The number one thing that becomes noticeable with Tempest Rising is the fact that the developers behind the game are very obviously massive fans of the classic Command & Conquer games. Now, I don’t mean this in a bad way; it’s not like we’re in danger of getting a new C&C game any time soon anyway. But Tempest Rising definitely feels like it is trying to build on the sturdy foundations that were once laid down by the long-dead Westwood Studios. Much like the classic, Tempest Rising has two playable factions, each with its own unique mechanics, and it even has its own special resource that is essentially the cause of conflict in the main story. Where C&C had Tiberium, Tempest Rising has the eponymous Tempest.

Once you get past that initial shock of just how similar to Command & Conquer it feels, there is quite a bit to like about Tempest Rising, be it the core minute-to-minute gameplay where you’re constantly making decisions that not only affect your short-term tactics, but your overall strategy over the course of a match as well, or even just the enthusiasm you can sense in the voice of the characters in both of the game’s campaigns. In this day and age, a real-time strategy game is only really made out of a love for the genre anymore, and it definitely feels like plenty of love went into making Tempest Rising.

"Once you get past that initial shock of just how similar to Command & Conquer it feels, there is quite a bit to like about Tempest Rising"

Speaking of which, the minute-to-minute gameplay feels like it was quite well thought out. Even the main UI is laid out quite well, and veterans of the genre will be able to pick up on things quite easily. Newcomers shouldn’t feel too overwhelmed either, since the title uses the C&C template of how buildings, units, resources, and even special abilities like airstrikes work. The most interesting thing about the title is how fast-paced it can often feel. Tempest Rising doesn’t really feel slow and clunky. Rather, it feels like it was developed with the idea that players will get good at the game, and online matches will often be decided with a few quick skirmishes rather than a drawn-out all-out war where both sides can keep pumping out new soldiers and tanks.

The core gameplay is quite simple. You start off by building a Power Core to provide power to your base. After that, just about every new building you build will unlock either more buildings, or new units that you can then use to bolster your army. To keep this going, you will have to set up harvesters that can get you the primary currency – Tempest – while also making sure that you have enough power generators being built to allow you to expand your base even further. Along the way you’ll start building various buildings that allow you to train soldiers, build tanks, and even aerial vehicles, that can then be sent into your larger army, or kept aside for scouting and quick harassment skirmishes.

The skirmish and online modes are where Tempest Rising feels like it’s at its best. This largely comes down to the fact that you aren’t locked away from any of your chosen faction’s mechanics. However, this isn’t to say that the single-player campaigns are bad. Rather, they’re quite fun. Sure, the story is cheesy as hell, and tends to be quite full of forgettable characters that bark your mission parameters at you. But when it comes to level design and missions, Tempest Rising can easily stand up there with some of the best of the genre. Along with missions that play out like a typical match, you also get more specialised missions that, for example, task you with infiltrating an enemy base to destroy key buildings with only a single unit.

"The character models that brief you on your missions during the campaign are animated quite strangely"

One of the only downsides of the main campaign is the fact that the planned third faction isn’t out yet. The story does quite well to hint at its existence, however, and there is plenty to look forward to considering the nature of Tempest as a substance that everyone is fighting over. Another downside is the fact that the character models that brief you on your missions during the campaign are animated quite strangely. Especially obvious with your original commander, the lip syncing with the dialogue feels somewhat off putting, and tends to veer into the uncanny valley at times. This problem isn’t really there with characters that wear masks, thankfully.

Much like in just about any RTS out there, the campaigns in Tempest Rising have been designed as a long tutorial. Mechanics and new units are introduced quite gradually as you make your way through the stories, and by the end, the game ultimately wants you to feel comfortable enough with its mechanics, units, and overall factions, to want to jump online and compete with other players. At its best, Tempest Rising often tends to evoke the feelings of staying awake late at night in a room lit only by my monitor as I jumped into yet another StarCraft: Brood War match online. With two playable factions, there are plenty of tricks to figure out when it comes to strategies.

