Betrayer (17th century FPS from Ex-Monolith devs)

[Angthoron]

Right, so I found the shovel, apparently it's just found further along the plot. Sadly it doesn't dig up additional mysteries, just loot - cash and amulets mainly. Not bad, but considering I got it on like what, 6ths zone, that's a little silly.

Otherwise, got to the Forest Heart. Spooky shit, and now, for some (minor?) C&C time.

Gotta say, the game really knows how to be unsettling. The team did a pretty good job.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Finished it.

Good game. Tragic, but understandable end.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Wanna get depressed?

Read metacritic reviews.

Do you enjoy games that task you with wandering around a practically empty open-world forest, while mindlessly pressing the X button on your keyboard every five seconds? Well, lucky you, because Blackpowder Games has a game that should be right up your street.

 

[sexbad?]

 

[WhiteGuts]

That was a neat review, Mr Fuckworse. I would gladly fist you if I could.

I was on the fence about this game when I explored its store page on Steam, but now I guess I'll have to really give it a try.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Holy shit sexbad, you're really good at this.

 

[Darth Roxor]

You get props for mentioning Cryostasis in the beginning because that's p. much the closest comparison I'd draw to it as well

 

[Darth Roxor]

"Please... forgive me..."


@_________________________________________________________@

Spoiler

GOTY

 

[theSavant]

Wanna get depressed?

Read metacritic reviews.

Do you enjoy games that task you with wandering around a practically empty open-world forest, while mindlessly pressing the X button on your keyboard every five seconds? Well, lucky you, because Blackpowder Games has a game that should be right up your street.

That is similar to my impression (open world with nothing in it) whenever I tried to watch a Let's Play and switched off after 2 minutes. Man... they could have done so much better with a weird Blood3 game...

 

[Darth Roxor]

Watching a let's play will never do this game any sort of justice

 

[WhiteGuts]

This type of open-world games will always divie people, I guess. Some don't like the whole "storytelling through the environment" stuff and they prefer more tangible content.

 

[Angthoron]

The two things I wish this game had are:

1) Ability to place markers on the map. My map memory is typically shiiiiiiiiiiiit, so it would have been awesomely useful for the end-game.
2) More stories per map. There seems to be hint towards there have been more, like the whole business with sunken ship, and various power struggles described in letters, but I guess they were either strapped for time, or it was just flavor.

Other than that, a thoroughly enjoyable game, and the one thing I really like about it is that it never, never takes away control from the player. No cutscenes, no cinematics, nothing like that - just the player, the world, and the game system the player interacts with the world by.

 

[Zewp]

I'm not really sure whether I'm playing the game 'right'. I get to an area, press X and do everything there is to do in the light, then do everything there is to do in the dark, then finish my investigations and move on to the next area.

Is this what the game is more or less supposed to be, or am I missing something?

 

[Darth Roxor]

1) Ability to place markers on the map. My map memory is typically shiiiiiiiiiiiit, so it would have been awesomely useful for the end-game.
2) More stories per map. There seems to be hint towards there have been more, like the whole business with sunken ship, and various power struggles described in letters, but I guess they were either strapped for time, or it was just flavor.

P. much my complaints too. There are a few places in the game that would beg for more fleshing out, and others that aren't really resolved. For example, I fully expected to find some drowners or whatever at that lake near Fort St George, but it only turns out to be a prop. The same with the small Indian village full of corpses in the deep forest - is it actually explained what happened there? Because I don't really remember.

Also, could use some more enemy variety, even 1 more type per spectrum would be dandy.

Is this what the game is more or less supposed to be, or am I missing something?

u just dont get it, simpleton :adjusts fedora:

 

[corvus]

sexbad, you mentioned in the video how the game lacked for a dedicated "shadow-lurking" enemy, which I agree with, but I found that the savages fulfilled that role well enough. At least, the way I played was different than your's going by your video. Particularly in the Deep Forest and Fort Hope maps, I was constantly sneaking around the woods, following the loon sounds the savages make, pinpointing their exact location before sniping them. With the way I set up my color/contrast, this required a lot of patience, as the dark intensity was set so that anything in the shadows under the trees was practically invisible, until they moved in such a way that a shaft of light hit them, or that random illuminating mist/fog lit them up for me to snipe (made easier with a musket, and waiting for that gust of wind so his buddies that were guaranteed to be there would not hear where the shot came from).

