REVIEW / Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command (PC)

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REVIEW / Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command (PC)

 

I’ve always been a fan of the worlds created by Games Workshop. Though these are primarily orientated around tabletop gaming there is so much lore and so many well-written stories in those settings that they warrant investigation; even if you aren’t a lover of miniatures. This being said there have been a series of games on both PC and various consoles over the years ready to entice us gamers into the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command is a new addition to the library of titles and being a bit of a fan I thought I’d give this turn-based strategy game a go and see what’s what.

 

 

It’s nice to see spin-offs of major franchises. Sometimes you just want to leave the main players to do their thing and follow the story of a character or organization that might be considered fluff in the grand scheme of things. In Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command we aren’t interested in big stompy Space Marines or battles raging across the stars we are concentrating on the slightly undersung heroes and heroines of the Imperial Air Corps. These fighter aces have their own issues to contend with and in this particular case, it’s Orks.

Let’s talk about the campaign first. This isn’t what I’d call a campaign in the truest sense because there isn’t a story that evolves as you go. This mode has a board game feel. You need to win a certain number of points to win outright. You set the game length, (number of points needed,) and difficulty and away you go. After that, you choose from a series of missions each with varying objectives that will grant you points if you complete them.

 

One of the few plusses of the game. The controls are fluid and make sense.

 

Missions range from dogfights which simply ask you to knock out enemy fighters to escort missions, cargo drops, and so on. The fact that you can choose from two missions at a time means that you can go for the ones you feel you stand the most chance of completing or find the most enjoyable. This in theory negates any difficulty spikes and that’s actually quite clever. Sadly I don’t have a lot of other positive things to say here.

The campaign in general feels rushed and a bit thrown together. There isn’t a great variety of missions and the maps you fly over are limited and pretty basic. This is a game where they could have given you loads of terrain to hide behind, ambush from, or in the case of mountains, avoid. There just isn’t enough there to really add any strategic depth.

 

 

You can only play from the Imperial side so if you fancy leading the Orks to victory it isn’t going to happen. Considering the campaign should be the main focus of the story in the game this feels like a bit of a strange omission at launch. I’m not sure, though, exactly how much this really matters as there is very little story other than the main premise. There are no protagonists to fall in love with or villains to hate other than maybe ‘Eadboila, the Ork Warboss; just a series of fairly nondescript pilots in planes. There is no voice acting of any sort either so you won’t even feel like you’re in character. There are no plot based cinematics on top of all this so there’s nothing to ground you, (pardon the pun,) and really pull you in.

I completed the campaign on easy. This is something I often do, then go back and up the challenge for another playthrough. Please note I’m not commenting on the game’s difficulty and I was expecting things to ramp up a bit when I played again. The problem is I didn’t want to play again and for a full-release title that isn’t cheap, this isn’t good. Aeronautica Imperialis just didn’t feel exciting. It was nice to see the moves you’d set up for your planes play out but the lack of story just left everything a bit bland and repetitive.

 

The only real story present is in the limited scenarios

 

This should be the sort of game that will pull Games Workshop fans in droves. I was really excited to follow a new story in the 40k universe. Sadly, none of what I was looking for as a fan was there. If I hadn’t been told this was a 40k game I could have missed it entirely. Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command just feels like a pretty shoddy effort with a brand stuck on it. There is a bit of 40k terminology present but nowhere near enough to make it stand out amongst other games in the Warhammer 40k library.

Before missions, you’re given a loadout screen. Here is where you outfit your planes with a variety of weapons and upgrades. This would have been great if there were any. You’re told which planes your using and in the time I played, I didn’t see any upgrades. I wasn’t given any new weapons to play with either. This just added to my feeling that I was doing the same thing over and over again without any real difference other than the odd objective.

 

 

Aside from the campaign, you have a series of scenarios to complete. These involve similar missions as the campaign with a bit more story linking them together so they don’t feel completely disjointed. This is a good way of helping you learn the game but as they don’t massively differ in what they offer, completing them doesn’t feel like a must. If completing the scenarios unlocked new planes, abilities, or pilots fair enough. You aren’t really rewarded for your extra time so they feel more like something extra to do as opposed to something worthwhile. In addition to this, there are only currently seven of them. You can play each mission from both sides but it shouldn’t take too long to complete them all.