Both factions – the Global Defense Forces and the Tempest Dynasty – tend to look similar in terms of gameplay style from the outset, but there are subtleties to both of them that end up feeling like much larger differences once you actually get down to it. For example, the GDF has more of an emphasis on “finesse” styled units, like Drone Operators and Specialist Snipers. Sure, they have vehicles, but a lot of them tend to be more specialised in their purposes as well, with bespoke anti-infantry and anti-armour vehicles, each serving a specific purpose.

"Tempest Rising is a really good looking RTS"

The Tempest Dynasty, on the other hand, tends to feel more like a “brute force” kind of faction when you play. Its units tend to have bigger guns that can do more damage, but there is also an emphasis on more vehicles. It’s quite common to see an entire battalion of flamethrower tanks that are being backed up by SAM-mounted trucks in a battle, compared to the more infantry-heavy approach that the GDF takes. Along with these differences, there are even smaller subtleties to how they play; where the GDF buildings are created in the field, the Tempest Dynasty instead creates its buildings internally before you then put it down. While this may not sound like much, it tends to make a huge difference when, for example, you’ve got a few turrets banked that you can just put down quickly in response to an enemy attacking your base.

It is also worth noting that Tempest Rising is a really good looking RTS. The visuals can often be jaw-dropping, especially when you see two huge armies collide. Bullets and drones will be flying all over the place, and infantry units will ragdoll away when an airstrike drops a bomb on the battle. All while flamethrower tanks are flanking your Grenadiers so that they can’t do too much damage to your buildings. The excellent visuals are coupled with some great music that, while it sounds great, ultimately tends to fall into continuous loops of the same metal music.

Tempest Rising feels like an absolutely loving throwback to the old days when RTSes were one of the biggest genres in gaming. While there are a few rough edges with the game, it feels incredibly polished. All things considered, the only things that feel missing from the game are the planned third faction, and maybe some more maps for the skirmish and multiplayer modes.

This game was reviewed on PC.

STORY AND SETTING

Tempest Rising is set in an alternate history Earth where the Cuban Missile Crisis went in a drastically different direction, sparking World War 3 and leaving chaos in its wake. Thirty-four years later, huge portions of the war-torn planet are heavily irradiated, though as luck would have it, these areas are also where the newly emerged, mysterious, plant-like energy source known as Tempest is found. As you would expect, Tempest is highly coveted by warring factions, who are locked in conflict as a result.

INSPIRED BY COMMAND AND CONQUER

In case it wasn’t abundantly clear by now, yes, Tempest Rising is heavily inspired by Command and Conquer, to the extent that its developers have outright described it as a spiritual successor. From its war-torn setting and the narrative premise at its core to other gameplay and narrative details (that we’ll get into in a bit), the game is wearing its Command and Conquer influences pretty proudly on its sleeve. What’s more, Tempest Rising’s music is also being composed by Frank Klepacki, who is best known for Command and Conquer.

CAMPAIGNS

As you’d expect from a real-time strategy game claiming to be inspired by Command and Conquer, Temptest Rising will feature two campaigns. Two factions, as we touched on, will be at the heart of the game’s story, and each of the game’s two campaigns will see you playing as a different one.

CAMPAIGN LENGTH

By the look of it, Tempest Rising will boast pretty substantial single-player offerings, with each campaign set to be eleven missions long, and cutscenes interspersed throughout. What the runtime for each campaign will be remains to be seen, but speaking in an interview with Gameshedge, lead game designer Brandon Casteel promised “beefy” missions with “plenty of gameplay time per mission.” Missions will also be varied, and not all following the same structure, according to Casteel.

MULTIPLAYER

No RTS (especially one inspired by Command and Conquer) is complete without a full suite of multiplayer offerings, and sure enough, Tempest Rising will have plenty of modes on offer. It’s been confirmed that in addition to multiplayer skirmishes, custom matches and ranked multiplayer matches will also be available.

FACTIONS

Two factions will be at the heart of Tempest Rising’s story with the Tempest Dynasty and the Global Defense Force, each starring in their own campaign. In multiplayer, meanwhile, players will also have a third faction to play as in the form of the Veti, an ancient and technologically advanced alien race. Each faction will bring their own unique roster of units, systems, and play styles. The Veti, however, will not be available at launch. Exactly when the third faction will become available is currently not known.

