BOXHEAD:Immortal

Perhaps what many will consider to be a 'forgotten gem' of the Flash gaming days of old, the Boxhead series presents a simple yet charming premise of controlling a cuboid-shaped human (a mixture between Minecraft and Roblox before either became as popular as they are today) who is tasked with gunning down as many zombies as possible in the pursuit of achieving as high of a score as one can manage. Interestingly enough this wasn't the original goal for the first entry that started it all, Boxhead (a Halloween Special), as that was mainly focused on rescuing and protecting citizens from the zombies. The later games (The Rooms, More Rooms, 2Play Rooms, The Zombie Wars & the Nightmare) would instead pivot towards the killing of zombies being the prime focus of their future titles as it can not be understated how satisfying it was to destroy the increasing hordes of zombies whilst also dealing with new deadly threats, including their 'mascot' in the form of the devil that served as a powerful foe capable of throwing fire balls as ranged attacks and others like runners, vampires and mummies that forced the player to handle combat situations differently. All of this to say that, despite the long absence since their last game in August of 2011, I do very much welcome the return of an old Flash classic in the sea of indies today that reminded me of better days during a more youthful time in my life. Unfortunately I am here to report that their latest entry, Boxhead: Immortal, does have the solid foundations for an amazing title but comes at a great cost of having [b]very[/b] little actual content on offer. Though before delving into the negatives and why I feel strongly enough about it to warrant a negative review of a game that I really ought to have liked, first I'll go into what this latest entry expands upon in the Boxhead series as far as the old mechanics of progression goes. What I mean by this is that every Boxhead game bar the first allowed the player to unlock weapons and other items by stacking up a combo high enough, the combo meter going down faster the higher you got it but also being easier to achieve as you started unlocking more powerful guns from the starting pistol to a vicious shotgun whose blasts were deadly up close and then even more exciting firearms like the rocket launcher for explosive wide-area damage and the railgun's superb piercing ability in all of its futuristic energy beam glory! In this game, the combo meter no longer exists and is instead replaced by a system that grants you either a new weapon or perk upon every three completed levels alongside every 20,000 points granting a small buff that can level up to ten times, taking the progression of firepower and utility in a more roguelite direction as we have seen many other indies take a fancying towards. Alongside this the player is restricted to 3 weapons at all times, that being the starting pistol and two other weapons that are more powerful than the standard handgun but feature limited ammunition to balance the usefulness of these firearms. Something interesting to note about the weapons is that there are four weapon categories, each of these being split into three individual guns, as they all differ somewhat based on four stats. These are damage (skull), accuracy (crosshair), mobility (feet) and ammo capacity (bullets) which will vary somewhat from one shotgun to another alongside the other three types of weaponry which are submachine guns, rifles and even the starting pistol that can be replaced if players aren't a fan of how weak or inaccurate it is. (Pistols being the only type of weapon to have just three stats as ammo capacity doesn't apply to guns that are known for their infinite ammunition) Naturally the fun action stemming from that 'shoot 'em up' style of gameplay remains faithfully intact here however it is worth pointing out that, alongside the new weapon selection and the addition of perks to boost one's own personal playstyle, each of the four playable characters all have their own 'roles' that one can pick before entering the map. To clarify, the iconic cast that consists of Bambo, Bon, Bind and Bert is entirely cosmetic and up to the player's preference whilst these new roles (Gunfighter, Support, Sapper and Medic) give both unique items that provide both offensive and defensive additions to the player's abilities as well an active skill and two attribute enhancements that offers plenty of choice as far as the new Boxhead gameplay goes. Having said all of this though, I should begin addressing what ultimately makes Boxhead: Immortal a disappointing game in my eyes. Perhaps this is best seen with what it currently lacks as there exists only one of the three game modes on offer, that being the Endless Mode which features the modern roguelite additions that I spoke of whilst otherwise playing the same. Classic Mode (which brings back the old combo system alongside the wider selection of weaponry) and Campaign Mode (offering more linear gameplay that goes beyond just killing and surviving as long as possible) are still not available as of the writing of this review. Furthermore, there is only TWO maps currently available to play on. To compare, Boxhead: The Rooms has a modest 5 maps to its name whilst More Rooms featured 8 unique arenas to duke it out in and 2Play Rooms pushed this even further to an impressive 18 maps, meanwhile The Zombie Wars scaled it back to 8 but fully committed to improving the visuals and adding more complex structures to accommodate for both aggressive 'offensive-styled' players as well as those more inclined on the defensive side of gameplay. I could be more forgiving if the one mode was backed up by an amount closer to those on the original games or if they added more categories of weapons if providing a barebones Classic experience was simply not an option for them, however the severe lack of content suggests that this was rushed out the door to meet deadlines. Either that or testing the waters by gauging interest in this game to see if fully committing to bringing back the series is worth the effort or not. Sadly, based on the fact that the last update provided by Fire Source Studio was back in June of 2024, I am deeply worried that this game has stopped being worked on. Note that there has been an announcement made earlier on March this year that progress towards development has been stalled due to internal issues and has shown new concept art and WIP for weapons and enemies never seen before in the Boxhead series. Whilst I do appreciate this as far as keeping the community in the light here, there has been no update since this time period in almost 9 months which has me concerned that they have ran into new issues with the development of the latest Boxhead game. It has also disappointed me that the original developer of this classic series, Sean Copper, had distanced himself from one of his most beloved and memorable creations based on what Fire Source Studio's team have stated in their latest news. This was particularly saddening as one easy solution to fix the content issue whilst also being faithful to old fans who perhaps may not be enticed by just the inclusion of a Classic Mode is by repackaging the earlier Boxhead titles (even the first, as these old Flash games are worth preserving!) into this one for ease of access. However, he has refused to associate these titles with the latest Boxhead game for his own personal reasons, despite the obvious advantages it would bring to including them here. It doesn't give me pleasure having to look down unfavorably at a game series that held a lot of fun memories back as a kid but, at the end of the day, I am reviewing what is currently on offer and what I firmly believe will sadly remain in Early Access. Wishlist this game but refrain from buying until a substantial update makes its way into Boxhead: Immortal is what I'd advise potential buyers of this indie to do.

