the second game, so hopefully these issues are ironed out. It's a solid concept, I just wish it was executed better. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33370076/]Steam Curator[/url]