GLOBAL DEFENSE FORCE

In what’s left of the world in Tempest Rising’s universe, the Global Defense Force (or the GDF) is the largest military on the planet. A coalition of the militaries of the United States, Canada, and Western European nations, the GDF specializes in technological advancements, scientific research, space exploration, surveillance, and intelligence warfare. In gameplay, the GDF will priorizite precision offense and high mobility- though heavy weaponry will also be an option should it become necessary.

TEMPEST DYNASTY

Where much of the western half of Earth formed the GDF following World War 3, several Eastern European and Asian nations came together to become the Tempest Dynasty. With man of the dynasty’s former nations having suffered heavy irradiation, it also finds itself with large quantities of Tempest within its borders, which is now very much to their advantage. Armed with Tempest, in gameplay, the faction is able to use high-energy systems, units, and buildings to its advantage.

SPECIALISTS

As you’d expect, each faction in Tempest Rising will also feature its own roster of exclusive, higher-powered units touting unique abilities. The GDF, for instance, will have the drone assassin Comandante Vasco Delgado, the riot medic Captain Dylan Tremblay, the comms officer Captain Ed Hayes, and the sniper Captain Bronagh Cregan. The Tempest Dynasty, on the other hand, will have, among others, the physicist Dr. Aigul Yusupova, the machinist Sergeant Srdjan Radojević, the anti-vehicle sniper Bataar Nergüi, and combat support specialist Mykyta Moroz.

SUPPORT POWERS

Each faction in Tempest Rising will also have its own set of support powers, which will supposedly work not too differently from how super weapons did in Command and Conquer games. The GDF’s support powers will let you unleash air strikes, deploy troop carriers loaded with peacekeeping forces, use communication jammers, and more. On the other hand, the Tempest Dynasty’s support powers will let you fire extremely volatile Tempest missiles, seed battlefields with dangerous mines, deliver automated infirmary pods on the battlefield, and more.

SPECIALIST MISSIONS

Similar to Commando missions in Command and Conquer games, Tempest Rising’s campaigns will also feature missions where players will be playing only as a Specialist unit. How many of these we can expect is unknown, but speaking in the aforementioned Gameshedge interview, lead game designer Brandon Casteel confirmed that Specialist-only missions will indeed be featured.

NO NAVAL BATTLES

Naval battles were often a big part of the gameplay loop in Command and Conquer titles, but this is one area where Tempest Rising is deviating from its biggest inspiration. Speaking with Gameshedge, Casteel explained that the complexity that naval gameplay would have added to the experience led to the developers’ decision to not have it be in the game at all. Whether or not it will be added in at some point in the future remains to be seen.

“Naval as a gestalt concept introduces a tremendous amount of complexity to a game,” Casteel said. “You have to worry about what happens on the coastline, about how air units and ground units engage with naval units; you will have to figure out much more complex map design challenges, and it will decrease the number of units you will be able to produce for air and ground as well. I feel like it’s tricky enough to worry about getting the basics of an RTS right,  and we would have done ourselves no favors trying to figure out the very complex challenges inherent in adding a naval layer to the game. Never say never, but I think a lot of people drastically underestimate how hard it is to make naval work. Very, very few games have done it right.”

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Recommended system requirements for Tempest Rising haven’t yet been revealed, however, its minimum requirements are available, and thankfully, they’re not terribly demanding. To be able to run the game, you’ll need at least either an i5-7400 or a Ryzen 5 1600, along with either a GeForce GTX 1060 3 or a Radeon RX 580, and about 30 GB of free storage space.

Based on the 2004 title of the same name by People Can Fly, Painkiller is touted as a reimagining with three-player co-op support (though it’s playable offline). As one of four Champions, players must battle Azazel, hordes of demons and the Nephilim before they can lay waste to Earth.

