i think i felt more positive about this from the outset that i ended up doing in hindsight. the visual style is obviously the highlight here - and it is good, especially in particular areas. there is something nice about wandering through weird cartoony labyrinths in a Metroid format but still obviously in first person in the Doom engine. and it does feel like something that had a lot of heart put into it. even if it’s pretty short, it’s solidly executed. and there were areas that felt distinct, with some new surprises or interesting traits.
there are really times where felt like it could use more work or it just didn’t feel that refined - some areas were a bit empty, there were a few times where it felt buggy or overly grindy or there were random death traps for no reason, and a lot of the bosses were just “circle strafe and hold down fire to win” - in general there’s not exactly deep inspiring combat. it’s definitely a game that just runs in the Doom engine - you even get the Doom percentage stat screen at the end of the game. the plot is a bit like a Dark Souls fanfiction and feels amateurish at times.
my big complaint is the design feels a bit boilerplate outside of the cool visuals - very workmanlike, which is fine! in that way it made me think a little of older indie game designers like Locomalito or Daniel Remar who sort of have a retro sensibility aren’t exactly doing anything revolutionary in terms of design features in their games or whatever (Locomalito literally advertises his work as “traditional video games” which is... lol), but their games still have a distinctive mark. tho it is less refined design-wise than the output of those designers. but still it’s obviously coming from a developer with limited resources and time - and that is part of the charm. it reminds me of a lot of 00's games in that way.
but if you're expecting something more weird or off the beaten path due to the visuals, you're not really going to get that here. i wouldn't exactly call it an essential play for that reason, even if there were individual parts i liked.
there are really times where felt like it could use more work or it just didn’t feel that refined - some areas were a bit empty, there were a few times where it felt buggy or overly grindy or there were random death traps for no reason, and a lot of the bosses were just “circle strafe and hold down fire to win” - in general there’s not exactly deep inspiring combat. it’s definitely a game that just runs in the Doom engine - you even get the Doom percentage stat screen at the end of the game. the plot is a bit like a Dark Souls fanfiction and feels amateurish at times.
my big complaint is the design feels a bit boilerplate outside of the cool visuals - very workmanlike, which is fine! in that way it made me think a little of older indie game designers like Locomalito or Daniel Remar who sort of have a retro sensibility aren’t exactly doing anything revolutionary in terms of design features in their games or whatever (Locomalito literally advertises his work as “traditional video games” which is... lol), but their games still have a distinctive mark. tho it is less refined design-wise than the output of those designers. but still it’s obviously coming from a developer with limited resources and time - and that is part of the charm. it reminds me of a lot of 00's games in that way.
but if you're expecting something more weird or off the beaten path due to the visuals, you're not really going to get that here. i wouldn't exactly call it an essential play for that reason, even if there were individual parts i liked.