As is the tradition at this point, the rumblings of the FPS community led to my discovery of what truly stands as 2021's GOTY (so far). Cruelty Squad is by far one of the most mechanically dense, insanely replayable, and utterly demented shooters I've played in a while. This "Broken Reality crashed headfirst into copies of classic Rainbow Six and Deus Ex" experience is certainly not for everyone, but this game becomes a surreal masterpiece the more you play it.
To say I was utterly enamored with Cruelty Squad would be a severe understatement. Cruelty Squad's garish visuals pair wonderfully with its quick-witted gameplay, creating something rather unique in the modern shooter market. The overall presentation of Cruelty Squad certainly acts as a major turnoff for some, but those more familiar with the genre should know what they're getting themselves into when booting up this game for the first time.
What you will receive once you start up Cruelty Squad is... something else entirely. The speed of shooters like QUAKE, the ferocity of Rainbow Six, and the stealth and level design inspirations from Deus Ex (and other immersive sims, of course) crafts a wonderfully unique genre-melding; if that sounds even remotely interesting, you'll have a blast with Cruelty Squad.
As fun and engaging as Cruelty Squad can be the majority of the time you're playing it, you're bound to deal with rather obnoxious hurdles to truly keep that divine link intact. This, unfortunately, means that the player will be doing much more than the standard Hitman-esc contracts during missions, which may prove fun for some, and a major progression roadblock for others. Cruelty Squad knows this and has fun with that idea. If you're not willing to put your all into this game, you're not going to receive much out of it. Never have I seen a game that wants you to hate it as much as Cruelty Squad does; judging by the game, itself, and the Twitter account of developer Consumer Softproducts, this game is ultimately a shitpost. In a way, creating a highly technical shooter, bound with secrets and interesting economic mechanics just for it to be a shitpost is rather artful, yet that has its downsides, too.
If you're really not in the mood to push through seriously difficult trials to hit that "CEO mindset," you will hate this game. If you want a far easier experience to casually stroll along to, you'll hate this game. Honestly, multiple factors would reasonably lead someone to hate this experience. Consumer Softproducts is clearly aware of this through the amount of shitposting they do online, but that's just the Cruelty Squad experience: a flawed masterpiece.
If you think you have the patience for the sometimes crushing difficulty, as well as the eventual fishing grind you're going to go through, Cruelty Squad is a game you should not miss.
To say I was utterly enamored with Cruelty Squad would be a severe understatement. Cruelty Squad's garish visuals pair wonderfully with its quick-witted gameplay, creating something rather unique in the modern shooter market. The overall presentation of Cruelty Squad certainly acts as a major turnoff for some, but those more familiar with the genre should know what they're getting themselves into when booting up this game for the first time.
What you will receive once you start up Cruelty Squad is... something else entirely. The speed of shooters like QUAKE, the ferocity of Rainbow Six, and the stealth and level design inspirations from Deus Ex (and other immersive sims, of course) crafts a wonderfully unique genre-melding; if that sounds even remotely interesting, you'll have a blast with Cruelty Squad.
As fun and engaging as Cruelty Squad can be the majority of the time you're playing it, you're bound to deal with rather obnoxious hurdles to truly keep that divine link intact. This, unfortunately, means that the player will be doing much more than the standard Hitman-esc contracts during missions, which may prove fun for some, and a major progression roadblock for others. Cruelty Squad knows this and has fun with that idea. If you're not willing to put your all into this game, you're not going to receive much out of it. Never have I seen a game that wants you to hate it as much as Cruelty Squad does; judging by the game, itself, and the Twitter account of developer Consumer Softproducts, this game is ultimately a shitpost. In a way, creating a highly technical shooter, bound with secrets and interesting economic mechanics just for it to be a shitpost is rather artful, yet that has its downsides, too.
If you're really not in the mood to push through seriously difficult trials to hit that "CEO mindset," you will hate this game. If you want a far easier experience to casually stroll along to, you'll hate this game. Honestly, multiple factors would reasonably lead someone to hate this experience. Consumer Softproducts is clearly aware of this through the amount of shitposting they do online, but that's just the Cruelty Squad experience: a flawed masterpiece.
If you think you have the patience for the sometimes crushing difficulty, as well as the eventual fishing grind you're going to go through, Cruelty Squad is a game you should not miss.