It feels like the devs have done things a bit back to front. They did the tutorial and scenarios first, then added the campaign. The problem with this is it feels like they just rushed the campaign out to make the game feel finished before it was fleshed out enough to be worth playing. The scenarios could in my opinion happily come later. If this was an Early Access release I’d be a lot more forgiving but it’s not. As a full release, there just isn’t enough there to warrant your money.

 

 

Nuts and bolts wise, the graphics are nice if a wee bit basic. The issue isn’t with the quality, (it looks great,) rather the lack of memorable environments and fairly basic setting. Sound is something they could have done a lot with and for me, missed the mark completely on. At the very least it would have been nice to give the pilots a voice but instead we just get a pretty forgettable sound track playing in the background.

Mechanically Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command is fine. The controls make sense. You set the movement angle of your plane and it’s height/speed and the game does the rest for you. You don’t need to worry too much about firing at things as it’s all done automatically depending on your range. It’s actually one of the few things in this game that I really don’t have any problems with.

 

 

All in all, I’m pretty sure Aeronautica Imperialis Flight Command could be a really good game. I also genuinely believe the devs will continue perfecting this title. The issue is that, for me, they have a lot of work to do before it can be called anywhere near finished. This being said I can’t recommend the game in its current state and would advise sticking it in your wishlist and watching what happens with it for now.

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TVGB Riftwatch goes half way with Robo Recall

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TVGB Riftwatch goes half way with Robo Recall

 

Technical difficulties are the nature of virtual reality, especially when it comes to this show. This episode features the Oculus-exclusive shooter Robo Recall, but it’s actually only half of what I recorded; the first half was lost. Still, I hope you enjoy it:

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REVIEW / Maneater (X1)

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REVIEW / Maneater (X1)

 

Thanks to the recent lockdowns and quarantines, there haven’t been many new games so far this summer. That may be why Maneater got so much attention when it was released; it was given almost as much coverage as a Triple-A game. And I’m glad that happened, in a silver lining sort of way, because Tripwire Interactive’s so-called “ShaRk-PG” is a great concept, and definitely the most ambitious shark game I’ve ever seen. But is Maneater good enough to keep you going until the next big blockbuster game? Let’s dive in, pun intended, and find out.

The general concept of Maneater is pretty simple: you’re a shark, and you want revenge on a human shark hunter. It’s an open world with all the usual landmarks and hidden items to find, but it starts small; more of the setting is opened up for you as you progress. You have missions that basically involve eating a given number of creatures or defeating big Apex predators, and finishing those helps you progress through the story and power up your shark. I was really happy with this setup; though it was disappointing how long it took to reach something I could describe as “open water,” the threats increased with the world, and having an open world to mess around in was a really cool idea. It’s true that these missions do become repetitive, but given the relatively short length of the game and backstory of the setting that becomes clearer as you progress, I never had any trouble with them.

For my money, the game’s biggest issue is its inconsistent difficulty. Right off the bat, the challenge comes from the larger predators in the area, trying to kill you while you go about your missions. You’ll die a lot in Maneater, but there’s virtually no penalty to it, so I assume the folks at Tripwire expected this. It can also be kind of scary, as you’ll be focused on your mission and all of a sudden a predator will come up and kick your tail. Despite this, it did seem the game got a little bit easier as I continued. That is, until I reached the second to last chapter, where I encountered an enormous difficulty spike. In particular, it was that chapter’s Apex (each chapter has one), a killer whale. While previous Apex battles didn’t take too long, I had to try this one four or five times before I succeeded. But by the time I reached the next and final Apex, it was super easy, and so was pretty much everything from that point. 

Some of this can be attributed to the upgrade system. Your shark gains experience in the form of nutrients, and can level up; it’s reaching certain levels that allows you to make your shark bigger. But, the maximum level is 30, and you’ll likely hit it long before you reach the end. When you can’t grind to prep for a challenge, what can you do? The answer is, use and level up your mutations. Mutations are special upgrades that can be unlocked by completing particular missions, and can be leveled up using nutrients. As long as you keep a focus on them and make sure to level them up, you should be OK.

