Paradox Vector

The first half of the game is pretty great fun. Kinda claustrophobic, but fun. After the first half it forgets it billed itself as a metroidvania and stops giving you new toys, and instead pummels you relentlessly with enemies that explode on death and are too close to you to avoid the damage, enemies that appear around corners, little to no healing, and (most damningly) a total abandonment of the old level design that bears nothing in resemblance to the first half. Get it on sale if you have to get it at all.

It's non Euclidian, It's Metroidy, It's set in a giant neon put-put course from a 90s mall... If you're into unusual and artistic games, this is a gem. I dig it.

I was unsure whether to give this a thumbs up or not, so I'll say it's a "[i]recommended for a specific kind of gamer, not so much for a broader audience[/i]". [h1]TL;DR [/h1] unique visual style, quite standard and bare-bones gameplay, quite rough as in that it feels like a tech demo. If you treat it as such and maybe get it on sale, I'd say it's worth trying. [h1]Graphics[/h1] The selling point of the game. Though I think it's not [i]actually[/i] the type of vector graphics it's inspired by (please correct me if I'm wrong here), the aesthetics turned out well, nothing really looks bit-mapped. The industrial "blocky" stages look really good, the natural ones tend to get visually noisy. Close to the player, things are designed to not look spatially ambiguous (i.e. what's a wall or a hallway, what's concave or convex, etc.). For everything farther away, visual clarity is ensured by a quite close draw distance and distance fog. This can be a problem as it sometimes brings in the aforementioned ambiguity and leaves the player at a disadvantage against the enemies that can "see through" the fog and attack. The HUD is readable and pleasantly unintrusive, however the menus get very tiny on bigger screens (even on QHD) . [h1]Sound[/h1] The music is adequate for the most part. Nothing to write home about, but it fits the atmosphere, and for being procedurally generated [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/546780/Anomalies/]using another game/toy from the devs[/url], it sounds surprisingly competent. The sound effects are run-of-the-mill, but also fitting. Noteworthy negative exceptions are the alarm siren which is [b]way[/b] too loud and goes on for too long before reaching the exit of a dungeon, and the Game Over screen that is needlessly jarring, both visually and acoustically. [h1]Story and Atmosphere[/h1] The story is a retelling / continuation of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", told entirely through text prompts. I was hoping that they would do something creative with such a famous (albeit overused) source material, but the story was rarely a strong point among retro FPS so that's not much of a complaint. Now how does that mesh with the neon vector graphic style of the game? It does fit the "otherwordly" theme, like something that must be depicted this abstractly, but it splits the game's atmosphere: you have the visual style, the weapons, the more industrial levels on one side and the cosmic horror story, most enemy designs, the more natural levels on the other side. This makes it so that in each and every point in the game, some of the above elements don't fit in. That probably sounds worse than it actually is but those elements really did hamper the immersion for me. [h1]Level Design[/h1] This is where it goes downhill. The label "Medroidvania" is a bit of a stretch and probably misleading. While it never devolves into corridor levels, the non-linearity is limited to the first three dungeons which you can complete in any order, and gated secrets that you "have to" return to after finding keys or flipping switches. Apart from that, it's your standard key / switch hunt, or just switch hunts for the second half of the game. That's not inherently bad, it's just not a medroidvania: there's no choice in what part of the world to tackle next, the order of the levels is fixed, and hub levels and keys won't change that. Instead of giving me X key at the end of one level to unlock the door to the next one, you might as well just prompt "next level is unlocked". The puzzles are mostly fair, though they can be obscure, especially in times when you don't have a map. The non-eucludian stuff is tame, nothing mind-boggling like Antichamber. Speaking of the map: 3D, can rotate, can zoom. A bit strict on fading out parts of the level that are on a different altitude or further away, but otherwise good. The map is not really vital, but really, really helpful. Level transitions are not really marked in the levels themselves, it's usually just a hallway where the game will fade into the next area. Coming back to an area resets all enemies and (non-unique) pickups - really not a fan of that, e.g. killing the same enemies in the hub worlds over and over is not fun. Secrets range from "well hidden" to "on the nose", with the loot ranging from "permanent health upgrade" to "25 MG ammo", I'd say that most people will find all the secrets without much hassle. [h1]Combat[/h1] The movement is fast and tight, very good. The weapons are lackluster, both in damage and design: Pistol with infinite ammo, standard. Machine gun, a faster pistol with limited ammo. Rocket launcher that kills everything in 1-2 proper hits, good. Laser cannon for things out of range for the MG. Timebomb, mostly a utility for destroying cracked walls. Why is the bomb between the pistol and the MG in the weapon rotation (hotkey "2")? Don't put in amidst the weapons that the player quickly cycles through during fast-paced battles! I personally would have just switched it with the pistol to the "1" key but the game won't let me rebind that. Enemies range from trivial wall turrets that announce their activation and shoot one every three seconds, to fast bee-lining monstrosities with a damaging aura [i]and[/i] rockets. Combat with the is usually fast and brief, fallen enemies often drop a tiny amount health and/or ammo. Proper health and ammo pickups are a bit rare and needlessly transitioning between areas (and thus resetting enemies) will often drain more ammo and health than you can restore from pickups. This actively disencourages exploration and the "medroidvania" gameplay the game wants to have. [h1]The Caves[/h1]The mid section of the game where every design flaw comes together: Progress is obstructed by cryptic puzzles [spoiler]not the invisible bridge, that was just me being dumb and not looking up[/spoiler] , no map to see where you, or the switches, or the exits are; roaming from area to area looking for progress, getting worn down by the dwindling ammo supply and the stupid amount of high-end enemies that respawn whenever you backtrack. In every other area I stayed / came back to find all the secrets - not in the caves, not going down there ever again. [h1]Bugs & Glitches[/h1][list][*]Enemies regularly clip with their hitbox through walls[*]Ventilation shafts get you regularly stuck on corners; jumping can get you out of bounds, requiring a reload[*]Loading a save slot makes the level unload and you falling down before it fades to black. Nothing dangerous, but makes it look fairly raw.[*]Savegame once corrupted because I loaded while a text prompt was still on screen (I think?)[*]Auto-saves (the once that also happen during every area transition) override the manual quicksave. I'm giving the devs the benefit of the doubt and say that this is just a bug and not a deliberate decision.[*]For the people who care about achievements: the gun was recently changed to have infinite ammo, so as of now the "pick up gun ammo" achievement is unobtainable because there is no gun ammo lying around. Didn't bother me personally.[/list] [h1]Bottom Line[/h1] The game is a tech demo. The focal point are the vector graphics, everything else is an afterthought and just has to be serviceable. It's a shame really, in theory it has everything it needs to have, the other game aspects just need a similar amount of love that the graphics got. If you just really want to play with those graphics and don't care for the rough parts, a sale price of ~€5 is fine, the €8-something regular price maybe less so. [b]I must stress that although I can't recommend this game in it's current to most people who stumble upon it, I do wish that the devs build upon what they learned in this game and make something more polished with the tech some day. [/b]

