Tag: Impressions

  • Impressions: PIGFACE Early Access (PC)

    Impressions: PIGFACE Early Access (PC)

    It took three of PIGFACE’s brisk missions before I finally realised what connection I was trying to dredge from my cluttered memory. PIGFACE may have the appearance of a retro-inspired FPS in the trailers, but it often felt like a slick first-person mod for the earliest Hitman games – think Hitman: Codename 47 (2000) or the sequel, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002). It’s a compelling mix of exploring a sandbox-like maps for quest objectives and entertaining yourself by exploiting AI that are deadly at close-range but incredibly stupid overall.

    PIGFACE functions as a first-person shooter – with gloriously retro aesthetics, chunky gore, and thumping combat music – but running-and-gunning only feels viable when replaying missions with new upgrades. Once you’ve bought body armour; weapon attachments; and amassed equippable masks hidden in each level, it’s easier to tear through levels sowing confusion and popping heads. On your first run, however, you’ll want to take it slow and steady to avoid quick deaths and mission restarts.

    PIGFACE Motel Gunfight

    In this early access build, a brief introduction and tutorial introduce the player to “Exit” – a hit-woman who runs afoul of a vigilante group known as “The Cleaners”. With a bomb embedded in her skull to ensure compliance, she’s sent after several gangs to dismantle illegal drug and weapons trades. It’s a classic setup but also one with a surprising amount of narrative in the form between-mission cutscenes or calls from her handler; a handler that sounds increasingly stressed and unhinged when caught between a merciless killer and his equally intimidating boss.

    It remains to be seen how important that overarching narrative becomes, but it provides light context for a gameplay loop that shifts between Exit’s safehouse where you can buy and upgrade gear, and missions in locations scattered across a map of the local area – think rundown farms, motels, and train stations. From a distinctly ‘90s-era online storefront, the money you earn from completing missions and gathering scrap can be spent on buying new weapons, attachments, consumables, and armour – expanding your options when selecting a loadout in the van you take to each mission.

    PIGFACE Weapon Upgrades

    Armour and morphine shots help you survive more hits; optional masks – which offer a trade-off between perks and flaws – can synergise with your playstyle; but the most important attributes are weapon damage and their noise level. With no crosshair outside of scope and laser pointer attachments, running firefights that draw hordes of goons towards you are unwise. Instead, methodically clearing locations by sneaking in close and swiftly dispatching small groups is optimal. Gunfire may draw everyone in an area, but it still feels satisfyingly “gamey” with an unrealistically short range.

    Once you unlock silencers for every weapon (even if it makes little sense), you can start messing around with the AI in some fun but often immersion-breaking ways. You can snipe at distinct enemies to send them panicking and firing back at you – but their allies will often stand around and do nothing if you’re out of their noise detection range. You can storm a motel floor with a silenced shotgun, blast everyone in sight, only to slip back outside to prey on unaware patrols. Enemies can still kill you quickly if you find yourself surrounded, but once you build up a decent arsenal and accessories, your recklessness is more likely to get you killed than the enemy AI.

    PIGFACE Sandbox Maps

    As of this early access build (v0.24), it’s worth reiterating that PIGFACE is no boomer shooter with a focus on hand-crafted levels and enemy placement; it’s all about finding your own fun in janky sandbox environments reminiscent of the early Hitman games. If you enjoy the idea of brisk sandbox missions, replaying them with new gear or different approach, and just messing around with the AI for fun, PIGFACE is one to keep on your radar or in your wishlist.

    PIGFACE was previewed on PC using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher.

  • Impressions: The Rogue Prince of Persia (PS5/Xbox Series)

    Impressions: The Rogue Prince of Persia (PS5/Xbox Series)

    Arriving on consoles a year after launching into early access on PC, the full release of The Rogue Prince of Persia is a fun but limited rogue-lite. It layers classic Prince of Persia aesthetics and themes atop the fast and fluid gameplay of Dead Cells, and then tries, with reasonable success, to offer narrative context by way of an expanding storyline that fits the time-travelling, repetition-driven gameplay loop.

    If you are going in with no knowledge of the original trilogy, or no nostalgic expectations, it feels like a good companion game to the recent Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown that adopted a 2D Metroidvania framework. However, after a half-dozen hours, nearing the end of the second act, I was already growing tired of retreading familiar layouts and early bosses just to progress another story beat.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console Story

    That said, The Rogue Prince of Persia nails the opening hours. The traversal and combat feel responsive, look slick, and is always accompanied by an excellent soundtrack that blends Persian themes with a thumping beat. Evil Empire’s prior game, Dead Cells, was always fast but, befitting a Prince of Persia protagonist, this game is all about seamlessly flowing between stylish platforming and bouts of acrobatic combat.