All of this might sound like busywork, but Maneater has plenty to keep players entertained. The writing is fantastic; the game is presented as a reality TV show of the same name, which means there’s plenty of narration. It’s all fun stuff, especially the landmark descriptions, and when it comes to comedic narrators, it’s hard to beat SNL alum Chris Parnell. Granted, repeated lines can get annoying by the end of the game, but for the most part, it’s funny and adds character to Maneater. The humor also contains that low-level backstory about what happens when man fights nature, which is told both in the dialogue and by the world itself, without being pretentious or overbearing. Outside of humor, the “war” between the shark and the hunter is played totally straight, and was actually kind of unnerving near the end.

So, while Maneater may not be a replacement for the triple-A games that have been delayed, it’s a fun and well made game in its own right. Playing as a shark is just fun, and Tripwire clearly put a ton of effort into just about every aspect of the game. It does get a little bit frustrating at times, but I’m glad I pushed through that. For a game focused on bloodthirsty destruction, I’m impressed that Maneater also has a subtle environmental message. I recommend Maneater to anyone who likes playing as the violent killer in games. There is definitely a power fantasy element to the game’s appeal, and if that sounds like fun to you, you won’t be disappointed.

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Paper Beast makes its way to PC this Summer

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Paper Beast makes its way to PC this Summer

We haven’t had a great deal of VR news in a while. This is exceedingly strange as there’s new stuff coming out for this medium all the time. One such game is Paper Beast, which will be appearing on your Oculus and Vive contraptions in the coming months.

Paper Beast has been created by the clever souls over at Pixel Reef. It’s a VR exploration game for Steam VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive and it’s due to be with us this summer. If you read this article and think, “I’d love that but I’m a PS4 owner,” fear not! It released for your PlayStation 4 head-box at the beginning of 2020 so you can go over to the PS Store and grab it at your leisure.

As you explore a virgin land you will quickly discover that interaction with the world’s creatures is at the heart of the game. To overcome Paper Beast’s challenges and puzzles you’ll have to form bonds with the wildlife around you. This title isn’t all about using your head, though, you’ll need as much compassion as intellect if you are to win out. By this, I mean that you’ll need to gain the trust of the local animals by saving them from predators and other natural dangers.

There are two ways for you to experience and enjoy Paper Beast. The first is the game’s exploration mode. This pretty much does what it says on the tin. Through exploration, you’ll meet and befriend native creatures and advance the story as you go. Should you be feeling a bit more experimental this title also features a sandbox mode. This is effectively a god mode in which you can shape the world as you see fit and that of course means shaping its eco-system as well. Not only can you sculpt landscapes and plot rivers but the weather system with be there for you to manipulate too. The choices you make with have their own effect on the flora and fauna.

“I’m super excited that we can finally talk about the PC version of Paper Beast!” Said Eric Chahi, founder of Pixel Reef. “The initial reaction to the PlayStation 4 version by both fans and the critics was beyond what we could have imagined, so we really can’t wait to make the game available for VR players on PC. Besides, we had a really fun time going back into development and adding a bunch of cool new surprises to this version of Paper Beast.”

There are indeed cool new surprises in this version of the game. On top of upgraded visuals and continuous move support, the menagerie of plants and animals has also been expanded. This plus new items and the extended sandbox mode I mentioned earlier will make a neat little package for PC owning VR fans.

There’s nothing like a good explore. The ability to do it in VR just adds to the mystery and intrigue that always comes with games of this nature. If Paper Beast sounds like something that might be your thing you really haven’t got that much longer to wait.

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The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes releases on PC

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The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes releases on PC

A new contender in the PC Action-RPG market enters in the form of an adaptation of German tabletop RPG titan, The Dark Eye. The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes released today on Steam, aiming to remind players of the glory days playing classics like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

 

 

Book of Heroes takes players to the world of Aventuria, the fantasy setting of the tabletop game originally released back in 1984. To do so players must make adventurers out of a selection of four races, twelve professions, and a variety of traits and skills.

