When I noticed that I had one of Les Kalifas' games in my library and that it had a news feed post saying goodbye, that they were giving up on the game (or game development as a whole - I cannot recall precisely), I made a mental note to try their games out once my schedule had cleared. I've finally begun to tackle the games on my list (it's not so much a backlog as it is games I've dabbled in but never really sat down purposefully to play) and I noticed while looking on Steam DB that this game existed. Seeing it was for free, I knew I had to try it out.
This game is a broken, barely translated, janky, mess. And I like it anyway. Why? Because despite it being dead, there is something here that resonates with me. The stylish intro - complete with use of World War One German footage which gets a thumbs up from me solely because Germany in WW1 is often neglected in media references compared to its way too overused successor - is really well done, and makes me feel like this game had some love behind it - it's not a generic asset flip that low hanging fruit pickers like BigFryTV and SidAlpha made "careers" out of pretending were an issue that required everyone's attention - no, this is the kind of game that those dweebs left to wither on the vine because rather than highlight actually good games that could use some love, they obsessed over games nobody would've ever heard of, let alone played, had they not mentioned them.
The gameplay is really shoddy, unfortunately. I wrung a bit of fun out of this game, yes, but that was largely due to the aesthetic - I liked that the team had a concise vision and acted accordingly. Plus, I also noticed Obey the Fist gave it a negative review, and one of my habits lately is to see if I own any game he's dunked on and then to try it out myself. I didn't own this game, but when I saw that he had reviewed it, I quickly added it to my library. The dude's favorite game is War Thunder and his favorite Steam group is the REDDIT one - need I say more? I encourage the devs behind this team to ignore this guy. If anything, make him a character in your next game. Reddit and its consequences have been a total disaster for our culture as a whole, let alone gaming, and the more devs who ignore Redditors, the better.
But as much as I enjoy dunking on that clown, I can't in good conscience recommend this game. I would love to give an in between review, because if It had more players, I would definitely say yes. I would love to sing this game's praises for sure. But there's just nobody here. This game never took off as it should have, and that's why I must respectfully not recommend it.
Les Kalifas, please continue to make more games. We need more games from developers like yourselves. Developers who aren't afraid to have fun, to be quirky (and not in the lame-ass Reddit way that sank franchises like Saints Row) and who want to show people that indie games, especially from Eastern Europe, aren't all just asset flips and other crapola. Kudos to you guys, and Obey the Fist? Sod off already, you wanker.