Along with classic weapons, Painkiller sports some new additions and traversal abilities like hooking and dashing. Each Champion has varying energy, power, damage, and health, while Tarot Cards provide buffs to abilities. Synergize with players, and you may stand a chance against the overwhelming forces of evil.

Stay tuned for more details and gameplay from Painkiller in the coming months. As for People Can Fly, they have a new project in the works in Lost Rift, a survival title entering early access this year.

The demo for Tempest Rising, which will be available until February 3 as part of the currently-ongoing Real-Time Strategy Fest on Steam, features a number of game modes, including multiplayer, with 3 maps: The Alps (2v2), Oasis (1v1), and Altitude (1v1). While fans of single-player campaigns will have to wait for a bit, they can still check out the gameplay through skirmishes against AI opponents in these maps.

Tempest Rising takes place in an alternate timeline in the year 1997, where conflict rose due to the Cuban Missile Crisis going nuclear. At launch, the game will feature single-player campaigns, complete with unique factions that will allow players to experience the story.

On the gameplay front, Tempest Rising is looking to classic RTS titles of the past, with a focus on fast and fluid base building as well as plenty of customisation and battles to take part in. The multiplayer will feature two factions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as entirely different rosters.

The game is available for pre-order at €39.99 for the standard edition, and €49.99 for the deluxe edition, which includes a digital artbook, the full 43-track soundtrack, and a week’s advanced access to the game. Pre-ordering Tempest Rising will also get players access to the Commander Pack DLC, which includes in-game cosmetics like player icons, cursors and skins.

Tempest Rising is coming to PC on April 24.

However, before we actually start talking about the gameplay, I do have to mention that Phantom Fury is one of the most unique looking shooters out there. While not exactly making use of the largest poly-count models, Phantom Fury definitely manages to have a distinct aesthetic that melds old-school sensibilities with more modern technologies and ideas. An early example of this is shortly after starting the game where you can see the use of some translucent sheets in medical rooms—something you wouldn’t really see in older titles owing to a lack of computing horsepower.

"Coming to the gameplay, Phantom Fury feels like it’s taking inspiration from a bunch of different 90s-era shooters, from Half-Life to Quake, and even a bit of System Shock here and there."

At the same time, Phantom Fury also opts for low-fi textures that have really been catching on. While several games have used it since, Nightdive Studios’ System Shock remake is really what put the aesthetic style on the map, and much like with the remake, Phantom Fury also makes excellent use of its textures coupled with impressive lighting techniques to give off an appearance of a game that looks like what you remember old-school shooters like Quake looked like.

Coming to the gameplay, Phantom Fury feels like it’s taking inspiration from a bunch of different 90s-era shooters, from Half-Life to Quake, and even a bit of System Shock here and there. Much like any other boomer shooter you might have come across, most of the time, Phantom Fury is going to have you running around like an insane person shooting and blowing up just about everything in sight. Rather than making use of more abstract level designs like we’ve seen from Quake-inspired shooters, however, Phantom Fury instead has more of a narrative string tying its levels together.

You’re not really going to be finding floating platforms in gothic castles where you fight off demons and ghosts with a sword and shotgun. Instead, Phantom Fury has a narrative tying things together, taking you from level to level. Picking up many years after the events of Ion Fury, Phantom Fury once again puts players in the shoes of Shelly Harrison as she fights her way throughout the USA. The game makes no excuses about being a bombastic, over-the-top pastiche of classic action movies, ranging from references to First Blood to Terminator. This movie reference-fueled rampage is coupled with an irreverent tone where the game never really expects the player to take anything seriously, despite just about every character being deathly afraid of the threats posed to mankind’s future.

"You’re not really going to be finding floating platforms in gothic castles where you fight off demons and ghosts with a sword and shotgun."

While the story is still ultimately just an excuse to take you from level to level, Phantom Fury goes a bit deeper than other boomer shooters typically would, featuring full-on action set pieces where, for example, you’re tasked with keeping a guy alive as he fixes his truck so that you can escape from an ever-advancing horde of enemies. There are also a few narrative threads looming in the background that ultimately get paid off, like Harrison’s new bionic arm, and even the nature of the shady corporation that’s seemingly involved with the hunt for the legendary Demon Core.