From there, players will set out on an adventure across all Aventuria, crossing paths with locations and characters taken straight out of The Dark Eye‘s storied history since the series’ inception. Along the journey, players can either team up with up to three friends in online or local play, or can recruit NPC party members from a variety of pre-made characters with their own personalities and utilities.

The trailer shows combat one would expect from a game similar to this with turn-based attacks determined by stats and rolls with a good mixture of element-based magic mixed in, in case you want to be flashy. The game also promises various other genre standard features such as crafting, handfuls of quests, and plenty of dungeons and vistas all explored from an isometric perspective.

For those of you who have never heard of The Dark Eye, it is a tabletop role-playing game ala Dungeons & Dragons that is proudly the top tabletop RPG in Germany. The years since the game’s initial release have been filled with constant development, with the most recent fifth edition being released just in 2015, and has led to the setting of Aventuria being filled to the brim with depth and detail. If you have ever had any interest in the tabletop The Dark Eye experience, it is actually free right now here.

Only time will tell how The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes will stack up against the modern highlights of the genre like Divinity: Original Sin II and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. However, if you are a fan of the setting or Action RPGs in general, Book of Heroes looks like a good offering at its modest $29.99 price tag and is available on Steam.

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Tower of Time is shifting to console

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Tower of Time is shifting to console

ARPG fans, like celebrants of any other genre, are pretty fanatical about what they love. I can comfortably make this statement as I count amongst your ranks. We’ll never stop looking for the next thing to give us a thrill. Console-owning fans of the genre will be pleased to note a new title is soon to hit your Switch, XB1, and PS4 devices. It’s called Tower of Time and we’ve got a bit of info for those of you who are wanting to know a touch more.

 

 

Tower of Time, which has already been rather well-received on Steam, is an Action-RPG from the folks over at Event Horizon. It’s going to be available for PS4 owners come June 23rd and 24th (NA followed by EU), then the 25th and 26th for Switch and XB1 owners, respectively.

You should get plenty in return for your time. Tower of Time invites you to immerse yourself in a 50+ hour adventure featuring gorgeous hand-crafted environments and bags of story-rich dungeon crawling. This title is also said to have flexible character development and the mechanic that really makes the game stand out: its unique arrow-time combat system. Arrow-time allows you to slow or pause time. This should allow for a new level of tactical depth when it comes to combat.

You will lead a party of heroes into the titular Tower of Time: a vertical battleground filled with lore, mystery, and of course, combat. This isn’t just your standard hack and slash dungeon crawler. In Tower of Time, every battle is a tactical puzzle. By manipulating time you will be able to strategically position your heroes, control the battlefield with precise spells, and counter incoming waves with devastating maneuvers.

Tower of Time isn’t just a long game. The 50 odd hours I mentioned earlier will be crammed full of fun. You’ll be facing off against 150 different enemies and a fairly huge pool of 50 bosses. There are definitely plenty of enemies standing in your way if you are to succeed. Those of you that really like a challenge are being presented with five difficulty levels to play through, so don’t expect to get off lightly if you’re looking for a hard time.

Your foes may be powerful and in great numbers but you will have your own arsenal with which to defeat them. You will be able to choose between seven unique classes and level them up with a complex skill system. In addition to this, Tower of Time offers rich equipment and alignment systems to add variety and depth to your game. Crafting and enchanting are also present, just to add another level of customization to your already individual build.

It has to be said this all sounds rather good. If you’re looking for a new ARPG that’s offering something a bit different, Tower of Time might not be a bad call. Time mechanics in videogames are always a bit hit and miss. When they’re done well, though, you have a lot of fun coming your way. As this has already been loved by PC owners, you can pretty much bet you’re going to be in for a treat come the end of the month.

 

All images supplied by Game Press

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REVIEW / Minecraft Dungeons (X1)

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REVIEW / Minecraft Dungeons (X1)

 

Minecraft remains one of the largest games out there years after its initial release thanks to dutiful updates and a dedicated community that keeps coming back for the game’s limitless potential for creativity. The game has become a cultural cornerstone. From children’s t-shirts sold at Wal-Mart to the myriad let’s plays and dedicated channels on YouTube, even your grandma has probably heard about Minecraft at some point. So, where does Minecraft go from there?