[h1]Много Paradox, мало Vector[/h1] Визуал шикарный. Я только из-за него и захотел. Но игра оказалась в моём "любимом" жанре "6/\ядь, где дверь/ключ/нужное_подчеркнуть?!". Ну реально, нарезание кругалей в ней возведено в абсолют. Минималистичная цветовая гамма внезапно из плюса стала минусом, а с необходимостью лазить в одни и те же подземелья повторно и искать карту на каждое эта возня утомила очень быстро. Ну, хоть очень быстрый бег доступен; и на том спасибо. Автоматических сохранений нет, только ручные. Когда я прошёл 3 или 4 подземелья и перезапустил игру, это стало большим сюрпризом, потому что сохранялся я только на середине второго. Элементы интерфейса совершенно не масштабированы для высоких разрешений: в 4k и 2k я на своём 4k-мониторе наблюдаю мелкие надписи. В 4k нормальная картинка, но надписей не разобрать. В 2k картинка тоже хорошая, надписи хорошо читаются некоторые (в инвентаре, например, уже надо целоваться с экраном). В Full HD всё видно хорошо, но графика превращается в мыло. Отдельно пару ласковых хочу сказать про звук. Заунывную музыку я сразу отключил, шут бы с ней. Но вот при первом "ауч" главной героини захотелось ей шею свернуть, а не играть за неё. А когда подбираешь очередной треугольник (цель всей игры — найти 9 треугольников), звучит мерзкая сирена, так что я бросался поскорее к выходу, лишь бы она заткнулась. Потом просто начал скидывать наушники на этом моменте. Потом вообще играл без звука: мне же не только сирена не нравится. Ах да, пучок петрушки в качестве украшения блюда: враги респаунятся. Более яркий пример творческой импотенции отыскать трудно. Жаль. Заочно поделие показалось мне интересным. Его, кстати, даже на торренте нет. Видимо, никому не нужно. P. S. Рекламные скриншоты на странице игры в стиме тоже мыльные. Похоже, у автора монитор Full HD. Это кек.