Of course, the true star of the Phantom Fury is the arsenal of weapons you get access to throughout your journey across America. While most weapons, especially early on, largely stick to classic archetypal weapons like pistols and shotguns, the game very quickly starts getting freaky with some of the weapons it gives you. An early example of this is the Bowling Bomb; a type of grenade which is meant to be rolled on the ground towards its target. While it might seem rather mundane, it’s worth noting that Bowling Bombs have a tendency of ricocheting off walls and surfaces, and even jumping off tiny ramps on the ground, depending on the strength with which you threw it. Future weapons get weirder still, like an electrified foam shooter. The arsenal is also helped tremendously by the fact that just about every weapon has some sort of hidden capabilities that can be unlocked through upgrades and mods.

Freedom is a big feature of Phantom Fury, not only in how you deal with the hordes of enemies you end up fighting, but also how you go about finishing levels. While most levels are largely linear affairs with obvious paths through obstacles, some of them give you options in how you might want to deal with things, be it through peaceful means by making use of subterfuge—which essentially boils down to not just kicking down the doors of a bar and blindly shooting everyone in sight—to going ham with your biggest weapons. The game also makes use of simple physics allowing you to pick up and throw around any random item you might find, to having you figure out electrical lines so that you can blow up the right fuse box to solve a puzzle.

"While most weapons, especially early on, largely stick to classic archetypal weapons like pistols and shotguns, the game very quickly starts getting freaky with some of the weapons it gives you."

Along with regular running and gunning, there is also plenty of variety in Phantom Fury’s mission design, with some missions giving you access to more outlandish vehicles, ranging from a weapon-equipped truck that you can drive through an enemy-infested town, to a Top Gun-inspired jet fighter sequence where you have to pilot a chopper while also dodging fire from jet fighters, as well as the falling debris as you fly through a canyon.

Phantom Fury doesn’t really make any excuses about the kind of game it is. It gives you a gun, a fancy bionic arm, tells you who the enemies are, and expects you to get the job done. What makes this job fun, however, is the wonderful arsenal of weapons thrown at you, as well as the outlandish writing and downright absurd story throughout what is essentially a violent rampage across America. Sure, there may not be much of a story in Phantom Fury, but what is there is a lot of fun, especially if you happen to be a fan of old-school 80s and 90s action movies.

Couple the excellent gameplay with some downright fantastic art direction that makes use of classical-inspired aesthetics fused with more modern technologies, lighting and level design, and Phantom Fury ends up feeling like one of the more refined boomer shooters out there. While it’s not as abstract and insane as something like Dusk, and it certainly won’t push you to your limits like Ultrakill might, Phantom Fury is definitely worth your attention because, ultimately, it just happens to be a roaring good time.

This game was reviewed on PC.

The console release of the game follows the PC version having left Early Access back in February. For context, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin originally hit PC as an Early Access title all the way back in November 2019.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin‘s 1.0 release from February brought with it a host of new content over its original Early Access release, including new weapons, enemies, as well as a full story that players can experience.

Players in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin are put in the shoes of the Outlander. As the player follows the guidance of the Shepherd of Wayward Souls, they will be thrown into a host of different levels where they take on monsters, and ultimately face off against the Guardians of the Old World.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is unabashedly influenced by classic shooter Quake, and was developed using much of the same technology as the seminal shooter by id Software. For more details, check out our review.

For starters, a number of studios that were operating under the Saber Interactive label will be part of Embracer Group’s divestment. That will include 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant, Sandbox Strategies, Mad Head Games, Fractured Byte, and Digic. In total, Embracer says its divested assets include 38 ongoing game projects, as well as “certain proprietary engine technology and game tools relating to the divested companies.”

However, a number of studios that were previously operating under Saber are not being divested, and will continue to be owned by Embracer Group. This includes Tuxedo Labs (as well as the ongoing development of Teardown), Demiurge Studios, Beamdog, 34 Big Things, Tripwire Interactive, Snapshot Games, Shiver Entertainment, and Aspyr Media.

