Thank you to the developers and Publisher BRUTAL SOFTWARE for providing a game to allow us to escape, enjoy and most importantly, be Brutal.

My Steam rating: Very Positive

The FPS genre really has been stale for so long they don't even recognize it in an actual individual category for useless game awards anymore. We do get a lot of “Boomer” shooters and rogue likes but what we don't get often(outside mods) are linear, story driven FPS experiences that used to dominate gaming. Well, Vladik Brutal here is to change it all with an incredible homage to some of our all time favorites FPS games.

I want to first discuss the technical state of the game as this is a pretty new release(Aug) and that seems to be the main issue on the discussion forum. I have what people would describe as a low tier PC these days(Specs at bottom) but I only noticed frame drops mainly when a lot of enemies were on screen. Smartly, there are a lot of settings to tweak with each having visual photos to show the difference. Also, as the game does have some balance issues mainly with boss fights and the last level but there is a complete built in cheat option to allow you to play the game however you want. All the issues between optimization and balance cannot be any negative as we see how billion and trillion dollar companies release their games unfinished and still receive positive reviews. This is for the most part a solo developed project and from my experience I was able to enjoy this complete game from start to end with no impact on my enjoyment.

The story for Vlad Brutal is in essence an Eastern European retelling of Half Life but still carves out its own identity in the end. You play as Vlad, a prisoner who is taken from his cell and driven to a facility to start an experiment. As the experiment starts it fails, blows up and as you pick up the crow bar, your journey begins. This journey is amazing with 28 levels(Yea, 28) that will remind you of some classics in the FPS genre. It is totally voice acted, includes a few cutscenes, set pieces and the story is pretty easy to follow and has a very satisfying conclusion. Outside some translation issues here and there which will make you laugh, I still wouldn't change a thing.

The gameplay is exactly what you would expect in an old school FPS game where there are no rpg elements, no attachments to guns, no armor, no quests per se. It is simply to enter the level and find the exit. Along the route you may need to find a switch, turn a wheel to open the door, maybe stack a box or two to jump, do some light platforming but it's all easy to follow through the beautifully designed levels as glow sticks will light the path and anything you can interact with is also highlighted. There are also some puzzles usually regarding finding a battery and placing it in position to provide power to a door. These are all nice changes of pace as a majority of the time you will be pursued from everything simply wanting to kill you.

Most combat in the game will be against soldiers or mutants but there are other enemies that will be hunting you down. There are also some surprisingly good boss fights and set pieces that all are just awesome. Your arsenal of weapons comes in the form of said crowbar, handgun, Magnum, AK47, SG, Sawed off SG, sniper rifle, AS Val, Rocket launcher, and experimental weapon that creates a black hole where once you shoot it, it sucks in everything in the surrounding area and explodes. You will also have grenades and most importantly molotovs which I must have thrown a hundred. All ammo and health is earned from dropped enemies, lockers and boxes spread throughout the level and the amount you find depends on one of the 4 difficulties you choose.

Just a quick 2 cents on enemy AI, it is as expected mostly when in tight quarters as enemies just pretty much rush you like kamikazes but in open areas if you throw a molotov some will try to work their way around it as it spreads in an uneven area that was cool to see. Also, enemies with different weapons/armor move at different speeds zig zagging around areas and they also have reload animations. My most hated enemy is one that hatches out of eggs like an Alien. They crawl on the ground like a spider and when they attack they jump right in your face and if you miss it usually means a restart.Bastards.

You can't have brutal in your name and not be fun, right? And Vlad Brutal provides that pretty much every second. You will be hunted down from every angle while using everything at your disposal to stay alive. The gunplay is pretty good with each weapon handling just a little different. The gun sounds are all fantastic and the blood that splashes constantly on screen adds to the violent immersion. In combat or driving around you will be accompanied with a soundtrack that reminds me of 80s synth beats to the industrialized sounds of Nine Inch Nails and it fits perfectly.

I have been playing a lot of HL2 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein campaign mods lately and Vlad Brutal is a perfect example of how that design philosophy with a touch of new paint will never go out of style. It has beautiful environments, an easy story to follow and combat that is challenging, engaging and super fun. I can't recommend this enough and for the asking price of $10 it's an absolute steal and best FPS of 2024. It's been a long time since I had this much fun playing an FPS game.

System
Amd Ryzen 5 3600
MSI 6700xt
16GB ram
3440x1440
According to MSI Adrenaline- 18hrs/ 119FPS avg playing at mostly high settings


Positives

100% complete incredible achievement
Old school story driven FPS -we need more
Lots of Setting options
Dev provided cheat menu in game and wrote the achievement guide
Beautiful game, great sound and level design
Fun boss fights
Enemy AI better than expected
Pacing

Negatives

Could use patch for optimization and some higher difficulty balance of drops
Grenades could use a bump in explosion radius
Some levels could use some ladders or walkways for flow and to make sense
No photo mode/ no way to holster weapons