Redgar: The Space Viking

Full Walkthrough: https://youtu.be/HqKOYsiLK-0 ★★★★★ Gameplay: Good Graphics: Retro Music: Epic Story: Good PC Requirements: Potato Game Time: 1 - 2 hrs

[i] My Experience [/i] For the longest time, I was always on the lookout for another top-down shooter to recapture the magic I felt when first playing 2012's [b]Hotline Miami[/b]. And to be honest, [b]Redgar: The Space Viking[/b] does a fantastic job of fitting the bill. Although some of the fired laser projectiles move a little slowly for my tastes when compared to the bullets and shells in [b]Hotline Miami[/b], I much prefer the "special devices" in [b]Redgar[/b] to [b]Hotline[/b]'s masks. One of the device abilities refills ammo in your weapons (and can be activated over and over), one slows time, and one even reflects projectiles back at your enemies (there are others that I won't detail here). These device abilities truly shake things up and add something new to the formula rather than simply trying to match [b]Hotline[/b]'s adrenaline-fueled action. Additionally, you can switch between multiple abilities in a single level rather than just rocking whatever mask you picked at the beginning (like in [b]Hotline[/b]). When you come upon a "special device," you can activate it to equip the ability it contained. If you already had an ability equipped, your previous ability will then be stored in the device. In this way, you can bounce back and forth between abilties as you find them most useful in the course of a level. Of course [b]Redgar[/b]'s music can't match [b]Hotline[/b]'s, but what game really can? I played to the beginning of Chapter 10 before deciding that I'd had enough (there are 15 chapters overall). I may not be the glutton for punishment that I once was when it came to conquering these twitchy quick kill/quick death shooters. To be clear though, I think this has more to do with my evolving tastes than any real missteps by the game. In the decade since I played [b]Hotline Miami[/b], I've had a lot of fun seeing what else has emerged in the top-down shooter space. There was a lot of room for innovation that might not have been immediately apparent. If you haven't before, give [b]Jydge[/b] a try - it was probably my favorite of those I played. Either way, if it's been a while and you're looking to scratch that [b]Hotline[/b] itch, give Redgar a try. He may not be "Jacket," but he can definitely hack it.

I've only played on the easy difficulty so far. I still had to learn how to combine power-ups and weapons effectively. This game keeps giving me this 'just one more try, this time I'll make it' feeling, even after countless deaths.

Hotline Valhalla

A no-nonsense Hotline Miami -like with space vikings. Really impressive soundtrack, and the additional items like shields, teleporters and stealth make the combat more varied than in the games it's clearly inspired by. The story and setting are fun, don't waste much of your time and at no point does the game take itself very seriously, which I think is a refreshing alternative to the philosophical musings of many other violent top-down shooters. Whole package feels very polished, didn't run into any issues or bugs. Played on Steam Deck, on which it ran perfectly. This one is a hidden gem.

moved to this right after OTXO, this felt better, but more expensive as well.

I really enjoyed Redgar. I haven't played a top-down shooter since GTA1 and 2, so it was very challenging at first. The gameplay is very smooth, fluid, and fast-paced. You will die a lot until you start to the understand enemies' behaviour and alert sensitivity. Enemies can even become alerted to your presence if you're not careful when changing weapons. But they won't just start mindlessly running at you - they'll stop to pick up a weapon before engaging. Fortunately, between all the melee weapons and firearms, you have a fairly wide arsenal to choose from. You also have abilities you can pick up (only one at a time), which let you choose what style you want to use. The short-range transporter and cloak were personal favorites - although firing while cloaked just feels worng (I blame Star Trek for this). I loved the music. It's exciting and heart-pumping, which suits the action quite nicely. It compliments the game without being a distraction. I did encounter a couple of game-breaking bugs - one of which was at the final boss fight. Though to his credit, the developer resolved the issue as soon as he was made aware. In the end, the game is just simple and fun. The story and characters are quirky, humorous, and a bit over-the-top, but it all works. I can easily see myself going back to this game from time to time.

Solid fun, definitely recommended. Took me about nine hours to finish on Hard, which I think is the difficulty level one should pick. The game can be quite tricky and unforgiving at times, but none of the levels are impossibly difficult. Often you can come up with a slightly cheesy strategy to handle a situation, but even then it takes a bit of effort to find one. There's a nice selection of weapons and items available, and although I quickly came to favor specific ones (not necessarily because they're the most efficient), the levels are set up so that you actually want to utilize a variety of items. I really liked the atmosphere: Redgar looks and especially sounds great. I feel like the setting, which is certainly interesting - vikings! in space! - could have been leveraged a bit more, but at least there's an explanation for the plasma-horned helmet. It's not exactly the kind of game you play for the story, anyways. Some bugs and slightly odd design choices are included in the package, but overall Redgar is a good pick if you're looking for some fast-paced cerebral action.

A "hotlike", with some quality of life improvements when compared to Hotline Miamis, but on the other hand some parts that arent as polished 7,5/10

A hidden gem. It's obvious that this game takes inspiration and many gameplay features from Hotline Miami, but instead of copying mechanics they also added more own fun stuff. First of all - unique visual style and setting. I don't remember that anyone tried to mix sci-fi and cyberpunk themes with vikings thematic in games before (the closest - Lost Vikings). Second - story. This game has straightforward (and sometimes predictable) story, but dialogues here is hilarious. Half of them are actually funny, other half - "so bad, that it's good" funny. Finally - gameplay. Same HM formula - different realization. You and enemy can die in one hit. And you and enemies have access to different medieval-themed melee weaponry and firearms which got reworked. To usual firearms like shotguns, rifles, and machineguns, they also added plasma versions, each bullet of which bounces of the walls. Also there's laser guns each shot of which do less noise and can penetrate through several enemies, and rockets and rocket launchers which do area damage (and also hit you if you shoot too close). Also in levels you can find crates, that can give you an additional ability that you can activate in any time and they are restoring charge with time. There's abilities like invisibility, shield that reflects bullets infront of you, aimbot that helps aim your gun on enemies and etc. Some features like stunning enemies with throw weapon, opened door or with a punch, also here. Overall this game feels less fast paces than hotline miami, but still fun. Also it's short, you can beat it in like 3-4 hours, but there three difficulty modes + arena mode where you can endlessly fight enemies on procedurally generated arenas. Of course game has own issues. Like unstable framerate (on more powerful PC it may be not an issue); plus one time there was strange bug where I entered a level and for some reason something dragged me down to the bottom of the level. Also few (like 1-2) times it felt like there's too many enemies on a level, or their placement kinda unfair, but it still bearable and passable. Other than that it's fun experience which you should try