[i]"Redviil is a post apocalyptic-themed RPG where you'll play as the female protagonist, Alice. The game looks and feels like Last Day on Earth: Survival...maybe the devs are inspired by that game, but it has some extra features such as cover-based combat and time-slowing while omitting others (crafting/building etc). However, due to the lack of any fun content, I don't think Redviil is worth buying at the moment. Hence, I would not recommend getting the game."[/i]
[h1]Storyline[/h1]
Redviil seems to have a pretty nice, post-apocalyptic storyline going for it. Apparently, the world had been invaded by a particularly virulent plague that I assume, infest each infected person's brain with another personality. This seems evident during the tutorial where you can see Alice, the female protagonist, having a mental battle with whoever who's giving you some instructions on how to play the game.
Eventually, I think you'll need to help Alice find a cure and save all the infected people from going mad or something.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Now, the game only has 1 game mode that's currently working/playable to some extent - the Stalker mode where you'll need to capture a capture point probably by killing all nearby enemies, and hold it for as long as you can ala King of the Hill-style without any backup. However, before you can play that mode, you'll need to first start a New Game and play through the tutorial.
This is where the game issues start to become apparent. Even by following the instructions given, the game doesn't seem to be registering my actions and hence, I was stuck with nothing else to do except to start another New Game, and this time around, skip the tutorial entirely. The downside to this is that the game doesn't lists out the controls you'll need to play the game, and although you can probably figure out most of it via trial and error, it's still good to include a list of controls for the player to refer to, at the very least.
FYI, here are the controls that I've discovered:
[list]
[*] WASD - to move
[*] C - to crouch
[*] I - to open inventory
[*] R - to reload, only when you have a gun (pistol) equipped
[*] X - to switch between your primary and secondary weapons
[*] Left mouse button - to shoot/swing your bat - make sure your character is facing the right direction and that your reticle (controlled by your mouse) is pointing at the enemy you want to slay.
[*] F - to loot corpses and crates. During looting, drag and drop to move loot into your inventory one by one. Ammo can be stacked, by the way.
[*] When the option is presented to you (usually when you're near tall trees), press F to take cover behind the tree trunk. Press any movement key to move out of cover - this part is very clunky. Same goes when you'd want to go back into cover.
[*] F1 to F3 - to "control time"
[*] P/S: The game has no map.
[/list]
Redviil is a game that emphasizes rather strongly on stealth - at least that's the impression conveyed by the tutorial - though, I wasn't able to stealth my way through the last part of the raiders' camp and had to sprint my way to the exit... made it with only a sliver of health left! Whew!
Now, in terms of the game's Stalker mode, I find that the game mode has a pretty nice King-of-the-Hill concept but it can get quite dull after some time because aside from trying to capture a capture point, there also isn't much else to do in this game except running around, killing raiders at their camps and stealing their (very limited) loot.
Not to mention, at the moment, the game mode doesn't seem to have an end point - a point where the game will go "congrats, you've won the game". So, even if you do manage to capture a capture point, the game will have to defend it from possibly waves of enemies (I'm just guessing at this point) until you die, which would probably be really quick since there isn't a way for you to find health syringes in your loot.
Frankly speaking, playing an endless game with nothing to do except shooting at a bunch of AIs, who oftentime gang up on you, while trying not to die isn't exactly very fun - In fact, it gets kind of boring and frustrating in the long run.
[h1]Watch me play![/h1]
...on [url=https://www.twitch.tv/videos/395505363]Twitch[/url]
[h1]Feedback[/h1]
As an alpha, Redviil still has a reeeaallly long way to go. Here are some feedback:
1. The tutorial needs a revamp. Many parts in the tutorial aren't working even when the instructions were followed.
2. Add in a list of player controls (like WASD to move, C to crouch, I to open inventory etc) just so players who had to skip the buggy tutorial can refer to it and save some time from doing some trial and error with all the keys on the keyboard. This isn't very urgent though since the player should be able to easily figure out which keys do what in the game.
3. The cover-based combat is extremely clunky. The game needs a smoother transition between entering and exiting cover, and re-entering cover so the players can take pot-shots at the enemies without having to fully expose themselves for an extended period of time to retaliatory bullets. Devs, you can take some tips from The Division's combat system in this case.
4. Increase variety of loot to include more health syringes for Stalker mode. It's literally impossible to take on so many enemies - tried stealth-killing but it didn't work out since the enemies are placed too close to each other - and not lose a ton of health in the process. Having only 1 health syringe is just not enough.
5. Fix the falling-through-the-ground glitch in Stalker mode's map. See my Twitch stream for more detail.
6. Develop the campaign of the game asap because like I said before, the Stalker mode can only hold a player's attention for so long. It's not really very entertaining, especially if you do manage to beat it.
7. The time-slowing aspect of the game doesn't seem to contribute much to the gameplay/ durng fights. When you're fixing the tutorial, maybe you can add in a short combat scene where the advantage of having time-slowed is demonstrated?
8. This is very important - please make the reticle more visible against the background. More often than not, I've lost track of my reticle and have to wave my mouse around until I found it. So, use white maybe?
9. I would also recommend adding in a short intro video describing what happened prior to the apocalypse. The video can answer crucial questions about the background of the story such as what brought on the plague in the first place? provide some details about the aftermath of the plague, why Alice is in the middle of forest, and maybe why there are so many raiders just standing around in the forest, with their camps all set up.
[h1]Overall[/h1]
Redviil does seem to have a pretty intriguing post-apocalyptic storyline that might turn out to be good and a gameplay that looks like it might be fun. However, from the time I've spent playing its tutorial and Stalker mode, it's evident that the game still has a long way to go before it could even reach what I call an "entertaining level of playability" - the crucial factor which will drive a player to return to your game and play some more.
As such, I would not recommend buying the game in its current state in spite of the little bit of potential that I see in the game...that is unless you really, really want to support the devs by working with them to first fix all the glitches, and then providing them with more feedback so that they can improve the gameplay and make Redviil a lot more fun to play. Of course, the devs will have to, in turn, listen closely to their players and work hard to implement all the good suggestions and feedback they get.
[h1]Side note[/h1]
If you like this review and would like to follow me for more, please feel free to drop by my curator page:
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33780629-The-Midcore-Gamer/]https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33780629-The-Midcore-Gamer/[/url]