    The side-on 2D perspective and clutter-free backdrops keep the action simple and readable, even while hurtling through platforming sections, avoiding deadly traps and spike pits, and prioritising enemies among clustered mobs. Despite the lack of third dimension, a wall run, vault, and dash – tied to the left and right triggers – add impressive complexity and the freedom of movement you would expect from the IP.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console Branching Paths

    In addition to scrambling up geometry within the gameplay plane, you can wall-run up, down, or across background walls. This allows you to string together lengthy sequences of wall-runs, jumps, dashes, and pole hops to keep off the ground with ease. Mastering this movement takes time – especially as the laws governing conservation of momentum don’t exist in this universe – but the move-set is essential for surviving the toughest platforming sections and avoiding the elaborate attack patterns of both common foes and bosses.

    Combat finds a good balance between simple and complex. Every weapon has a distinct attack speed, basic combo, and charged attack; secondary weapons typically provide ranged attacks that consume energy generated by melee strikes; while aerial slams, dashes, and vaults keep you out of harm’s way. The Rogue Prince of Persia is one of those games a skilled speedrunner could likely complete in a single run with only starter weapons.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console Combat

    That said, befitting its rogue-like structure, there are a myriad of secondary systems tied to narrative and character progression to incentivise pushing forward each time you fall. More importantly – and especially if you’re returning to the game for the first time since the early access launch – story beats are more common, and the progression systems provide more permanent buffs.

    Retreading early levels gets faster and more stylish thanks to conventional XP-based levelling and a ‘Souls-like, dropped-on-death resource. As you level, skill points can be assigned and freely reassigned across a half-dozen skill trees, buffing survivability, movement, energy gain, and resource farming. Several unlock a stackable “second chance” ability that I’d consider vital to getting through later runs.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console Upgrades

    Collecting the souls of corrupted Hun warriors is a risk-reward system. You can stash them at an alter found at the start of each level – or smash it for more souls and push on to the next. Back at the oasis hub, you can infuse these souls into unlocking new weapons or medallions (which provide passive abilities tied to your movement or combat abilities) that can appear in a run. It is a solid, addictive, one-more-run structure undone by a lack of diversity in environmental design, a limited number bosses, and set-pieces repeated too often.

    The evolving story is a highlight. The new prince falls to a Hun warlord in the opening scene, revealing a dark magic aiding the horde and the prince’s secret – a medallion that revives him at the last place he slept should he die. It’s a familiar setup for the IP and adds context for the rogue-lite gameplay loop. To keep the player engaged, each run offers a few branching paths between convergence points – usually a boss – with NPC encounters that sometimes change based on the prince’s knowledge, and a mind map that tracks clues hinting at where to explore next.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console General Berude Boss

    There’s fun banter and exposition between the prince, NPCs, and members of his family he saves, but the pace can slow dramatically at points. I found myself avoiding most combat and ignoring NPCs unless a quest demands you talk to them for a key item. Each act introduces new locations along your path to the palace but, to complete a quest, you need to complete several interactions along a fixed route and repeat all of them if you fall before the end.

    Another issue is that despite the aesthetic changes between environments and procedurally generated layouts, you only need to clear them a handful of times to recognise repeating locations, overused scripted events, and the fact they ultimately play out much the same way regardless. As soon as you become stuck on a late-run boss or the pace of levelling falls off, the repetitive design becomes more obvious and less satisfying.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia Console General Baater Boss

    All that said, The Rogue Prince of Persia is an indie project, at a lower price point, and (currently) available on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. With that in mind, it’s a fun and well-designed spin-off that could have done with a little more variety and less stringent quest flags. If you enjoyed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s 2D gameplay or loved Dead Cells and want to scratch a similar itch (albeit with a more platforming-focussed twist) The Rogue Prince of Persia will prove well worth your time.

    This article originally appeared on Nexushub.

    The Rogue Prince of Persia was played on PS5 using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher, and on Xbox Series S/X using Xbox Game Pass. It is also available on PC.

  • Impressions: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Console Port (Xbox Series S|X)

    Impressions: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Console Port (Xbox Series S|X)

    I’m always excited for ambitious indie or “AA” RPGs, especially those that might offer serious mechanical or narrative depth – even if it is often found under a veneer of jank like much of Piranha Bytes’ output. In recent years, I’ve sunk more time into both classic and new budget RPGs, like Gothic, Two Worlds, ATOM RPG, and Chernobylite, than I have into AAA RPGs that usually offer incredible production values at the expense of gameplay freedom or branching narratives. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon in one such mid-tier RPG, with a console port arriving after a year in PC early access. Unfortunately, without serious optimisation patches, the result is a mix of admirable ambition and infuriating instability that is much tougher to recommend than its highly praised PC counterpart.

    Starting with the good, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon’s grimdark reimagining of Arthurian legend provides a strong narrative hook. Centuries before the game takes place, a relentless plague – the “Red Death” – swept over Arthur Pendragon’s homeland, forcing him to lead survivors to colonise the mythical island of Avalon and drive back the presence of “Wryd” magic using ancient menhirs activated by Merlin. Your protagonist finds themselves imprisoned on Asylum Island just off the coast, tortured by “Red Priests” that have turned to increasingly desperate and brutal methods to treat the resurgent plague. During this prologue, your hero is bound to a fragment of King Arthur’s soul – now a spectre seemingly oblivious of recent events, who wants to be reborn to restore his kingdom. Unexpectedly, a Knight of the Round Table that aids your escape seems intent on destroying the soul fragments and preventing his rebirth.