 

 

Surprisingly, the next step for the license is Minecraft Dungeons, an Action RPG Dungeon Crawler ala Diablo but with considerably more right angles. The game begins simply. A short cutscene introduces the player to the Arch-Illager, a small squid-like individual who has seized the power of a rare crystal and is using it to wreak havoc on villages across the land. An unknown narrator beseeches the player, and up to three friends in local or online co-op, to heed the call of the hero and embark on a quest across the land’s various biomes in a quest to stop the Arch-Illager’s evil reign.

The player is then dropped into a character creation screen, and it is here that Dungeons first diverges from the status quo of the genre. Rather than choosing a class to play, the player instead merely chooses from a selection of skins for their character. Then, it is straight off to the races. Interestingly, there are no classes in Dungeons. Instead, every character can equip up to three artifacts, each one granting the player an activate-able skill.

 

 

The skills are the pretty standard fare for an Action RPG. There are a couple of summons of Minecraft creatures, a fishing pole that pulls enemies into you, a firework that you can shoot from your bow and arrow for a large explosion, and a droppable totem that heals in a radius around itself, just to name a few. While there is a decent variety, you will become very familiar with the pool of all the artifacts as you will receive duplicates frequently, and the handful of artifacts that are objectively better than their peers will see to it that you never mix up your playstyle too much.

However, the lack of a character class does not mean that your character does not level up throughout your adventure. Each character a player makes has both a character level, raised through the standard experience gain, and a power level, which is the average power level of the equipment you have. At any given time the player equips their three artifacts, a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, and a suit of equipment. Most of the gear have some really great designs, and there is a decent variety at higher difficulty levels, but on a first playthrough the loot pool is dreadfully thin.

 

 

Each piece of gear comes with up to three enchantment slots, each with up to three choices that are randomly selected and can be leveled three times. As your character levels you unlock enchantment points to invest in the enchantments to customize the benefits of each piece of equipment. The invested points are returned to the player when the equipment is salvaged, but reallocating points every time you switch equipment, which is frequently, grows tiresome quickly.

In fact, weariness through repetition is a theme of Dungeons. There are only nine levels to play through as well as five secret levels that can be unlocked equaling approximately 3-5 hours to play through. There are also three difficulty levels, each one unlocked by beating the one prior, and while this is a standard feature for Action RPGs, Dungeons does not have the variety or complexity to maintain its appeal through multiple playthroughs.

 

 

The levels, while beautifully designed in all their voxel glory, get stale through quickly. Not only is the core of their design delegated to two objectives types: going to multiple villagers of beacons and hitting A on them while killing enemies or proceeding through a series of ambushes, but the arenas throughout the level are also prefixed. The winding paths that the player navigates between the arenas do change, but the arenas, where all of the big fights and meat of the gameplay is, never do.

This feeling of familiarity is also deepened through the lack of traditional classes. The limited number of artifacts and equipment enchantments available mean that every character ends up feeling largely the same, especially when playing co-op. Getting a new piece of equipment just for it to be the same fishing pole grab but with a slightly higher percentage of stun is not a satisfying sense of progression, but is the only one on offer.

 

 

Dungeons‘s sense of progression is also hindered by the structure of how the loot is rewarded. Most loot that the player acquires is not through drops, but rather by collecting emeralds throughout levels and using those to purchase randomized drops from vendors at your camp in between levels. There are few bosses or minibosses in the game that pop up repeatedly, but even they rarely drop loot. This mechanic leads to gaining loot feeling unrewarding because you are just purchasing the chance for a good drop rather than overcoming an enemy or challenge to earn that drop.

Combined with levels containing the same repetitive slate of enemies taken straight out of Minecraft and even an initial playthrough of the game begins to feel stale and worn out before you are two-thirds of the way through. This could have been counteracted if Dungeons had a story that could keep the player hooked throughout the levels, but it is also bareboned on that front as well. After the introductory cutscene, and a cutscene wrapping things up quickly after beating the game, the meager bits of story are delivered through quick cutscenes at the start of each level that do little more than introduce the environment of the level.

