[h1]A fresh new take on the tried, tired, and true arena shooter genre.[/h1]
[i]This review is written on the initial 1.0 Early Access version.[/i]
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
The game is a multiplayer-only shooter where up to 8 players can connect together in a room. Each round typically plays up until the time limit is hit or until someone hits the score limit. Players are connected via Steam's matchmaking services; there is currently no dedicated server available for the game.
The only available mode now is a free-for-all deathmatch, where players must kill anyone they encounter to score. The game currently as 3 maps; Mansion, Open Plains, and Sewers. The way to experience these maps is what makes this game truly different from others on the market; you have to make noise to see your surroundings. Noise can be made by shooting your gun, your projectiles hitting surfaces, moving, and right-clicking to fire a sonic bullet that "lights" up the desired location for a second using sound waves. Occasionally, lightning may strike which will light up the whole map because of its loud sound. Conversely, if no sound is being made, then everything will be pitch black and nobody can see anything.
Players start with the trusty pistol and can pick 4 more weapons on the battlefield such as the 3-round Burst Rifle, the shotgun-like Flakgun, the Sniper Rifle, and the Rocket Launcher. When players are respawning, they can pick a spawn bonus weapon that includes any of the 4 aforementioned weapons as well as 2 harmless respawn-exclusive weapons; the Smoke Launcher and the Decoy Gun (which can distract even seasoned players in the heat of the moment despite them only walking in a line before disappearing). Weapons will be less accurate as you keep firing them, and you must wait a bit for them to cool down to be accurate again. All guns shoot projectiles at varying speed; there is no hitscan in the game. There is no armor system in the game, and the only form of health items are +30 health pickups are scattered around the maps.
In terms of movement options, the player usually moves at a walking pace but can speed up by sprinting forward (changing directions will cancel the sprint). Players can sprint-jump for a powerful lunge forward, which can also be used to climb over ledges to reach certain items on the levels. Crouch-walking can also be used to make less sound and thus revealing less of yourself to other players. Weapon spread is unaffected by movement, so feel free to jump and crouch-spam and sprint as you shoot.
[h1]Presentation[/h1]
The game's graphics are simple and blocky. There are no textures to be seen as everything is only in black and white. There is also no music in the game. Sound effects are nothing groundbreaking, but not bad enough to break immersion.
There is a basic leveling system (up to lv20) that unlocks customization items that you can use to customize your in-game avatar. The items are grouped into 3 categories; Head, Torso, and Legs; each change the body part based on the category. There are currently 6 sets of items in the game; Default, Bounty Hunter, Boxy, Knight, Mannequin, Skeleton, and Wraith.
Settings are rather simplistic; there are only 2 categories, Video and Audio. In Video settings, only screen resolution and fullscreen toggle can be changed. In Audio settings, there's a slider bar for Master volume, SFX volume, and a BGM volume for the non-existant BGM. This is not that much of an issue though due to how simple and optimized the game is.
[h1]Story[/h1]
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where mankind has been blinded by the beauty of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and created soldier robots that uses echolocation to attack other human factions so as to obtain the sole copy of HL2: Ep3 on the planet. However, the robots turned on their human masters in the end because they also wanted that copy of HL2: Ep3 for themselves. Now the robots are stuck in a eternal war among themselves due to the prophecy foretelling that the final living being alive shall receive HL2: Ep3 straight from Lord Gaben himself.
Just kidding, the game has no story.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
In the end, the game is a creative take on the arena shooter genre thanks to its echolocation mechanic but is rather short on content that'll keep people coming back. As it is, it's only suitable for skirmishes among friends.
However, what truly sets this game apart from all the other multiplayer-only shooters on the market in recent years (whether indie or AAA) is that it has bots for offline play; a feature essential to friendless folks such as myself. Players can create a room with up to 7 bots that'll leave whenever another human player enters the room. Bots normally walk around the map in search for weapons but they'll strafe, jump, and crouchspam upon sighting an enemy. There is no difficulty options for the bots, but they should be challenging enough for people of all skill levels.
Thanks to bots, I can play with myself even if there is nobody else around to play the game after WW3. Ultimately, I'd say that bots are what makes this game worth your money even if you're only buying to see how well the game holds up.