    There are few inherently good or bad factions, and each region offers a choice to determine its fate.

    Shipwrecked on the misty southern shores of Avalon, you soon discover that Arthur has been revived multiple times over the centuries to restore the Kingdom of Man, but those efforts have been in vain. The Wyrdness continues to reclaim more of the island, corrupting humans, animals, and mythical beasts. Society has become increasingly brutal, with those taking up the mantle of a Knight of the Round Table no less savage than the bandits that raid caravans and villages. Conflict is brewing between Kamelot and the local human tribes, while a schism in Kamelot’s Court might result in civil war. It’s a dark and blood-soaked setting for a suitably dark and blood-soaked game, but the overarching goal is made clear from the start: regardless of the factions you aid or hinder along the way, you’re going to collect the fragments of Arthur’s soul to revive him or destroy him.

    The basic gameplay loop has been compared to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is not an unfair observation, but at least faction and ending choices feel more involved than Skyrim’s singular and half-baked “Civil War” questline. Combined, these regions may not match the scale of an Elder Scrolls map, but they are dense and diverse, packed with quest givers, marked locations, and hundreds of unmarked secrets for those who explore every corner. You assign armour and accessories to equipment slots; you assign weapons, shields, and spells to your left and right hand; you wield blades, hammers, bows, explosives, elemental magic, and summons against both human and monstrous enemies; you craft, brew, and cook hundreds of items to aid you in battle; and you fetch or kill an improbable number things to gain experience towards a flexible levelling system.

    There are a ton of viable builds with complementary skills and gear, yet I still fell back into old habits.

    There is an overworld with hub settlements and significant locations. There’s no shortage of interior locations like caves, crypts, ruins, and temples that conveniently loop around on themselves and have a treasure chest at the end. Named enemies serve as boss encounters and often guard the aforementioned treasure chests. Respawning overworld enemies allow you to farm experience and crafting materials and they become tougher during the night when afflicted by Wyrd magic. There’s also a ridiculous amount of gear, consumables, and crafting materials to loot from containers, locked chests, or corpses after every battle. At this point, you’d be right to think Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon offers few surprises for fans of the genre and, if anything, the size of many locations, the enemy respawn rate, and the sheer number of optional systems and item tiers can start to feel like unnecessary padding at times.

    Thankfully, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon benefits from its setting and build flexibility. You gain proficiency levels and bonus XP by repeatedly using specific gear and skills like in Skyrim, but for each level you gain and attribute point and skill point to invest wherever you so choose. You can just scrape by as a generalist on medium difficulty, but you can also focus on two or three skill tress with complementary perks, supplement those skills with armour and accessory buffs, and become overpowered – so long as you’re not forced into an encounter outside of your comfort zone. Dialogue and quest solutions are more focussed, with the main quest often forcing you to pick a faction in each region, with player choice and attribute-checks slightly altering events or changing the outcome of standalone side quests. All familiar systems but they’re elevated by the Celtic setting, diverse and enthusiastic voice work, and a soundtrack that shifts from serene exploration tunes to metal combat tracks.

    You can scrape by on the default normal difficulty as a generalist, but it is worth prioritising a few skills and weapon types if you want to survive boss encounters without exploiting the AI or spamming summons.

    The problem – as of this impressions piece going up – is that the console release of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon intersperses familiar and satisfying gameplay with a mix of exploitable jank, performance issues, and both random and repeatable crashes. As a mid-tier game with mid-tier pricing, I don’t mind that it often looks and feels last-gen, and I always appreciate games that let me survive tough encounters by clipping through geometry, spamming summons, exploiting OP skills, or dubious AI pathfinding. I don’t even have an issue with the residual PC-like menu that lets you freely toggle resolutions, framerate caps, v-sync, and vegetation quality. What I don’t appreciate is how little those settings influence the wildly variable performance on an Xbox Series X; how console-level VRR doesn’t work if you disable v-sync; or how simply running between certain areas or spawning multiple summons can tank the framerate and crash the game.

    To Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon’s credit, you can manually save, quick-save, and even maintain a half-dozen autosaves as often as every minute. This limits lost progress, sure, but random crashes can still ruin tough combat encounters in which saving is disabled, and some areas of the Keeper fortress hub became a stuttering mess and even inaccessible at times – notably the blacksmith and path towards the outlying village. I often had to take lengthy detours around the hub or fast-travel back and forth – presumably loading and de-loading map data – before I could finally engage with essential NPCs and merchants. For a game with dozens of multi-part quests that involve backtracking, this grew more annoying the longer I played and always left me on edge, incessantly saving just in case an autosave triggered in an area that would crash the game again after reloading.