Embracer is also retaining control of ownership of 14 projects that were previously under Saber Interactive’s oversight, including two that are being worked on as joint projects with Saber itself.

These 14 projects include 4A Games’ next AAA project (which is presumably the next Metro game), a “previously announced AAA game based on a major license”, an unannounced AAA title that’s currently in the concept stage of production, a new AAA multiplayer shooter based on an IP owned by Embracer, a new AA game based on an Asmodee-owned IP, a new AA game by 34 Big Things based on an IP owned by Embracer, and the entire back catalog and all future upcoming projects by Aspyr Media, Tripwire Interactive (including Killing Floor 3), and Zen Studios.

It’s also been confirmed that Embracer and Saber’s deal includes an option for the latter to acquire Zen Studios and Metro developer 4A Games, though licensing and publishing rights for all existing and future Metro titles will be retained by Embracer Group’s PLAION.

Reports had previously indicated that development of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake would continue at Saber Interactive following the deal’s completion, though that has yet to be officially confirmed.

Where titles in the genre have been a hotbed for innovation and experimentation (like Witchfire taking a page out of extraction shooters), Wrath: Aeon of Ruin follows a similar path in melding ideas from other modern genres with its old-school shooter foundations. Along with Quake, the most direct point of comparison for Wrath: Aeon of Ruin comes from FromSoftware’s Dark Souls franchise.

"Several of the game’s levels also pay quite a bit of homage to its inspirations"

Before we get to talking about gameplay, it’s important to talk about just how well Wrath: Aeon of Ruin nails its visuals. Quite clearly inspired by horror shooter games like the original Quake, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin features a heavy emphasis on dark cavernous levels with sharp contrast offered up by environmental lighting. For example, some of the upper levels of the map will have gigantic glowing crystals in its walls offering up much of the lighting in the stage, and the sewers will similarly feature bio-luminescence for its moody atmosphere. This combination of lo-fi visuals along with more modern visual techniques leads to a game where the atmosphere is spot on.

Several of the game’s levels also pay quite a bit of homage to its inspirations by effortlessly mimicking their visual designs while at the same time building on them. A big example of this is some of the game’s early levels walking a fine line between old-school medieval dark fantasy aesthetics, and some of its later levels feeling like they would be right at home as levels you would play through in Quake 2. Of course, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin doesn’t simply copy the styles of these older titles; it builds on them by making use of modern techniques that make impressive use of lighting, as well as more modern hardware and software allowing for enemy numbers that just wouldn’t have been possible back in the day. The fact that all of this was achieved while the game uses the modified Quake engine makes things even more impressive.

"The main weapons in the game aren’t exactly the most groundbreaking weapons out there"

When it comes to the core gameplay, the most unique aspect of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is its save system. Seemingly inspired by Dark Souls, the save system needs you to either use up an item you find in limited quantities—the Soul Tethers—or find specific save spots that also heal you up, acting like the Souls franchise’s bonfires. This save system does quite a bit of heavy lifting when it comes to raising the stakes of just about any fight you might get into, since you’ll find yourself constantly wondering whether it’s a good idea to use one of your precious Soul Tethers. All of this is further compounded by the combat encounters in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin being surprisingly lethal.

While the enemies in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin don’t tend to be particularly smart, you won’t be seeing them use flanking tactic. For example, they do manage to pack quite a punch, and this includes even earlier enemies like the bog standard zombie can trap you into a corner and whittle your health down at alarming speeds. The game also has a tendency to throw an immense number of enemies at you, ratcheting up the tension quite considerably. Thankfully, the arsenal in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is definitely up to the challenge of letting you fight your way through hordes of monsters.

While the main weapons in the game aren’t exactly the most groundbreaking weapons out there, most of them tend to follow the basic shooter formula of offering up a melee weapon, and then slowly escalating the firepower with a shotgun, the Fang Spitter (assault rifle), the Retcher (grenade launcher), and the Slag Cannon (rocket launcher). There are some takes on classic Quake weaponry in the game as well, like the Crystallizer, which essentially acts as a laser beam-styled weapon, and the Lance, which is basically this game’s take on the railgun. The most interesting weapon in the whole game, the Mace, essentially lets you absorb enemy souls that can then be used to power up future attacks. Nonee of the weapons feel particularly unique but on the other hand, they still fill out your arsenal quite well, giving you a wide range of options for any combat scenario you might encounter.