 

 

In closing, I was looking forward to seeing what Minecraft Dungeons would do. The Minecraft license lends a lot of possibility to a spin-off, and the drastic leap to a new genre was an opportunity to really add something new to the license. Disappointingly, Dungeons instead plays it safe, restricting itself to a bare minimum take on the genre void of meaningful changes to make itself stand out while the changes it does make are more of a hindrance that bogs down the gameplay experience.

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TVGB ViveStream is now TVGB Riftwatch!

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TVGB ViveStream is now TVGB Riftwatch!

 

Since 2017, I’ve been showing you the best and worst the HTC Vive has to offer with the TVGB ViveStream on YouTube. And while the show isn’t going away, times change, and so does virtual reality. With that in mind, the original HTC Vive is no longer the pinnacle of at-home VR. Later headsets introduced improved controllers, internal tracking, better screens, and more. So, the time came for me to upgrade, and that means a new name for the same show. TVGB Riftwatch will be exactly the same as the old Vivestream, outside of the fact that I’ll now be using an Oculus Rift S headset. Don’t worry, you can still expect all of the hijinks and tech issues we gave you before; I only had to change the name because at this point, I’m no longer using a Vive or livestreaming. For the first episode of Riftwatch, I wanted to play something that emphasizes the new hardware, and First Contact is designed to show off the Oculus Touch controllers. Since that didn’t last long enough, though, I threw in another controller demo, Toy Box, as well. Check it out below:

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I, Dracula Genesis joins Steam Early Access

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I, Dracula Genesis joins Steam Early Access

You can’t beat a bit of chaos. There’s nothing gamers enjoy more than an adrenaline rush. Certain genres provide this blood pumping fix better than others and one of the ones that does it best is the twin-stick genre. Generally, twin-stick and bullet-hell are a match made in heaven. The controls are simple, (usually,) meaning that all you need to concentrate on is not dying. Add a roguelike component to the game which will make not dying even more important and bob’s your uncle you have something like I, Dracula: Genesis, the title we’ll be discussing today.

I, Dracula: Genesis has come from the folk at Moregames to Steam Early Access and for those of you that like to make things hard on yourselves, it looks like a lot of fun and absolutely not for the faint of heart. If you don’t want to jump straight into buying the Early Access release there’s a free demo over on GameJolt.

This title is being classed as a hard as nails twin-stick shooter/roguelike fusion. I, Dracula: Genesis currently takes place across four procedurally generated worlds. You will take the role of one of five genetically modified hunters in a bid to take back the world you once knew and loved from the grips of marauding, monsters, demons, aliens, and psychotic robots. The final release of the game will give you a pool of ten hunters to choose from each with their own unique play style.

In games like this, your build is more important than anything. There is no right or wrong way to win but you’ll need to figure out what works for you as you go. To help you perfect your killing style I, Dracula: Genesis is offering you a whopping 1200 customizable items, passives and skills. If you can’t find something to love in that lot you aren’t looking hard enough.

Even in Early Access, I, Dracula: Genesis is throwing a lot of replay value your way. You’ll have 120 different enemies to learn to overcome and currently 20 bosses to defeat. As this is a roguelike, every run will be different so don’t expect to face all of these assailants at once. Add the massive variety of weapons, consumables, and passives you’ll be presented with and every game should be just that bit different for you.

I, Dracula: Genesis is set for a Summer 2021 full release. On top of everything, I’ve already mentioned they’re looking to add new worlds to save as well as hundreds of new items to bolster the game’s already massive inventory. You’ll also be getting some nostalgic mini-games thrown into the mix for even more variety.

I know I’m speaking as a huge lover of the genre but I, Dracula: Genesis sounds absolutely brilliant. Some of my favorite games of the past few years, (Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells included,) have been rogue-likes. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on this one to see how everything pans out toward launch.