    So many good boys/girls lost while I spent my time strafing behind enemies with a dagger!

    It’s all the more frustrating as I’ve been enjoying Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon despite those issues and desperately want to push forward into Act 2. However, given the current state of the console port during the first act – the act I assume benefitted the most from the early access period – I’m reluctant endure more performance hitches and the ever-present threat of crashes. For fans of the genre who don’t have the option of playing this on PC, I’d suggest you keep Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon on your radar while it receives more patches as there’s a solid and satisfying, 7/10-style budget RPG just waiting to emerge from a mire of technical issues.

    Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon was played on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS5.

  • Preview: Starship Troopers: Extermination offers cooperative chaos that could do with a little more order (v1.4)

    Preview: Starship Troopers: Extermination offers cooperative chaos that could do with a little more order (v1.4)

    The ongoing success of Helldivers 2 makes it easy to forget Offworld’s Starship Troopers: Extermination launched into PC early access in May 2023 seven months before it and finally arrived on consoles with the v1.0 release in October 2024, nine months late. The post-launch roadmap still promises updates – including a much-needed overhaul of the “Galactic Front” campaign structure – and the small but consistent player base has fluctuated back and forth between positive and negative sentiment.

    Returning to it on console, two years after covering that early access build, it still offers chaotic cooperative fun with brisk progression mechanics and authentic Starship Troopers aesthetics. However, those looking for a daily fix will find the lack of variety becomes an issue after just a handful of missions.

    With a cooperative PvE shooter core, Starship Troopers: Extermination has always benefited from simplicity. You can (and should) drop straight into the so-called “Main Missions” and learn as you go – especially as the base building tutorial and bland “Solo” missions are not even remotely indicative of its potential.

    It’s a class-based FPS with armoured Guardians and Demolishers to hold the line, mobile Rangers and Snipers to mark and prioritise targets, and Engineers and Medics to provide support for structures and infantry. You run and gun between objective points, toss grenades and lay mines, and activate class-based abilities on a cooldown to try turn the tide. There are few surprises where the shooting is concerned, but shredding a bug in a shower of gore looks and feels good.

    There needs to be a mission modifier for unlimited ammo turrets as I could do this all day.

    Starship Troopers: Extermination’s strengths and weaknesses are both tied to the evolving mission structure and base-building elements. Missions follow a similar flow: you’re dropped into the battlefield, you capture control points on the route towards a major objective, you defend refineries and gather ore, build and defend a base until a timed- or wave-based objective is fulfilled, and finally rush to extraction.

    Missions are dynamically generated across one of three large maps – with variable weather conditions, time of day, and difficulty mutators – but there’s clearly a limited number of locations objectives can spawn. As a result, you’ll soon end up taking the same routes and defending the same bases over and over again.

    For existing fans of the IP, there’s a familiar roster of Drones, Warriors, and Tigers Elites that’ll rush you; Inferno and Plasma bugs that’ll bombard fortifications at range; an infuriating “Gunner” bug that can whittle down your health from afar; and a massive Tanker Bug as a special event. Befitting the source material, their primary method of victory is overwhelming force, with each mission ramping up the threat level over time and tougher variants emerging. Surviving on foot is a challenge, even if you can coordinate all 16 players, but that is where the streamlined base-building mechanic comes into play.

    Building and maintaining a well-fortified base can be satisfying but it’s rare 16 players spread across 5 fireteams coordinate effectively.

    Within designated areas, you can rapidly assemble outposts around a key structure, building layers of walls, bunkers, towers, turrets, automated sentries, and stockpiles of ammunition for infantry or turrets you’ll need to maintain. Building options all fit into a single menu, you can rotate and align structures easily, and building or repairing simply involves holding down the trigger on the repair tool. On higher difficulties and during siege events, fortifications are the only viable way to survive an onslaught that is unrelenting by the time the extraction shuttles arrive. Mounting a turret, opening fire on an advancing horde, and watching bug corpses pile up against the walls looks and feels incredible – but building bases and coordinating defence is where Starship Troopers: Extermination can also frustrate.

    Although each class has unique and powerful abilities and utility tools when used strategically – such as the Guardians personal fortification or a Medics reviving drone – expanding fortifications and assigning enough infantry to man each approach is messy. Open chat in multiplayer games is the last thing I’d recommend, but even if you’re just communicating with friends or a within a 4-player fireteam, that still leaves up to a dozen other players doing their own thing, and the incredibly limited “ping” system only marks waypoints or enemies.

    All too often, the quickest fireteams build up defences on one side of the base while leaving gaps in the other, or separate from the group to complete optional mission objectives without alerting others to cover their absence.

    Playing as a Medic or Engineer provides an incredibly satisfying support class experience.