The uniqueness in offensive and defensive capabilities in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin come from the plethora of artifacts you’ll find throughout the game’s levels. These artifacts are essentially consumables that give you a unique offensive or defensive ability for a short time. These abilities range from simple things, like letting you get health off enemies you attack, or a stationary shield that lets you catch your breath in the midst of an epic firefight, to more interesting abilities which basically turns enemies against each other.

The crowning glory of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is quite easily its level design. Made by developers that have experience in creating maps and mods for the original Quake, the level design in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is where some of its most interesting ideas lie. Eschewing realistic and naturalistic level design, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin instead harkens back to shooters of old where the levels and zones didn’t need to make any sense when it comes to geography, instead focusing purely on providing players with challenging encounters and fun exploration. The game’s levels also make incredible use of vertical space, and will see you constantly hopping around from snow-covered ruins to complex underwater sewer systems filled with demons.

"The level design in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is where some of its most interesting ideas lie."

The game also expects you to be hopping in and out of levels as you explore them, tapping into some of the ideas of the seminal Demon’s Souls. You’ll often find yourself locked out of a certain place, needing instead to go back to the hub world and explore a different level until you find the right key. While this has the potential to get overwhelming and complicated, the tight focus of the game’s various levels often ensured that I never really had the time to stop and contemplate what exactly I’m doing. I was too busy trying to kill things and stay alive, after all.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin also keeps up with boomer shooter tradition by not really offering much in the way of a story. All you do is go around killing things, rinse and repeat. You’re not going to get any deep character-focused introspection here, and you won’t really care. You’ll be too busy taking down monsters, throwing potions, dying a lot, and going back for more.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin wears its inspirations on its sleeves. Its use of old software technology to do incredible things is especially impressive, and the pedigree of the game’s level designers is constantly at full display. The game also has a well-rounded arsenal of weapons that, while far from unique, never feel dull to use. All of this is wrapped up in a boomer shooter that manages to look surprisingly unique in this day and age by tapping into classical art styles with its own flair.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is available on PC, and as a full title, it now features a host of new content over its early access period, including 3 new weapons, 4 new enemies, and other new content, including a fully implemented story that players can experience.

Players are put into the shoes of the Outlander in The World World. Following the guidance of the Shepherd of Wayward Souls, players are then thrust into a host of different levels where they must destroy monsters, and eventually face the remaining Guardians of the Old World.

A big influence on Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is classic shooter Quake. Built using much of the same technology as the seminal id Software shooter, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin puts its own spin on the boomer shooter formula by also making use of modern visual and gameplay techniques to enhance its presentation.

Set in a dark fantasy world, Graven puts players into the shoes of an exiled protagonist that has been sent to a mysterious swamp. During the boat trip, however, it becomes abundantly clear that something is very deeply wrong with the swamp, and with nothing better to do, the protagonist decides to jump into the fray and figure out what’s going on. The plot in Graven isn’t going to win any awards by any stretch. It does, however, do an excellent job of giving you a vague objective that can be worked towards, while also creating an incredibly interesting world to explore.

The first thing that will jump out to anyone on starting Graven is just how well the game manages to meld its use of a classic low-poly art style. The art style is meant to evoke a certain nostalgia for games from the late 90s and early 00s, while at the same time making use of modern techniques for various aspects like lighting and level design. The use of modern technology isn’t particularly hard to spot either, since the game’s approach to level design, destructibility and lighting are very clearly making use of current techniques.

It’s thanks to these very visuals that the best thing about Graven becomes abundantly clear to anyone playing—the game knows how to lay down a thick atmosphere. Regardless of what you’re doing, be it exploring a small swamp town ravaged by a mysterious plague and beset by enemies, or underground ruins where the drainage system has been blocked off by piles of corpses, there’s always a level of dread that follows the player thanks in large part to the game’s excellent visuals and art design.