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REVIEW / The Persistence (X1)

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REVIEW / The Persistence (X1)

 

I am a huge fan of survival horror games but rogue-likes have never really grabbed my attention until I got the opportunity to review the new game from Firesprite Games called The Persistence. Set aboard a malfunctioning deep space colony starship that has been overrun with horrific and murderous aberrations, you must explore, evade and fight your way through the bowels of the ship in order to get it back to Earth safely. On top of all of that, the starship has come precariously close to the event horizon of a black hole. You’ll need to gather resources, upgrade your abilities and fabricate an arsenal of weapons if you want to be able to survive and figure out what is going on. You will discover quickly that you are going to die a lot and that no two plays are ever the same. Are you up for the challenge?

 

This is where you will start the game and where you learn how dire your situation really is. Get used to this room because you will be here a lot.

 

If this game sounds familiar to you, there is a reason for that. The Persistence was originally released as a PSVR title in 2018 so if you have one, then you have probably come across this title. What really makes this game stand out is the fact that the levels are procedurally generated. When you die during a mission, you will return to the the current hub-point, adjust or upgrade your gear and weapons, and head back out into the fray.

In order to create the levels and have them be different each time, the game is able to choose from a number of ship sections from brightly lit corridors, dark storage rooms, crew quarters with flickering lights, just to name a few but they are placed together each run in a way that makes it feel fresh, because it is. I’ve played a lot of games that purported to have so-called “procedurally generated” levels but this is the first one that really nails the presentation in a way that is integrated very well with the story and makes total sense as to why a spaceship can change its configuration at will.

 

It is imperative that you don’t allow yourself to be surrounded or you will be starting your game over.

 

As I mentioned earlier, you are going to die…a lot. So, each time you do, the aboard A.I. will 3D print you up another body and off you go. However, the same technology that is being used to revive you is also the same one that is creating the abominations that are infesting the ship. At this point, you can use the time to upgrade things like your weapons, armor and the gear.

You can purchase grenades, guns and other weapons to fit your play-style and to give yourself as much of an edge as possible because you never know what is out there waiting for you. In addition, you can upgrade your health and other abilities so that you are fully prepared for whatever the ship throws at you.

 

You have a bit of a force field that you can use to repel and stun the enemies so that you can land a well-placed blow.

 

What I liked about this game is that it opens up just like the original Halo: Combat Evolved does with the MC being run through a small task list of things to do in order for the ship A.I. to ensure that he is operating correctly. In fact, the visuals are very reminiscent of the Halo games which was, in my opinion, a nice touch. Some areas, as you would imagine in a spaceship, are pristine and clinical white while other areas are dark, dirty and littered with corpses.

The creature designs are good but are nothing to write home about as they are just generic zombie type monsters which only serve as obstacles in your path. The brilliance with them really is more in how they behave and how you need to use how they operate to your advantage. This is a sci-fi adventure to its core and the developers have created environments that are eye-catching and fit the theme of the game perfectly.

 

Creepy crawlies come out in the dark so watch your six.

 

As I mentioned before, you are going to die over and over and over again. This is why the game is entitled The Persistence; “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition” is fully the point of the game and the developers will tell you as much if you try to change the difficulty setting in the game after you have started.

You can change to a lower setting but if you want to change it back, you have to start the game over from the beginning. There’s no dropping the difficulty in order to get past a particularly difficult foe so that you can then change it back and continue on. You have to stick with what you start out with once you begin. Deal with it.

 

If you are the up close and personal type, you will love the arsenal of melee weapons that the game offers such as knives and the blade in the above photo.

 

I have to admit that the combination of RPG, FPS, survival horror, and the rogue-like genres is a game type that I haven’t spent a lot of time playing before. I love a good FPS, I cut my teeth on JRPGs, and survival horror is a genre that I have loved since RE: Code Veronica. However, rogue-likes have never really captured my imagination until now. There are so many features in this game from other genres that I love that I really couldn’t believe it. The fact that you will fail over and over will be a turn-off for those people that just want to get in and enjoy the story, but if you are looking for a challenge that offers a great story, even better visuals and fun to play then you can do a lot worse that The Persistence.

 

 

 

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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