Antecrypt

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Seriously Flawed ★★☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] With as many twin-stick style shooters as I've played, the idea of having no control over aiming is something I've never dealt with before. In Antecrypt (AC), the aiming visor scrawls around the ground randomly, and you still need to kill enemies with this handicap. It sounds pretty busted, but is there still some fun to be had with such a limitation? [h1]Gameplay[/h1] In AC, your goal is to clear 40 stages filled with different enemies. Initially, you're really weak, with a scant amount of ammo, and the visor's range is limited to say the least. Your ammo works on a battery system, which only recharges if you stand within the visor without firing, as you can't shoot and recharge at the same time. Thankfully, the initial stages introduce weak enemies with simple behaviors so you can adjust to the gameplay. Based on the intentional choice to not introduce some enemies until much later, those must be seen as much harder to contend with. You'll earn one of two rewards for clearing a stage. One is a power-up you can bring into a stage to make it easier, but doing so locks that power-up within the stage. To reuse it, you have to clear the stage again without using the power-up, presumably after beating some stages and getting stronger. The second kind are permanent upgrades, and each will be presented as a choice of two. Unfortunately, there's no way to respec the upgrades later on. Out of six options available, they're called SCAN, VRAM, BATT, BOMB, ZONE, and POWR. SCAN allows you to play more stages you've not yet cleared, while VRAM lets you bring more power-ups into a stage. BATT increases the number of batteries you have, and BOMB adds another grenade to your inventory. ZONE expands the size of the visor, and POWR makes your beam do more damage. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039439265 [h1]Controls[/h1] Since aiming isn't part of the gameplay, all you can do is move, fire, and if you have any left, throw a grenade. I never thought I died because the game didn't respond to my inputs, so I'd say they are tight and responsive. Something to keep in mind, as it took me a while to adjust for, is that your grenade will be thrown where the center of the visor is at. It's not launched a set distance from where your character is positioned. [h1]Story[/h1] There's little story presented in the actual game, except for the intro and some text on the title screen asking for help. Otherwise, you won't see any further references to what's going on until you beat the game. With the presentation involving you collecting important files, I think it could have tacked on some plot points or video clips you'd unlock along the way. It could have built the world and introduce some characters for you to care about, as otherwise it's unclear who you've helped by doing all of this. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039439022 [h1]Visuals[/h1] Going along with the computer motif, there's a limited color palette for all the visuals. The background is made up of a black and green grid. Meanwhile, almost all the enemies, their projectiles, and your beams are white with a pink border. One of the enemies is green, which does an annoying job of helping it blend into the background. On that note, I think it would have helped if your character was a distinct color against everything else though, as he's also pink and white. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] Due to how exact certain aspects of AC's design is, I wonder if there's a mindset for which stages get paired up with what songs. Otherwise though, the handful of tracks play seemingly randomly as you progress in the game. I think the chip tune songs match the game's aesthetic, as they have a somewhat foreboding vibe to them. The sound effects of enemies dying and your attacks is pretty distracting though, amongst trying to survive, so you may not notice the music too much while playing. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039438775 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 Because the enemies have such specific behavior, it lets players learn how to deal with them. Some of them were the bane of my existence, but it rewards experience and attentiveness. 🌟 In many situations, you can adapt to not having control over your aim. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ The length of some waves doesn't really seem reasonable or fair. It feels cheap to survive two difficult patterns, but then face a combination that always screws you over, since you have to start over from the beginning again. ❌ I think you should get more character upgrades so that you're fully powered by the end. Not like anyone would complain that AC is too easy for that one change. ❌ There's too many factors working against the player. It's manageable in the normal playthrough, but it's unforgiving in hard mode. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 More often than not, you'll want to stay close to the aiming visor so you can recharge as necessary. Sometimes though, in order to get the correct angle on some shots, you'll have to move all over the place. 🔍 I would follow the video walkthrough on YouTube for a general guideline on when to spend your skills. The decisions are permanent, so each should be chosen wisely. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Having beaten the game on normal difficulty, I was pretty proud of being able to clear almost every stage without using any power-ups. Some of them were frustrating, but it was the last five stages where I felt like I was spending too much time on attempts when I ultimately didn't have to, so I just snagged some power-ups instead. Even then, the last boss didn't fall nearly so easily for me as it did on the YouTube video, as mine lasted for quite a few rounds before finally dying. Shortly afterward, I tried AC on hard mode, which changes two factors. You start without any upgrades and enemies have twice as much health. Not huge changes, but in my perspective, it completely breaks the balancing of the game. Obviously, if enemies have twice as much health, they're also on the screen longer than normal. To a certain extent that wouldn't be a problem, if the amount of enemies scaled with it, but many stages are filled with them. A decent amount of them are still fodder and die relatively fast, so it feels like they can be properly handled. My problem comes from the enemies that simply won't die. With limited energy for my weapon, I can only attack for so long before needing to recharge. That works fine when my weapon is making some ground and helping control the number of enemies, but when a full charge does so little, my only option becomes survive against oppressive odds for an unwieldy amount of time. Comparing my results from one difficulty mode to the next, I really wonder about the playtesting for hard mode because I can't even beat early stages now. Some interesting ideas were included with AC, and I mostly enjoyed my playthrough on normal, but I think they rigged too many factors against players for me to recommend it. We die in one hit from anything, you can lighten up a little. [quote][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/thestrategyinformer/]Come join our group page: [b]The Strategy Informer[/b] for other great reviews, strategy, and strategy adjacent content![/url][/quote] [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - AC is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]