I'm a connoisseur of games that are considered "bad first-person shooters", it's been my lifeblood for the last 5 years. During the pandemic I got really into scouring the internet for FPS games that no one had ever heard of, and since then I've slowly been making my way through the list. The latest one on the chopping block is Operation: Matriarchy or Velian, its original Russian title, a game that, according to reviewers, sucks. Well I'm here to tell you that they're kinda right, but also extremely wrong. This is quite frankly one of the most ridiculous games I've ever played. A 'so bad it's good' ordeal that is sooooo bad it wraps back around to being a one-of-a-kind experience that is genuinely incredible. Let's talk about that.
What's the story here? It's the 24th century and humanity have begun their colonisation of space thanks to the Federation of Earth. Along the way they come across a planet called Velia, home to a virus that has infected the female population turning them into freakish killbots. The male population? Enslaved and experimented on! The Velians then instigate an all-out war against the Federation, because why not? The game begins amidst the war when our beloved protagonist PAUL ARMSTRONG (or John Armstrong, but best to just call him Armstrong) awakes from cryosleep to the sound of his ship being attacked. From here on out, I can't exactly say what happens, because the story is disseminated to the player through walls of texts in the loading screens that I did NOT feel like reading, and the occasional text exchange between Armstrong and (I believe) Admiral Horst at the beginning of every level. Horst's daughter is kidnapped by the Velians, and you gotta save her (and also get the ♥♥♥♥ off the ship). It's a generic sci-fi plot that is perfectly serviceable for the game but nothing to write home about. The brief snippets of lore that I read about in the loading screens (mainly detailing the different types of enemies) seemed to invite a lot more questions than answers, but that's neither here or there. You're not here for the story, you're here for everything else.
I'll get the bad out of the way. It's too easy. My health bar never dipped under 80hp. There's always plenty of ammo and it's like the enemies' bullets aren't even landing. They also love to just funnel into a corridor and beeline straight towards you. The gunplay itself also feels hollow. No real punch to the weapons, nor any feedback from the enemies. They show no resistance until death. Some of the Velians are major bullet-spongey, taking hundreds to the chest from my minigun. The structuring of the levels can be a wee bit confusing sometimes (but later on I will defend this). The mini-map marks where you need to go, but the maps, while mostly linear, can massively open up making it a trek to get where you need to go. When I say massively open up I really mean massive, especially in the final hour of the game where there's so much elevation. The mini-map marker also doesn't feel entirely accurate. It always seems to be a few metres adjacent to where you need to be. So when you're trying to find a key card or a switch on a console comprising of about 7 identical switches, it can get a little confusing.
These are all just minor complaints compared to the big one everyone brings up, the sound. There simply isn't any sound. Well that's not true, there is sound. There's SFX for your guns, doors opening, and when an enemy is wounded. It's faint, but it's there. The major thing detracting from this game is the lack of an ambient soundscape. No music, no drones, no nothing! You're on a cyborg-alien-infested spaceship, there's surely going to be a lot of noise. But noooooooope! You could justify the distinct lack of an aural atmosphere as THE atmosphere, a very cold and isolated one. Nary the whir of a machine on this here ship. The fan-made patch is vital to playing this game as it fixes some of the SFX, improves the English translation, and adds in a bunch of music ranging from techno to industrial metal to trip hop, that all having a distinctively futuristic and spaced out vibe to them, complimenting the game very well.
So what does the game do well? The aesthetic. It's the aesthetic. The reason why I'm recommending this game despite some glaring issues and generally subpar gameplay is that the visual aspect of Operation: Matriarchy is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Nuts (literally). What starts off as a generic corridor shooter on a spaceship soon morphs into something much more idiosyncratic and, dare I say it, avant-garde. The first hour, drab and lifeless (but varied) hallways with the occasional docking bay. The last two hours as you plunge deep into Velian territory? Pure H.R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński worship. Surreal industrial dystopian phallocentric gothicism up the wazoo. Yes, I did just say phallocentric. There are giant penis structures littered throughout Velia that seemingly serve no purpose but are absolutely striking in their design. This is the most Alien game in existence, yes I'd argue even moreso than Scorn. The creature design alone is absolutely disgusting. Cronenbergian body transmogrifications of the most delightfully disturbing and vomit-inducing variety. Half-human half-machine hybrids make up the majority of the foes fought (up to 10 enemies on screen at a time, very impressive for a budget title). Completely balls-to-the-wall artistry on display here. Everything is gooey and slimey and psychosexual. The Velian landscape is pure biomechanical heaven. The surroundings feel alive. The doors merge into nonsensical Giger-esque organic matter, the walls become fleshy and vaginal. The levels themselves become absolutely massive, giving off this vibe that they weren't made for humans to play in. And that makes sense, because this is an alien world, but wow the design of these levels are insane. There are rooms that lead to more rooms that lead to nowhere. There are ginormous areas with nothing in them but strange structures and Velian enemies. It exudes an abstract alien atmosphere that I haven't felt in any other video game before. It's like I'm really traversing some forgotten world. Some may say this is poor level design and poor direction from the devs to the player, but I'd say this is one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in a game. Trying to wrack my brain around the absurd Velian environments makes for an unforgettable experience, and one I wish I could forget so I may relive over and over.
As a game, Operation: Matriarchy is a by-the-numbers run and gun FPS that rarely poses a challenge amidst all its broken and buggy glory. As an audiovisual experience however, this might be one of the most mind-melting surreal experiences I've ever had. Equal parts hallucinatory, hypnagogic and downright disgusting, Operation: Matriarchy is best viewed as an example of video games as art. It's not a terribly fun nor enjoyable thing to play through, but if you temper your expectations and understand that it's less of a game and more of an experience, you're bound to have one hell of a time.
