You died? So what? Tuck your guts back in and gear up to fight your way through the ranks of a mysterious and twisted cult. You, your guns, and your dynamite will have to shoot, slide, blast, duck, dodge, and maybe throw a gib or two to survive in this old-school-inspired shooter.
Reviews View More
The Real RE4 Remake
(At the time of writing, the full game has yet to come out)
One of the classics from the 90s era of shooter is the game Blood. Due to its excellent atmosphere, naturalistic level design, unforgettable main character, and overall great gunplay it managed to stand out from the rest. Cultic takes those same elements and attempts (and succeeds) to replicate and improve upon the experience originally provided by Blood.
There isn’t much more to be said, it’s a really good shooter seeped in atmosphere that takes inspiration from the right places. If you played and enjoyed Blood or are just a fan of the genre, then I highly recommend Cultic.
Story
You are a detective who has dug too deep into a supposedly harmless cult, now you wake up in a pile of bodies and have to fight your way out.
It's not a story-focused game, but still, I was invested. The numerous pieces of lore scattered throughout the levels certainly helped.
Mechanics and gameplay
It’s the standard throwback shooter formula with some additions. If you’ve played any other FPS of this genre, you will know pretty much everything there is already.
Gunplay is solid, weapons feel satisfying to use, especially since headshoting is a thing. There are also upgrades you can get for said weapons. Level design is excellent, offering natural feeling environments and a smooth transition between levels.
Graphics/Artstyle
Cultic is by no means photorealistic. It pays homage to the 90s era of gaming while still looking like something that was made in this decade. The colour pallet chosen here gives a unique aesthetic that adds a lot to the retro feel.
Atmosphere/Immersion
The atmosphere is perhaps the strongest point of Cultic. It's not horror, but the feeling of playing Cultic is similar. This is due to the cult theme (men in robes, ritual circles, those kinds of things) the game takes on.
With a strong atmosphere comes strong immersion. This is definitely true in this case.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is pretty good, it has the same cultish, horror theme that permeates throughout the rest of the game. My favourite part is “Abomination”.
Final Thoughts
No one-liners :(
One of the classics from the 90s era of shooter is the game Blood. Due to its excellent atmosphere, naturalistic level design, unforgettable main character, and overall great gunplay it managed to stand out from the rest. Cultic takes those same elements and attempts (and succeeds) to replicate and improve upon the experience originally provided by Blood.
There isn’t much more to be said, it’s a really good shooter seeped in atmosphere that takes inspiration from the right places. If you played and enjoyed Blood or are just a fan of the genre, then I highly recommend Cultic.
Story
You are a detective who has dug too deep into a supposedly harmless cult, now you wake up in a pile of bodies and have to fight your way out.
It's not a story-focused game, but still, I was invested. The numerous pieces of lore scattered throughout the levels certainly helped.
Mechanics and gameplay
It’s the standard throwback shooter formula with some additions. If you’ve played any other FPS of this genre, you will know pretty much everything there is already.
Gunplay is solid, weapons feel satisfying to use, especially since headshoting is a thing. There are also upgrades you can get for said weapons. Level design is excellent, offering natural feeling environments and a smooth transition between levels.
Graphics/Artstyle
Cultic is by no means photorealistic. It pays homage to the 90s era of gaming while still looking like something that was made in this decade. The colour pallet chosen here gives a unique aesthetic that adds a lot to the retro feel.
Atmosphere/Immersion
The atmosphere is perhaps the strongest point of Cultic. It's not horror, but the feeling of playing Cultic is similar. This is due to the cult theme (men in robes, ritual circles, those kinds of things) the game takes on.
With a strong atmosphere comes strong immersion. This is definitely true in this case.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is pretty good, it has the same cultish, horror theme that permeates throughout the rest of the game. My favourite part is “Abomination”.
Final Thoughts
No one-liners :(
Had a very fun time with this game weapons felt great and the maps were fun to explore. Would have liked more variety in the enemies most were just cultists in robes or a variant of that.
Oddly naturalistic level design with an... arcadey, boomery character controller. Found a secret in the first level that bypassed the whole area. What's the point of that? All visual sauce and polish, little else.
I REALLY loved this. Way more then I expected to. Most boomshoots are lacking something that I always want them to have, and I think it's a sense of exploration and setpieces; I'm more of a half life fan then a doom fan. This delivers on both fronts.
My first review didn't do this game justice and I will just say it now: this is the best retro style shooter there is in my opinion. It just hits all the spots.