game came out in 2024.... the state it's currently in takes less than 1 week of work to make.... the amount of content after a year is quite unacceptable.

this was a flash game many years ago with way more functionality. no excuses for this game.

W scam. Not worth 5 dollars. Get a 10 piece from McDonald's instead.

4 player co-op would be everything I ever dreamed.

4399上僵尸危机的续作，国内人士拿到原作作者授权的续作，还记得小时候经常玩无敌版放满图油桶狂射连续爆炸，或者放满白墙然后用火箭筒连射狂轰乱炸，再是分裂手雷走一路炸一路。但是这个续作非常的一般，其一地图相比之前，很少，只有两张图，还少了很多东西，差强人意，其二玩法改了很多，原作朴素的建设阵地防守生存 割草无双游戏，改成了肉鸽元素，职业限制，原作的杀僵尸掉落红块开武器的设定没有了，割草割不爽，我要玩的僵尸危机绝对不该是这样的

Abandon. No updates or announcements in ages, and their discord is dead. Extremely limited content, a shell of what you remember from the flash games. I do not recommend. [b]MONEY GRAB.[/b]

The basic foundation for the next boxhead game is in place. The game is priced as low as it is because the lack of content and the incredibly slow rate of work. I was a huge fan of the boxhead flash games and played them all for free so I wanted to support the development of another boxhead game even if it is just a slow side project for the dev.

没有以前玩的感觉了，地图就两个，还小，以前捡红箱子刷武器的感觉就挺好，加入肉鸽元素没必要（主要是地图小爽不起来），没有以前玩的地图，感觉少了很多东西。

Really good. Works great on SteamDeck. Official controller support for multiplayer would be great but mapping the buttons isn't hard either. Lots of potential that hopefully the developer takes advantage of.