Recent reviews by Struan

What a nice surprise this turned out to be. I was expecting one of those cheapo Unity-made "horror" games, but while there are enough scary-tense moments and the usual amount of jankiness, particularly in the animation and translation department, rest assured that this is not your typical Youtuber fodder.

This is the kind of game that suffers from being tagged with a label. Here you'll find ingredients of several genres -adventure, puzzle, horror, even "walking simulator"-, but each one should be taken with a grain of salt. At its heart, the main goal of the game is to tell a simple story while doing its best to immerse the player in the thick atmosphere of a Russian post-apocalypse.

I love how there's little to no hand-holding to guide the player. The identity and the motivations of the main character(s) remain shrouded in mystery from the start, though certain items and areas both serve to provide color and reveal details about the background of this dying world. Little bits of dialogue, notes and paper clippings scattered here and there, and even optional actions help the player put the pieces together.

Progress is stricly linear, but there's a certain amount of freedom for exploration in each area. Puzzles are light and action is sparse. The opening sequence should make it clear that this is an experience to be savored by the more patient of players, the kind that won't mind stopping every once in a while to take in the sad beauty of the desolate environments and, maybe, capture it with the in-game camera to keep a virtual memento. The game does an stellar job in drenching the player in melancholy (aided by the music, which is fantastic) and the ending packs an emotional punch. Highly recommended after all the mentioned caveats.

Nice one-room-puzzler that'll tickle your brain while introducing an intriguing story (to be supposedly developed in later chapters) involving a pair of twin brothers fighting what looks to be a sinister conspiracy amidst a nice juxtaposition of the old and the new by way of creepy ancient masks and cutting-edge CERN references.

The puzzles vary between the obvious and the clever, and the difficulty is nicely balanced; enough for an experienced adventurer to solve the game without peeking at any hints, but also challenging enough that they won't consider it a total waste of time.

Not that much time would be wasted, as the game is extremely short and feels more like a demo or prologue. The narrative is weirdly divided in acts and sub-acts, some of them consisting of just one puzzle! What *is* there is pleasant enough, graphics, writing and cutscenes included, although I'm not completely sold on the interface, which I found clunky and impractical. In all, a nice diversion for a couple of hours.

You have to know what you're getting into to properly appreciate Scourge: Outbreak. This is an extremely linear, uncomplicated cover shooter with decent graphics and a trite story that functions mainly as a link between the frequent and generally satisfying battles. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing bottom of the barrel either.

If you've played XCOM: The Bureau (a superior game based on the same mould) you should know what to expect. Everything in S:O screams average: you've seen the characters a thousands times before, their powers are all variations of the same combo (shield/shockwave) and the weapon selection is just enough to afford some variation when dealing with the few types of enemies you'll encounter along the way. Once you get past the quirkiness and somewhat cheap feel of it all, you may find yourself enjoying the B movie appeal this game has to offer. I know it kept me entertained until the end.

These are the general pros, including the fact that the bosses are actually fun to fight and not excessively demanding. I generally hate bosses, so this is a definite plus for me.

Now, for a few specific cons:
- The command system sucks. I simply couldn't get people to move to the spot I was asking them to half of the time. Eventually I all but dropped it.
- The cover aspect is wonky too, with too many instances of my character rolling in place when he should have been taken cover behind a crate/wall.
- Enemies are indeed "bullet sponges". Be prepared to unload several clips on some of the standard critters before seeing them fall, let alone the tougher ones.
- Checkpoint placing is really bad in a few spots. I presume this was done intentionally to lengthen the game.

Now, for the mother of all cons: After meeting the scourge for the first time during the infamous mission where the bugs are introduced, I was literally about to UNINSTALL THE GAME. Just one click away. Something possessed me to go back and try just one last time, and what do you know I made it through. But it took me countless attempts and unordinate amounts of frustration -- all this on Normal difficulty.

That mission features a crazy difficulty spike that is bound to surprise and turn many people off. At first I thought I was missing something, as my shotgun was having the efficacy of a pea-shooter (and yet it seems to be the weapon you should be using, judging by the available ammunition crates) and my comrades were either dying left and right or letting me die while they were busy scraping the bugs off them. Worst of all: after trying countless times and finally managing to make it to the other end of the terrace, killing all the mini-boss bugs and activating the switch, I found I had to trace my steps back and fight yet more battles -- all this without the respite of a checkpoint.

I know the devs meant to convey the danger posed by the scourge with this first encounter, but they should be aware that they crossed the line well into not-fun territory. A checkpoint placed midway would help reduce frustration while still allowing the scene to convey the intended feeling.

All said, the game is enjoyable, very easy to pick up in short intervals, battles are frequent and furious, and on top of it all it can be obtained generally cheap. I haven`t tried multiplayer but I imagine it could be a blast. I'd recommend it for those eager to get a quick action fix.