- Hit Feedback? Absolutely amazing. Popping enemy heads or throwing dynamite/Molotov cocktails in a group of cultists never gets old. It is sooo damn satisfying
- Weapon Roster? Simple but perfect. Every single weapon feels good to shoot, sounds gorgeous and has its moments. There is not a single weapon that feels useless or gimmicky. Also the flamethrower is so damn powerful that it always feels good to use. And that's saying something when usually flamethrowers are almost always very gimmicky weapons in other games
- Freedom? This game advertises that you can play it in every way you like and I totally agree with that. The game doesn't force you to use specific weapons or other stuff like that. You can always tackle the enemies in whatever way you like and that's just really cool
- Maps? Varied, creative and with the perfect length for my taste (around 30 minutes for a single map). The secrets are very well placed without being too crazy to find them and the variety of the maps is really nice. Big boats, asylums, mines or police stations, it's all here. Also there aren't really any arena fights which is a big plus for me
- Graphics? Retro and chunky. It feels gritty and dirty which is the perfect look for this game. If you don't like it tho you can disable it in the settings
- Theme and Atmosphere? Man I love it. It feel's like a weird baby from Resident Evil 4 and Blood and I'm all here for it. The little messages you can find throughout the game are also very well written. Also the horror segments of some maps just add soo much to the general atmosphere. It's so good
- Music? Gorgeous. Also this game knows that there shouldn't be heavy metal music in every single chapter of every single map. Cultic knows when there shouldn't be any music but it also knows when to throw in the nice beats when some Cultists need some action
- Enemy Variety? Decent for its length. This is the only part where I maybe would like one or two more enemy types, but it never gets boring and introduces new enemies until almost the very end
- Difficulty settings? There is something for everyone here. "Very hard" is a decent challenge without being too crazy, and "Extreme" is for the people who really want to strategize about how to tackle fights
- Updates? The new completely free map "Interlude" was a very challenging little introduction in whats to come in Chapter 2. It feels fresh and also introduces a few new weapons. All for free.
- Upgrades? Finally an old school shooter in which the progression system doesn't feel tacked on. Finding weapon upgrade parts in secrets feels really rewarding and using them to upgrade your weapons in exactly the ways you want is very useful. Also it helps to make sure that you mostly use the weapons you want to use
All in all this game is just amazing. It's always a good time to pop some cultist heads or throw a Molly in a group of cultists and hear them burn. It's absolutely crazy to me how just one dude could pull this off. Hats off to Jason Smith for this absolute achievement he pulled off.
I can't wait for Chapter 2!
- Hit Feedback? Absolutely amazing. Popping enemy heads or throwing dynamite/Molotov cocktails in a group of cultists never gets old. It is sooo damn satisfying
- Weapon Roster? Simple but perfect. Every single weapon feels good to shoot, sounds gorgeous and has its moments. There is not a single weapon that feels useless or gimmicky. Also the flamethrower is so damn powerful that it always feels good to use. And that's saying something when usually flamethrowers are almost always very gimmicky weapons in other games
- Freedom? This game advertises that you can play it in every way you like and I totally agree with that. The game doesn't force you to use specific weapons or other stuff like that. You can always tackle the enemies in whatever way you like and that's just really cool
- Maps? Varied, creative and with the perfect length for my taste (around 30 minutes for a single map). The secrets are very well placed without being too crazy to find them and the variety of the maps is really nice. Big boats, asylums, mines or police stations, it's all here. Also there aren't really any arena fights which is a big plus for me
- Graphics? Retro and chunky. It feels gritty and dirty which is the perfect look for this game. If you don't like it tho you can disable it in the settings
- Theme and Atmosphere? Man I love it. It feel's like a weird baby from Resident Evil 4 and Blood and I'm all here for it. The little messages you can find throughout the game are also very well written. Also the horror segments of some maps just add soo much to the general atmosphere. It's so good
- Music? Gorgeous. Also this game knows that there shouldn't be heavy metal music in every single chapter of every single map. Cultic knows when there shouldn't be any music but it also knows when to throw in the nice beats when some Cultists need some action
- Enemy Variety? Decent for its length. This is the only part where I maybe would like one or two more enemy types, but it never gets boring and introduces new enemies until almost the very end
- Difficulty settings? There is something for everyone here. "Very hard" is a decent challenge without being too crazy, and "Extreme" is for the people who really want to strategize about how to tackle fights
- Updates? The new completely free map "Interlude" was a very challenging little introduction in whats to come in Chapter 2. It feels fresh and also introduces a few new weapons. All for free.
- Upgrades? Finally an old school shooter in which the progression system doesn't feel tacked on. Finding weapon upgrade parts in secrets feels really rewarding and using them to upgrade your weapons in exactly the ways you want is very useful. Also it helps to make sure that you mostly use the weapons you want to use
All in all this game is just amazing. It's always a good time to pop some cultist heads or throw a Molly in a group of cultists and hear them burn. It's absolutely crazy to me how just one dude could pull this off. Hats off to Jason Smith for this absolute achievement he pulled off.
I can't wait for Chapter 2!