    More than ever, I feel Starship Troopers: Extermination still needs a more fleshed out ping system that could be coupled with class- or fireteam-specific limitations. Giving each fireteam a defined purpose might be useful, such as having one dedicated to Engineers and base-building, another for jet-pack equipped Rangers to tackle distant objectives quickly. I’d also like to see a reduction in the speed at which the threat-level escalates, if only to encourage groups pursuing optional mission objectives. It could add some much-needed variety as you’re often knee deep in bugs within 10 minutes, and there’s no viable way to break off from defending the primary objective.

    Of course, it’s a tough ask going up against a competitor with the backing of a publisher the size of PlayStation, but if Starship Troopers: Extermination could focus on polishing and diversifying what it already has, it could provide a much-needed alternative.

    Starship Troopers: Extermination was played on Xbox Series X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS5.

  • Preview: Gothic 1 Remake – PC Demo (Nyras Prologue)

    Preview: Gothic 1 Remake – PC Demo (Nyras Prologue)

    Arriving almost 24 years after the original release – and 5 years after a divisive “Playable Teaser” was used to assess interest – the “Nyras Prologue” demo of the full-blown Gothic 1 Remake shows serious potential. Albeit probably only for existing Gothic fans or the increasingly niche audience that enjoyed Piranha Byte’s later work like Risen and ELEX. In stark contrast to the Playable Teaser’s action-focussed gameplay and wise-cracking protagonist, the Nyras Prologue aims for a degree of authenticity despite the smoother mechanics and modern game engine powering it.

    Using a rockslide as an excuse, the self-contained demo traps the titular Nyras in the impressively recreated “Exchange Camp” canyon from the opening of the original game. The human Kingdom of Myrtana is slowly losing a war against orcs, essential ore for the war effort comes from the Valley of Mines, but a magical barrier cast to contain the prisoner workforce went awry trapping the entire region under a magical shield that kills anything attempting to leave. Fresh prisoners and goods are sent in by the king in exchange for ore, but the humans trapped inside the valley have split into three factions with their own ideas on how to thrive or escape.

    All the basics are covered as Nyras encounters members of the Old Camp – former prisoners intent on maintaining the flow of ore for goods; members of the New Camp – outcasts and bandits that grow their own food and plan to escape; and he hears of the Sect Camp – swamp-dwelling, weed-smoking mystics intent on reviving an old god. You’ll also encounter and hear rumours of the dangerous beasts that stalk the wilds between settlements. If nothing else, those interested in the Gothic 1 Remake with no prior knowledge of the originals could find this demo a useful primer.

    The limited scope of this demo means there’s only so much to see and do, but it feels much as I’d expect from a “AA” style remake targeting an existing audience rather than the masses. A lot could obviously change, but there’s a clear trade-off between playability and authenticity that should thrill Piranha Bytes fans but might frustrate anyone expecting a modern action-RPG experience. Gothic was never an RPG in which you start competent and end up overpowered; it’s a game about starting on the bottom rung, climbing up while being kicked in the face repeatedly, and eventually coming out on top.

    The demo suggests that design philosophy is intact, but traversal, combat, and menu-ing feels way less clunky – especially on a gamepad if you’ve ever experienced the Nintendo Switch ports. It remains to be seen if the remake tweaks progression, but Gothic was a traditional RPG in the sense you could go far by mastering the stiff combat system but improving your character level, skills, and gear were essential (that or breaking the AI). Also familiar is how dense and hand-crafted the world feels, with plenty of fine details, NPCs going about daily tasks, and items secreted away to reward exploration – assuming you don’t run into something that kills you first.

    The Nyras Prologue demo provides a few opportunities to die by scavenger beak or goblin club if you’re reckless, but the combat feels far more fluid and manageable when facing one or even two opponents. You can swing a sword, pick, or flaming torch; parry or dash back and to the sides to avoid damage; and draw back a bow to full extension for maximum damage at range. While it might not be an intentional nod to the original, I could even cheese a few enemies by awkwardly climbing onto high ground and leaving them sitting around helplessly. I don’t doubt the Gothic 1 Remake will be rife with enemies that’ll one-shot you early on, but the smoother combat is perhaps the most significant takeaway from this demo.

    The last thing to touch on is the Unreal Engine 5 powered visuals and lighting. Despite the archaic engine, the Gothic games generate an impressive atmosphere when the visuals are coupled with ambience and music. The Nyras Prologue demo might not push boundaries, but it still looks good in this early build and recreates that original atmosphere by using the classic soundtrack. On my ageing gaming laptop – with an Intel i7 4C/8T CPU, 8GB RTX3070, 16GB DDR5 RAM, NVMe SSD (components running at lower power draw/clock speeds than their desktop counterparts) – 1440p/30 on the high “Gothic” settings was surprisingly doable, albeit with some momentary chugging after reloading a save.

    Wrapping up my thoughts, the Gothic 1 Remake – Nyras Prologue Demo shows a lot of potential for those craving an authentic Gothic experience, but it’s ultimately a tiny chunk of a much larger game, with limited mechanics and only one environment on show for now. While playing the demo, I kept thinking of 2024’s Alone in the Dark – a game I really enjoyed and felt was underappreciated, but one that commercially underperformed and spelt the end of the developer. I just hope Alkimia Interactive and THQ Nordic are looking at the budget and sales of a game like ELEX II and planning appropriately so we actually have a chance of seeing this become a success and maybe fund a remake of the sequel too.