Yes, oh yes !! Bought at once after being delighted by another of MKSchmidt's games (his excellent "Islands of the Caliph"). After that one, my expectations were inordinaltely high. P.V. finished , I say with satisfaction that they were met and amply excedeed. Unique art, brilliant concept, ambience and execution. As a personal preference, more ways to replenish health would increase the accessibility to a deserved greater audience. A pleasure to play, now I have to install his "Star Explorers", already in my library. Awed and happy to see the ability to create such masterful games. Disclosure: As usual, being a 69 y.o. gamer, I used my C.E. tables to supplement my capabilities, modifying to a extent the enjoyment (for the better, heh) of games. So, if you find it too hard to progress, persist with this beauty of a game to a satisfying finish with some help: All values in the game are 4 Bytes exact. In the case of ammo, find quantity shown x 262144, example: 100 would be 26214400, 1000 add another 0, etc. Health REAL, 4 Bytes = unrounded screen value x 1024 Value shown is rounded/truncated so find "Between ... " lower and higher values till you nail it.

The lines of the environment and enemies are blurry, the space warping effect is weird, the render distance is short, and the framerate is not good for such a simple looking game. All of those visual quirks gave me a headache after 30 minutes. The gameplay itself is fine and the atmosphere is great, but I can't play a game that causes me such visual displeasure so I can't recommend it, unfortunately.

Paradox Vector is a metroidvania FPS built upon vector graphics. In early arcade gaming, vector graphics were the rage as they produced very high resolution images. It's a very unique and beautiful art style. The first section of Paradox Vector starts out as a metroidvania where you gather power ups and keys to unlock new areas. The later half of the game is more action oriented akin to more classic boomer shooters. Interestingly you will encounter areas which defy euclidean space, where you can end finding yourself in surprising places.

VERY short - around 90 minutes long. The FPS aspect of it is bare-bones and not very prevalent, so don't pick this up if that is more what you're interested in. For the most part you're exploring claustrophobic little levels and playing a 'keys and doors' game. There are just 2 metroidvania abilities to find, plus a bunch of keys and guns. Each area has a map to be found as well. The maps are great. They show you the geometry of every room - very easy to use and read. The game is VERY overpriced for what it is. ..under $5 would feel more justifiable. For such a short experience, I had a decent time with it.

Paradox Vector is an absolutely excellent game. The idea of non-euclidian geometry 'puzzles' is what initially drew me in, as I like those sorts of games. The vector-inspired artstyle of the game is undeniably unique, and as I played, I was intrigued to see not only what the game would look like, but what creative workarounds being used to make it seem like vector graphics. The soundtrack pairs up well with every environment in the game, and ranges from foreboding to somewhat relaxing. I'd say that Paradox Vector is one of the more polished and playable titles made by Schmidt Workshops, and it's the one most worth checking out. With that being said, I would be a liar if I said this game doesn't have flaws. Paradox Vector retains some holdovers from some other Schmidt Workshops games, such as difficult UI scaling or the ability to clip through dead enemies. Sometimes, it's possible to get stuck in level geometry, although that is somewhat expected due to quirks teleportation. Turning on antialiasing also makes the visuals darker while moving and disables the shaders, although the need for antialiasing is not great. Most of all, the implementation of non-euclidian geometry is a bit tamer than I expected. I found these issues easy to work through, but your mileage may vary. Many have said that the ramp in difficulty towards the end of the game makes it frustrating, although I have found it quite fun. Ammo and health conservation become a focal point, and the player is forced to stay mobile. The first few areas are practically a tutorial, with many health pickups and hand-holding, and the leap in difficulty made the game much more enjoyable. I would like to point out that the solo dev puts an amazing amount of love and care into his games, and some of his other titles are worth checking out, most notably Star Explorers. Although it is considerably less polished, updates have made it more playable, and it is now more fun than ever.

Игра выглядит не плохо,но на амд пока что не поиграешь из за низкого FPS . Пока не будет фикса обладателям амд лучше не покупать, если вам не нравится играть в 10-15 FPS Upd: Разработчики пофиксили низкие FPS, но местами все равно бывает падает FPS. Игру прошел, в принципе игра на 4+, местами идет игра с гравитацией и перспективой которые заставляют ходить вас по кругу в 9 клетках. Но все портят мобы во 2ой половине тк они жирные, а у тебя ни патронов, ни хп. иногда можно вылезти за пределы уровня из за мобов и оттуда не выбраться. Поэтому пользуйтесь сохранениями после прохождения уровней.