LogFAQs > #973597133

HROT (PC)

I appreciate this game. Been following it since the dawn of the revival of this genre. Around the time DUSK was hype, this game had humble beginnings and honestly continued its development cycle well over 2 years. Then I find out its just by one guy and he's coding this whole thing in Pascal as if I couldn't love this game even more.

So is it the game that it was meant to be? I would say, that the developer went and did something he really loved and turned it into the game that he wanted. Almost every single level has a real life counterpart and when have you ever seen that. And the part that isn't---the surreal stuff, yeah those are just wild.

The game's clearly a love letter to Quake with some enemies being a 1 to 1 representation. But its also a love letter to many many games like Duke Nukem. I absolutely love being able to kick grenades back at people. In some ways I was glad to play Quake last year otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the references.

But now its time to put the gamer hat on. This game has weird pacing and in some parts feel imbalanced. HROT is great for its ambiance but for its challenge, that lies in your ability to find secrets. Ammo and Health are very tight and your defense is very squishy. Mooks can instantly kill you and unlike Dread Templar you don't have a fancy dash or a skill tree to save you so finding every bit of nook and cranny is important. That said, this is a game that thrives on well-placed enemies. In arena type battles which are few and far in between the challenge becomes almost nil as these enemies who were made to fight in specific environs are now in the open only to fail somewhat.

And that brings me to my next issue. The finale. The last 3 levels had the dev basically throw their hands in the air and say fuck it. After all those wonderful setpieces and odd places and things you find, the game suddenly decides to throw 2 arena levels back to back. Then its final boss time and I it was none other than Vladimir Putin himself. With not one not two, but FIVE forms. Then some surreal bullshit happens and you fix a piece of machinery and hurray. The lack of a plot is both to this game's benefit and detriment. I feel like this game could've benefitted from some kind of clear goal instead of being a mindless shooter in context.

Still would rank this game high. Perhaps 2 slots lower than DUSK for now.

Still better than Dread Templar? Hm. I think they both have a place on my list at the same time. So there's that.