    Gothic 1 Remake – Nyras Prologue Demo was played on PC (GOG or Steam). The final release will be coming to PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PS5.

  • Impressions: GRAVELORD (PC) Early Access

    Impressions: GRAVELORD (PC) Early Access

    GRAVELORD was not the trajectory I expected Fatbot Games to take, having discovered their Vaporum games after playing through Almost Human’s Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2 – all of them grid-based, first-person, real-time, dungeon-crawlers. Vaporum offered a more streamlined and polished take on the now niche genre – replacing multiple party members with an expanded gear and ability system – but they stuck to the creatively blocky world design, abundant puzzles, hundreds of secrets, and real-time combat that I’d best describe as a deadly grid-dance. In contrast, GRAVELORD is a retro-inspired first-person shooter competing in a saturated market – but between their knack for level design and the unexpectedly great shooting, it might have a chance of standing out.

    Befitting the genre, GRAVELORD is light on story elements. The intro reveals the hulking, square-jawed, top hat-wearing gravedigger Queedo, who works in the employ of Death as his ancestors always have. The problem that you’re running and gunning towards is an alchemist by the name of Keron Husk – murderer of Queedo’s father and manufacturer of supposedly life-extending potions that have instead created an undead scourge. Unless you read through the short comic-style collectibles found in each map, that’s all the context you’ll get. Queedo’s personality boils down to barely controlled rage and a string of bad jokes in a Cockney accent that grew tiring by the end of the first map, so it’s probably for the best that narrative elements don’t interrupt the flow of gameplay too often.

    Based on this first episode – with 8 maps and a boss at the end – GRAVELORD is remarkably traditional in structure and, to its benefit, distinctly Quake-like when it comes to movement, gunplay, and the visual design language. You traverse Gothic-themed maps on the hunt for coloured keys or switches, following visual cues like coloured lighting; you acquire traversal-based abilities like a spectral grapple and double-jump to reach new areas and secrets; every time you collect said key item, you can expect monster spawns; and most maps culminate in a chaotic charge to the exit or a boss fight, typically under the influence of “rage” runes that briefly buff resilience and weapon fire rate.

    Despite footsteps that suggest he weighs half a ton, Queedo hurtles around the map like he’s sprinting on an ice-rink. The movement mechanics are perfect for surviving firefights in a game with no hit-scan enemies and a high default difficulty (I spent a lot of time on low health and save-scumming) but it does force you to slow down when tackling platforming sections or avoiding environmental hazards that litter many arenas.

    Given their prior games, the shooting was an unexpected highlight, with a familiar but powerful arsenal ranging from a shovel to a pistol, double-barrelled shotgun, chain-gun, grenade-launcher, and, in a nod to their prior games, an arcing Fumium rifle as the special. Every weapon remained useful throughout for specific enemy types – think melee rushers, nimble flying spitters, tanky explosive users, and magic wielding sorcerers – and they both sound and feel powerful in use. Enemies react to hits with staggering animations, blood splatter, or a gory demise, and when you throw in a dynamic soundtrack that shifts between creepy ambience and thumping combat loops, GRAVELORD ensures simply shooting at something feels good, no matter what you have in hand – a feat that shouldn’t be taken for granted despite the genre.

    The other highlight was Fatbot Games’ dense, intricate, and secret-packed level design. The maps can feel sprawling and maze-like, yet they’re incredibly compact and often loop back past, over, or under themselves. In addition to typical key hunts, there is no shortage of consumables tucked away, or secret buttons and rotating statues (with riddle-like clues) that lead to mega-health boosts, early access to powerful weapons, and a range of character and weapon upgrades.

    Regardless of whether you’re purging graveyards, riding conveyer belts through crypts, avoiding magma pools in crematoriums, swimming through sewers, or navigating a gothic town, each map feels hand-crafted with a ton of thought going into their layout and enemy composition. I’ve no doubt most maps could be blitzed through by speed-runners in a few minutes once you know what you need to do, but compulsive secret hunters could spend upwards of half an hour scouring them fully.

    The last mechanics to touch on feel like an attempt to include rogue-like elements in a traditional save-anywhere FPS, to varying degrees of success. Collecting weapon alt-fire modes on each map feels pointlessly irritating, though I’ll accept resetting movement abilities due to the map design and gating progression. The 3-tier card system, which allows you to pick one from a random draw, feels more thoughtful and impactful as you can choose to favour an aggressive or defensive build. As an example, I could massively boost my survivability by combining a card that regenerates 30 health points with cards that let me deal more damage and receive less damage at or below 30 health.

    As it stands, GRAVELORD might not offer much novelty, but it looks to be a solid entry into the retro-FPS market with legitimately great shooting that emulates the classics, and fantastic level design that draws on Fatbot Games’ heritage.

