Wow y'all weren't lying 1000xResist is something.
I'm going through it slowly (only just finished chapter 2) both because I think it benefits from time to breathe and contemplate between episodes and because I'm super busy these days but damn if this isn't some good sci-fi.
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I was not expecting Bioshock to invade my roguelite space anytime soon, but Void Bastards is exactly that: A roguelite Bioshock.
Now, this is a bit of an oversell. Many rightfully hold the original Bioshock in incredibly high regard, with Bioshock 2 being a personal favorite of mine. Void Bastards doesn't reach any of its most notable inspiration's highest of highs, though it does make for a unique ride amidst its many contemporaries.
You'll hack turrets and doorways, loot all sorts of nooks and crannies, wade through many mostly derelict environments and force your way through what enemies stand in your way through careful planning rather than twitch reflexes. Injected into the proceedings is a sense of humor similar to that of 60 Parsecs/60 Seconds, your ship's AI portrayed wonderfully by Stanley Parable alumni Kevan Brighting.
It takes quite some time to notice, though cracks do eventually appear. Ship layouts occasionally blend together and, most egregious, the enemy spawners become a real headache. The incessant rate of certain enemy types disrupting exploration needed to be severely toned down. Deaths are often your fault, but they're no less obnoxious when the game does go against its Bioshock-like design principles and becomes more action-heavy the deeper you find yourself within deep space.
All in all, a really good game held up by a novel mesh of mechanics with flaws that don't show until you've just about gotten your money's worth anyhow! I anxiously await the upcoming sequel which will hopefully address said flaws.
This is one of those rare cases of a roguelite that exceeds beyond the realms of its genre.
Typically, a roguelite will use the fundamentals of a shooter, a platformer, some form of tower defense, etc. and meld it with an addictive gameplay loop that breeds death that then feeds into a meta which will then, ideally, encourage multiple plays with the help of randomized loot, randomized enemy placement and so on. It's that loop that sinks its teeth into you and keeps you engaged with content that would otherwise be exhausted within several hours.
With Roboquest, it's not just finely-tuned as a roguelite. If you were to take the roguelite loop out of it, you'd still have the bones of an amazing shooter. It feels incredible, sporting gunplay right up there with greats like Max Payne 3, DOOM 2016 and Destiny 2. I couldn't get over how much fun I was having in those first 10-20 hours, and it only got more interesting as I unlocked the various Gadgets that added extra mobility like double jumps, a jetpack, a butt smash and a grappling hook.
It has a goddamn grappling hook.
The core of the gameplay is so good that it feels almost unnecessary to mention, but your weapons arsenal is also plenty extensive and there's many opportunities to buildcraft around them. Explosive builds, elemental builds, mobility builds, fire rate builds, it goes on. Few weapons feel underwhelming, most polished to a glistening sheen. Right down to the reload animations, there's a lot of care put into making these weapons fun to use.
60+ hours later and with the recent Super Update dropping, I'm still having fun and am still unlocking content. It's mostly scraps, but it's scraps worth fighting for. I haven't even unlocked that grappling hook (almost there, though)!
It's criminal that I got this via Humble Choice.
This one was short, but very sweet. The building of tension was almost palpable, an unnerving feeling that something was, at all times, about to go wrong. As though I shouldn't be here, or that I was doing something I shouldn't be doing.
The dog sledding took a little getting used to and it wasn't always clear what the game wanted me to do, but that was barely an issue. Overall, the game was full of interesting ideas and had a heck of an atmosphere.
That's about all I'll give away about the game, though. It's short, but very interesting.
