Cultic is, of all the retro-fps revival going on, the one that more obviously draws it’s inspiration on Blood. That alone, makes it worth checking. I’ve seen some polarizing reactions cocerning Cultic, but of course they’re not exactly reflected on the overall score in this page. This polarization was mostly about the heavy-pixelated visual style. Personally i think the style is just great, it gives the game a lot of personality and an atmosphere of it’s own. Most of the people describe the art style as “crispy”. I personally prefer to describe it as impressionistic.
Combat wise, this is not exactly your average boomer shooter. Of course, the Blood-like combat is there in many ways: hitscanners, explosions, flames, and the typical traps whose direct comparison would definitely be that moment in Blood’s first level where you enter the chapel, where lots of hitscanners are shooting you from every side. Of course, there are many situations in Cultic like those, situations where you had to be as fast as posible but not in the typical doom-like circlestrafing combat. But also, there are other situations that, instead, will encourage you to think twice: sometimes it would be better to be stealthy and try not to alert the enemies, other times it’s going to be necessary to snipe from a distance. Gameplay is, in conclusion, pretty wide. It’s also worth mentioning that Cultic’s difficulty never gets as tough as Blood, thankfully.
Weapons are excellent. Shotgun and dynamites are a great homage to Blood. The pistol might probably be the best handgun i ever used in any fps ever, it’s incredibly good. I feel like the only let down when it comes to weapons is the machine gun, somehow not being as good as one would expect. As for the enemies (another point where i read some criticism) i think they are great. The chainsaw guy might be considered a bit bullet-spongy, but i think that’s actually an excellent decision, for the following reason: This game is clearly inspired in many ways by survival horrors, and while the game isn’t necessarily straight out scary, at times it might get pretty unnerving and tense. And i think that most of these unnerving moments are actually when you fight these chainsaw guys. You always encounter them in close spaces, they chase you around, and as soon as they come close to you, they chop your health in a matter of seconds. They are, in my opinion, the closer this game comes to give you a real horror-like experience.
As for the maps, they are just massive, but pretty intuitive. Only a few times they can get confusing (notably, maps 2 and ). You get both close spaces aswell as wide open areas. I like how they, just as Blood’s first episode, create a sense of storytelling where you’re getting from point A to B, instead of just being a collection of random maps. Not to mention those very well written diary logs you found through out the game.
In conclusion, this might easily be the best FPS of the year, and probably one of the best of the last couple years. I’m looking forward for that second episode.
Fav maps: Map 3 (The Mine Town) / Map 4 (The Mines) / Map 7 (The Asylum Grounds)
Least fav map: Map 5 (The Crypts)
Combat wise, this is not exactly your average boomer shooter. Of course, the Blood-like combat is there in many ways: hitscanners, explosions, flames, and the typical traps whose direct comparison would definitely be that moment in Blood’s first level where you enter the chapel, where lots of hitscanners are shooting you from every side. Of course, there are many situations in Cultic like those, situations where you had to be as fast as posible but not in the typical doom-like circlestrafing combat. But also, there are other situations that, instead, will encourage you to think twice: sometimes it would be better to be stealthy and try not to alert the enemies, other times it’s going to be necessary to snipe from a distance. Gameplay is, in conclusion, pretty wide. It’s also worth mentioning that Cultic’s difficulty never gets as tough as Blood, thankfully.
Weapons are excellent. Shotgun and dynamites are a great homage to Blood. The pistol might probably be the best handgun i ever used in any fps ever, it’s incredibly good. I feel like the only let down when it comes to weapons is the machine gun, somehow not being as good as one would expect. As for the enemies (another point where i read some criticism) i think they are great. The chainsaw guy might be considered a bit bullet-spongy, but i think that’s actually an excellent decision, for the following reason: This game is clearly inspired in many ways by survival horrors, and while the game isn’t necessarily straight out scary, at times it might get pretty unnerving and tense. And i think that most of these unnerving moments are actually when you fight these chainsaw guys. You always encounter them in close spaces, they chase you around, and as soon as they come close to you, they chop your health in a matter of seconds. They are, in my opinion, the closer this game comes to give you a real horror-like experience.
As for the maps, they are just massive, but pretty intuitive. Only a few times they can get confusing (notably, maps 2 and ). You get both close spaces aswell as wide open areas. I like how they, just as Blood’s first episode, create a sense of storytelling where you’re getting from point A to B, instead of just being a collection of random maps. Not to mention those very well written diary logs you found through out the game.
In conclusion, this might easily be the best FPS of the year, and probably one of the best of the last couple years. I’m looking forward for that second episode.
Fav maps: Map 3 (The Mine Town) / Map 4 (The Mines) / Map 7 (The Asylum Grounds)
Least fav map: Map 5 (The Crypts)
loinbread
1 year ago