    That said, there is one element that might prove divisive. GRAVELORD currently has a strong visual filter enabled, far more aggressive than the marketing materials suggest, that ensures everything more than a meter from the player becomes heavily pixellated and increasingly indistinct at range. It feels similar in function to the filter seen in Prodeus, but it’s ramped up to 11 and I doubt it’s working as intended. It grew on me over time, but there seems to be no option to tone it down in this early access build, and I’m wondering if a degree of auto-aim might be due to the fact distant enemies are often reduced to a handful of moving pixels difficult to track against the background?

    GRAVELORD was previewed on PC using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher.

  • Impressions: The Riftbreaker: Heart of the Swamp (Xbox Series)

    Impressions: The Riftbreaker: Heart of the Swamp (Xbox Series)

    Returning to the The Riftbreaker for the fourth time, I’m forever impressed at how EXOR Studios has continued to expand and refine its hybrid base-building, supply-line managing, research- and loot-driven, isometric hack-and-slash, twin-stick shooter. If you critique each element in isolation, they’re not as developed or balanced as the games they draw inspiration from, but The Riftbreaker’s priority is always giving you the tools you need to have fun – something far too many developers seem to actively discourage these days.

    My excuse for investing another 20 hours into The Riftbreaker was the recently released Heart of the Swamp expansion (which arrived on console at few months after PC), with a ton of free content for the base game including a new swamp biome, new creatures, new research options, new structures to manage waterlogged environments, and massive new defensive towers and base-shields that’ll be put to good use before the end of the new story campaign. That said, The Riftbreaker is nothing if not formulaic when it comes to mission design and progression, so you’re primarily getting more tools to overcome a few new challenges, to complete a familiar job – assess and defeat a new threat to the Galatea 37 mission.

    The Heart of the Swamp expansion kicks off only once you’ve investigated potential Titanium, Uranium, and Palladium deposits to begin constructing the Rift Station back to Earth, with yet another mysterious meteorite crashing in the headquarter region. This time it’s giant mushroom spores, which leads Ashley and Mr Riggs to a massive flowering mushroom “tree”, invaded by a myriad of parasitic creatures and thorn vines draining its remarkable sap. Despite the new setting, events follow a familiar rhythm: investigate the organism while defending your outposts from waves of enemies, travel to the source of the threat to try wipe it out, then engage in a chaotic hold-out finale.

    The biggest challenge introduced in the Heart of the Swamp expansion – if you accept insanely hostile plant life and rapidly regrowing thorn thickets are typical of Galatea 37 – is establishing and sustaining several outposts on isolated patches of solid ground around the base of the giant mushroom. The saturated air makes renewable power generation difficult, while natural gas vents, Carbonium, and Ironium deposits are also scattered across small islands. The swarms of parasites you fend off come in waves, with self-replicating horrors emerging later, and that lack of space is a serious impediment to a solid defence. Of course, The Riftbreaker excels at giving you a myriad of tools for the job and, even if some are clearly optimal, you can hack together your own solution to just about any problem – be that through quantity or quality.

    I’d recommend anyone starting this expansion ensure they have large Carbonium and Ironium outposts set up to cover basic construction costs remotely, but you can establish mines alongside research outposts with some planning. In addition to utilising existing structures like Energy Pylons to transmit power between outposts, there’s a fresh selection of land-based, floating, and pipe-mounted defensive towers – including massive piercing towers and cluster munition towers – that allow you to build defensive lines in the swampy water. If you explore thoroughly early on, you’ll also discover a source of sap that can be converted in plasma; a novel solution to construct advanced buildings and base shields, buying you much needed time to destroy the massive swarms in the finale that shredded my base and framerate in equal measure.

    It’s admittedly familiar fare at this point, three years and two expansions since launch, but Heart of the Swamp is another solid addition to The Riftbreaker. It offers another excuse to explore more of Galatea 37’s hostile biomes; expand and upgrade my existing outposts; research more of the sprawling tech tree for new buildings and higher-tier gear crafting; and engage in more visually spectacular base-defence events. It’s a fantastic hybrid of genres that deserves to be more successful than it is, and I strongly recommend you pick it up if any of this looks exciting. With the “Complete Edition” on storefronts, this looks to be the last paid expansion, but there’ still the promise of online co-op in the future that could make a great game an incredible one.

    The Riftbreaker: Heart of the Swamp was played on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS5.

  • Impressions: The Riftbreaker: Metal Terror (Xbox Series)

    Impressions: The Riftbreaker: Metal Terror (Xbox Series)

    When I returned to The Riftbreaker to tackle the new Metal Terror DLC, the experience was both familiar and refreshing. I enjoyed the initial release on console, though the gamepad support needed work and the campaign felt padded out by lengthy research times.

    Thankfully, Metal Terror is a more compact and cohesive experience that entertained me but also reminded me why I stopped playing. An hour each night between other games quickly turned into nightly sessions, and then entire weekend mornings disappeared. The Riftbreaker’s compelling blend of base-building, juggling resource allocation, tower defence elements, and twin-stick combat make for a more-ish experience.