Spoiler-ish:

I thought that the game lacked for an enemy type that stalks YOU was missing, until I got to the Forbidden Wilds... I think those deer skull shades are the scariest shit ever, both because of the excellent sounds and the fact that they will cover the distance in a few seconds flat juking and jiving so that I miss every shot until they're right up in my face.

This game is fucking great.

 

[Angthoron]

1) Ability to place markers on the map. My map memory is typically shiiiiiiiiiiiit, so it would have been awesomely useful for the end-game.
2) More stories per map. There seems to be hint towards there have been more, like the whole business with sunken ship, and various power struggles described in letters, but I guess they were either strapped for time, or it was just flavor.

P. much my complaints too. There are a few places in the game that would beg for more fleshing out, and others that aren't really resolved. For example, I fully expected to find some drowners or whatever at that lake near Fort St George, but it only turns out to be a prop. The same with the small Indian village full of corpses in the deep forest - is it actually explained what happened there? Because I don't really remember.

Yeah, I expected more out of the village too, like someone at the other cabin intentionally providing them with poxed blankets or something, but nah, nope. Anyway, they died of the pox - no signs of violence, and they do mention "a terrible disease".

Thought the thing they did with the spirits in the "last" zone was pretty neat though.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I found that the savages fulfilled that role well enough.

I agree, although I think there was only one map that made full use of them, and that was the Sentry Post. It was downright impossible to pinpoint them anywhere in those fuckhueg bushes on a small meadow to the west of the western watchtower, and the way you'd chaotically look around for any sign of them sons of bitches while arrows flew all around you was one of the best moments in the game, ridiculously reminiscent of the later raft scenes in Aguirre. On later maps it is much easier to stop the injuns among the trees, except for a few areas in the deep forest.

 

[corvus]

For example, I fully expected to find some drowners or whatever at that lake near Fort St George, but it only turns out to be a prop.

The game managed to unsettle me even there, with just the water splash sounds.

the Sentry Post.

This, and the area outside of Fort St. George (just before the exit "Western Path", I believe). The trail is lined with sight-line blocking hedgerows, with chances of multiple groups of savages lurking just above them in the slight inclines. Now, if the injuns had some kind of player tracking they would be more of a tangible threat when you're out of the ambush part of the battle.

I still think Fort Hope and Deep Forest maps were very tense, but that could just be my display setup. My monitor's already relatively dark, and only upping the color saturation left the game closer to its default state. This includes pitch-black shadows under the trees, and having to rely on silhouettes for enemies that are surprisingly good at blending in with the bushs' shapes.

One of the biggest "ohfuck" moments in my game was when I was stalking what I thought was another group of 2-3 savages in the Deep Forest. As I lined up one shithead for my musket shot, waiting for that gust of wind, I shot, missed (a bush's silhouette was moving right next to him so I thought that was his arm for a split second), and I heard the still-unsettling BOOM sound of "shit's popping off now" combat. No big deal, I thought, but then another 4 shitheads ignite themselves revealing their hitherto silent selves.

It could just be my rusty FPS skills, but dodging the otherwise trivial savages when there are 7 of them, including several that are just running straight up into your face to give you a-scalpin', is one of my best moments in the game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

This type of open-world games will always divie people, I guess. Some don't like the whole "storytelling through the environment" stuff and they prefer more tangible content.

The problem is that modern sand-box games aren't sandboxy enough. If you aren't going to put any "tangible content" you have to really go towards the other extreme to make it worth while (kinda what Bethesda wanted to do with Daggerfall before they ran out of money or something). Half assed open world games are the worst.

 

[WhiteGuts]

Yeah I guess that's true enough. The feeling of emptiness is the worst.

 

[Contrite]

The game is not fun. I get what they tried to do, but it doesn't really work. Has some nice new ideas, but there is so much more they could have done. If they took this engine, made a smaller world and instead made a Call of Cthulhu type of game, that would have been incredible.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also, I'm surprised this game hasn't caused a hundred scandals yet, considering how it features rape.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Also, I'm surprised this game hasn't caused a hundred scandals yet, considering how it features rape.

That's because most journos a) can't even bother to play the game or b) are too stupid to decipher the elegant use of a writing style as depicted of the early colonial England.

It ain't no "I'll rape you you fucking biatch!!!", therefor it ain't no rape, right?

 

[WhiteGuts]

Nah, I just think it's because this game is low profile enough that it escaped their radar.

 

[sexbad?]

It also uses "Indians" and "Savages" to refer to Native Americans!!!