When it comes to gameplay, Graven has a lot more going on than you’d expect. Starting the game out with little more than a staff as a melee weapon and maybe a couple of health potions, Graven initially feels a bit like an RPG. The feeling grows deeper as you crawl into the depths of your first dungeon, where you’ll find your first “ranged” attack—a fire spell. This magic ability isn’t really a real attack, since its primary use is setting environmental objects on fire, and occasionally making enemies take a damage-over-time effect. It is at this point that it becomes clear that Graven might just have a problem with picking a lane and sticking to it.

Graven is trying to be several things—a simplistic open world-ish RPG complete with quest logs, side quests, and even an economy, a tough-as-nails boomer shooter with strange weapons and magic abilities, and even a dungeon crawler with puzzles that have to be solved with the use of the environment and the player’s own abilities. Unfortunately, it’s this lack of focus that makes Graven feel like a rather incomplete title.

"Graven has a lot more going on than you’d expect."

Let’s take combat, for instance. Graven has a host of different weapons available, like a crossbow, a powerful sword, and various magical abilities. Where the combat tends to fall apart, however, is the complete lack of reactions from enemies for anything other than the killing blow. Even the weakest of enemies, like zombies or skeletons, will barely react to being shot by a crossbow bolt, and wacking them with a staff does little more than push them slightly off-balance. The first fire spell you get is also guilty of this, with it being incredibly difficult if you’ve successfully managed to set someone on fire.

On the flip side, it’s not like you can level up and get better abilities to then be able to take on enemies in more destructive ways. Graven isn’t really an RPG, and your only real form of progression is through acquiring new weapons, spells, and potions by either going out in the world and exploring it, or by spending some of your well-earned gold at the nearest blacksmith or alchemist. The journal—an incredibly useful tool in any RPG to keep track of what you were doing—also manages to be little more than a to-do list. You’re not really going to get to make meaningful choices or pick up interesting side quests like you would in an RPG, and the best you can expect from the journal is that it might occasionally give you directions to your next objective.

Even the fact that messing around with the environment is supposed to be a pretty big deal in Graven is more of a surface-level idea than anything. You can’t really get up to immersive sim-styled shenanigans where you get the freedom to figure out your own unique solutions to problems presented by the title. Rather, Graven is strict about what kind of objects in the world you can interact with, and what you can’t. Furniture is an interesting example here, since you can freely use your staff to break apart just about anything you see inside a house, as long as it’s not a shelf. For some reason, shelves are completely indestructible. The world’s interactivity is ultimately in service of keeping the player bound to a linear path rather than offering any new, unique ways solutions to puzzles or combat challenges.

"Graven is quite strict about what kind of objects in the world you can interact with"

The general gameplay of Graven feeling incredibly weak and rather dull does quite a disservice to what is an otherwise very interesting looking game. I want to know what’s going on in this weird swamp, and I’m incredibly curious about what’s going in the rest of the world. The art design being top notch also doesn’t help matters, since despite how lovingly-crafted the dungeons in Graven might be, it doesn’t take long to realize that it has all been in service to a game with fundamentally unsatisfying gameplay.

On a very fundamental level, Graven feels like it’s going through something of an identity crisis. It tries to present this interesting dark fantasy setting in much the same style something like a FromSoftware title would, through the use of environmental storytelling. It also sometimes pretends to be a proper RPG with unique spells, a quest log, and even a character screen that doesn’t really give you any useful information aside from telling you how much gold you have. And then there are its attempts to be a classic fast-paced shooter in the vein of classic games. Sadly, none of these different ideas of what Graven is trying to be ends up being particularly successful.

Graven is one of those games where I really wish I could enjoy it. The world it presented, as well as its art style that feels like an excellent throwback to late 90s shooters were incredibly interesting. Sadly, none of its mechanics ever feel like the mesh together in a satisfying way, and the combat itself feels like it’s there out of obligation, rather than to present any real gameplay challenge that might be interesting or fun for the player.

This game was reviewed on PC.