    A competing coloniser?

    The Metal Terror DLC can be accessed fairly early in the campaign after you’ve built a few core structures – namely the Rift Station Foundation, Orbital Scanner, and Alien Research Lab – and undertaken at least two reconnaissance missions.

    A meteor comes hurtling past your HQ – a common enough sight in the game – but this time Mr Riggs informs Ashley it was not following a natural trajectory from the nearby asteroid belt. After studying the unusual metallic composition of the debris, a scan for similar deposits reveal a new region on Galatea 37 that looks nothing like you’ve seen before.

    Now while The Riftbreaker has an interesting premise, tons of dialogue between Ashley and Mr Riggs, and a never-ending codex, storytelling was never a strong point. The same holds true for the Metal Terror DLC, but the shorter, focused string of missions, with several instantaneous research rewards, make for much better pacing.

    An early encounter with biomechanical lifeforms and the ruins of an alien starship kicks off a back-and-forth quest to discover the fate of another colonisation gone awry. At first, it seems you may just be dealing with the remnants of an expedition but it soon becomes apparent they may still have a presence in orbit and control over parts of the planet. The mini-narrative does its job of bouncing you between locations and escalating sieges, but also fits nicely with the existing themes of reckless colonisation.

    Less waiting about and better base locations

    For returning players, you can consider the Metal Terror DLC a chance to unlock some situationally useful new structures, a few new weapons and gear, and a new branch on the Alien research tree. For newcomers, or those starting a new run for the DLC, it’s compact enough that it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the main campaign. It also gives you something more interesting to do while waiting on major research projects.

    The mission flow is similar to that of the core game: you arrive in a new location, scout the terrain, investigate an important location, and typically establish a fortified outpost to hold out against a new roster of particularly dangerous foes – dubbed “exo-morphs”. The exo-morphs fill the same basic functions as Galatea 37’s insane flora and fauna, but there are new complications that make outpost defence more challenging and force you to rethink your layout.

    As an example, swarms of metallic dragonflies function as basic rushers, but they can fly over terrain and attack from any angle. Rolling cube-like forms are easy to kite and destroy on foot but they explode on contact with walls, making it essential to have multiple layers of defence to avoid a sudden breach. The biggest foes are lumbering bipedal mechs that combine devastating close-range attacks with an artillery-like plasma launcher. Of course, there are some new and weird, non-hostile flora and fauna to encounter.

    To make matter worse, events escalate quickly across the Metal-Terror mini-campaign so you’ll be fighting large hordes early on. The upside is that most locations you need to secure are far more forgiving in their layout, with more natural chokepoints and a higher density of basic resources – think carbonium, ironiom, and cobalt – within a defensible perimeter. Sure, it’s beneficial to have invested some research into defensive structures but sieges are never impossible, especially as the mission research rewards are primarily focused on defence and power generation.

    The power of Morphium

    Introduced quickly in the first new region you visit, “Morphium” liquid is found in pools around the metallic biome and is used to power unique structures. In the opening missions, you’ll first run pipes to existing Morphium towers to clear a path into alien ruins, but those soon become a part of your arsenal. These provide an effective area-of-denial tower that modifies the surrounding terrain – exceptional against the aforementioned rolling cubes – and they only require piped Morphium to function. Similarly, the Morphium powerplant, especially once upgraded to level-3, is highly efficient given the low construction cost and minimal Morphium consumption cost.

    These structures are particularly useful when quickly establishing, powering, and defending an outpost in the metallic biome, as all you need to find is a pool of Morphium. That said, there are new layout challenges as the aboveground piping system is far less efficient than simply dropping energy nodes everywhere (which can connect beneath structures).

    More of the same but still compelling

    If you’ve been playing The Riftbreaker frequently since launch, the Metal Terror DLC might feel a little light on new structures, gear, or game-changing technologies. The narrative detour is entertaining enough and expands on the universe (possibly providing a sequel hook), and slightly alters the existing end-game scenario depending on your final choice. For new players, it’s smartly integrated and feels like a natural part of the overarching questline.

    What I appreciated just as much – and this is a free update for all players now – is the ongoing quality-of-life updates. Make no mistake, building defences and running power nodes while under pressure is still tough on a gamepad, but it’s easier now with smarter automatic placement and default behaviours. There are also updates like placing new turrets on top of your existing defence structures (with an automatic refund for the original structure), and the ability to toggle the selection box size for quick repairs or mass upgrades.

    If you’ve not returned to The Riftbreaker in a while, the Metal Terror DLC is a cheap and entertaining excuse to lose a few more weeks to its compelling gameplay loop. If you’ve never tried The Riftbreaker, consider this a reminder it’s a lot of fun, well-priced, and still part of the Xbox Game Pass service on both PC and Xbox Series consoles.

    An Xbox Series code to cover The Riftbreaker: Metal Terror was provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS5.