A small passion project that relives classic stealth ops games with minimalist gameplay and nostalgic aesthetic.

In no way superior to it's inspirations nor meaningfully distinct but I honestly don't fault it for that in the slightest.

Sometimes it's nice to have more of a thing I like for a couple of hours.

Tied together by some solid art and sound design, it was worth the time/money invested to enjoy it.

I will also say that sometimes less is more even in terms of challenge and mechanics.

NSTW is a mix of Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, only the scope is smaller in every way. What we have is very enjoyable and fun to play in small sessions. The controls are perfect with mouse and keyboard and perhaps it works so well becomes the moves, weapons and gadgets are limited. To be specific, the game has only 2 guns and there are no gadgets. You have 6 areas/missions and there are 2 guard types. I’ve completed normal mode in 2.6 hours and it becomes 8.3 hours if you include hard mode. Hard mode is a bit more substantial as you’re not shown where your targets are and all the enemies have become the more difficult versions of the 2 types. It was worth doing hard mode despite getting frustrated with all the deaths and the lack of checkpoints within missions/areas.

I’m putting all the numbers here not because I’m complaining. It’s to give an idea for the scope you should expect. I loved the fact the game is kept pure and that there wasn’t really much of a story either. The graphics are a mix of ps1 style but very sharp and with modern technology. It’s very appealing. The levels are well designed despite the simplicity. I’m also impressed by most of the animations such as killing guards when sneaking behind them. The sound effects are also good but there is no music aside from the main menu and level selection screen. The 6 areas have more ambiance sounds and quiet moments.

Out of all Merlino Games, this is my favourite. It’s the most polished one and its scope is enough to leave me satisfied. It makes me miss the popular stealth games I mentioned and I also hope that we will get NSTW2. I don’t mind if the scope is kept the same or slightly bigger. The normal price is less than €8 and it can be had for less than €6 often. It’s worth it for fans of the genre when expectations are kept in check. The developer is also worth supporting as he tries different things often, is focused and keeps getting better. Apparently he wants the next game to be bigger with the help of a team instead of a solo project. And I’m not talking about ‘Under a Star Long Cold’ which is coming in February. we know the unknown game is also going to be a stealth game. It’s very exciting following whatever this developer is up to.

Funny how little amount of stealth games I play, because it's one of my favorite types of games alongside survival horror. Don't worry about that tho because in a few weeks I'll be playing the shit out of Metal Gear Solid, but I digress.

While the greater issue with most of the games in the genre is that they give too many gameplay features, this one has the exact opposite problem. I know that it's an amateur project with an uneven price on Steam, and it does have a pretty fun art style for something of that pedestal, but it straight-up lacks some of the most fundamental aspects of what makes a stealth game good. For one, ammo is shockingly scarce. The classic trick of shooting light sources to hide in the shadows is very much present and NPCs are killed instantly with headshots, but you're generally given just 10 bullets from the beginning, and ammo boxes are almost nowhere to be found. In fact, there's just nothing to explore besides the main objective. Searching behind every nook and cranny doesn't offer any results besides finding your target, and all you have to do at that point is just killing them while they're already down. Guards can still be taken down by holding them hostage and then choking them, but for one, doing so doesn't grant you anything so you're better off sneaking further unless they get in the way, and two, this gets repetitive real quickly since the enemy AI seems to hardly spot you so it's not like getting to that point is all that difficult. When you do get spotted, it's pretty much game over from there on out because the guards have this weird sixth sense by which they always seem to know where you are hiding, I even had two of them stand still at a corner right next to me and start firing at the wall because they just hadn't reached the angle to hit me. Once you die, there is no save system to back you up so you have to do the whole mission all over again. It's not as infuriating as it sounds because each mission is relatively short, but doing the process all the way from scratch each time gets boring after the third attempt because the only major difference is the route you're taking. The gameplay just kinda boils down to the bare minimum of how these games work, and additional features to immerse yourself further into the stealth are severely lacking.

While I refunded this game within just 45 minutes, I learned a lot from its subpar design. I wouldn't be complaining if niche games like this dominated the home store page.

Neat in concept but just does not feel fleshed out enough to really hold me personally. Also felt like several of the mechanics were kinda out of place to me. Like full sneaking taking your health. Not to mention the AI being able to see through corners and stuff helped to make the experience a bit less fun for me. I did really like the level design and atmosphere of the game though. Hopefully the dev takes another crack at this style of gameplay in the future. This unfortunately just wasn't a right fit for me though.

4.5/10

You wish this ladder had a song. But who is left to write it?

A Ground Zeroes flick acting in reverse; punishment instead of extraction. Delicious cruelty. The prisoners hide in their nowhere bunkers with guards patrolling their cramped steel corridors like the automatons that they are whilst you stalk each one relentlessly in order to absorb their essence - behind this metal mask, the byproduct of industrial gears and dead stars, a computer left to run alone in a dark room.

In the end nobody will be left to watch the execution.