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Synthetik

Blaine

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Literally

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With robots, presumably because the developers are German, so instead of people and gore you have to have robots and oil spray. Otherwise, the Nazis would immediately return and ring in the Fourth Reich.

The game is slick and fun, and challenging too at first blush. There's far more to manage each step of the way than just pointing and shooting, and that includes moving carefully and sometimes stealthily to stay alive. One interesting feature is that you have to manually eject (losing any leftover ammo), press another button to reload, and receive a quick reload/damage boost if you time the reload properly. And it has online co-op!

Will report back once I have a few more hours played/have duped Steam friends into playing with me.
 

Blaine

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Are the visual effects as annoying as they look in the trailer? Screen constantly flashing white is honestly a big turnoff.

It all seems to be fairly customizable.

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The game features four customizable classes: Defensive guy with shotguns bonus, stealthy guy with long rifles bonus, commando guy with ARs bonus, and support guy with various unique utility thingamabobs. They each have a core ability slot with multiple core class abilities to unlock for each, three equipment slots (some types of equipment are class-unique), three generic ability slots, and every handful of levels gained in each class, they unlock permanent passive bonuses.

There are also a lot of weapons that are upgradeable (you choose what to upgrade) during runs, and weapon mastery gained for using them. You get big mastery bonuses for clearing jams. Yeah, in addition to complicated reloading, there's jam-clearing; many of the selectable difficulty modifiers simulate stuff like being staggered slightly each time you take any damage all. It aims to feel more like playing with real guns than just blasting out bullet hell, and so far seems to succeed at that fairly well.
 
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Blaine

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There are almost too many types of unlockables for me to list, but rest assured there are a lot of them.

I'm almost tempted to pull out the "gaming keypad" that I've hardly ever used, because the idea of using a console controller for this game is laughable (plus, I don't think they've finished adding support yet). Action is lightning fast, and you need a mouse to aim. Headshots and so on are a thing. The gamepad has a thumbstick, which would probably come in super-handy for this particular type of game for more articulate movement.

Another thing I haven't mentioned is that aiming is affected by both movement and recoil, and it's best in many situations to stand still, take some strategic shots, and maybe dash away or dip behind a piece of cover (lots of destroyable cover types).

I've only done about eight or nine runs and have been playing perhaps an hour, but for a game like this, that's enough to make an initial assessment. If you're at all interested in Nuclear Throne/Enter the Gungeon-type "rogue-lite twinstick schmupamole with lots of weapons, upgrades, and customizability," and like the idea of a gritty-feeling implementation of reloading, recoil and so on, this is probably the one to try. I skipped all the others, but I'm really liking this.
 

Blaine

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Really, this game is a gun handling simulator more so than an actual schmup. Full list that I'm aware of:

  • eject magazine with one action losing leftover ammo, slap in new mag with second action, perform third action with correct timing to finish reload quickly and gain a temporary damage boost; reload characteristics vary per weapon
  • different ammo types are available on a weapon-by-weapon basis, and you must eject and reload to swap ammo types, unless you have a certain weapon mod
  • recoil screen jerk, screen muzzle flash, you and some enemies stagger momentarily when hit (these can be disabled/reduced with global difficulty modifiers; more modifiers = more loot and XP)
  • weapon jams that must be cleared by spanking spacebar, which very realistically seem to occur mainly when you're in a hectic and deadly SNAFU
  • headshots are possible and very effective, reward bonus end-of-run points (as does accuracy), synergy with sniper-type class

The sumptuousness of the sound is out of this world. None of that weak, willowy snapping and popping here. Most weapons sound like a battleship firing a deck gun or a nuke going off, and will cause the neighbors to lodge noise complaints with your HOA. Personally, I love the visuals, too.

Game's definitely hard as balls. I've ragequit several times already, which is always a good sign.

There's a lot of variance in the enemies and terrain/obstacles that can appear. Barbed wire slows you, EMP mines kill your shield, clutter gets in the way, etc. I've encountered levels full of snipers and sniper turrets, levels laden (perhaps too heavily) with walking rocket pods and drone control stations, and levels smattered with mixed fireteams of shotgun and AR mooks, among many other possibilities. Vehicle enemies occasionally put in an appearance.

Someday, I'll make it through level 4.
 

Damned Registrations

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Picked this up a few days ago and I love it. It's like Isaac for grown ups. Lots of details, high skill cap, brutal difficulty curve, and the character classes and unlocks give it a huge replay factor. Game has me by the balls for sure.

Only real gripes so far are a lack of tooltips for most of the weapon bonuses (like, what does rogue bonus actually do? Or underdog?) and I don't like that the bulk of the UI is at the bottom of the screen; the screen is already pretty cramped vertically, with enemies being able to fire at you from offscreen above or below. Having an extra ~10% of the screen gone at the bottom basically means things are in shotgun range before you even see them. UI should be shoved over to the edges, preferably into the corners. It's not like I need to see my healthbar while I'm viewing weapon stats anyways.
 

Blaine

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I've been hearing reports that co-op can be a bit wonky, so I'm delaying giving co-op a try for a few weeks to try to ensure minimal issues.

Can't imagine playing this game with even one smidgen of real lag.
 

Pope Amole II

Nerd Commando Game Studios
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It's boring shit and a fucking treadmill. Mostly rng-based difficulty, minimal variety in the item design, boring weapons and no real ability to diversify between them, samey foes. No freedom in tactics and pretty much the same gameplay over and over again.
 

Damned Registrations

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Just had my best run yet by a mile, died on the 5th boss, which was some sort of completely insane boss rush thing I didn't even come close to winning, despite having an inventory full of some pretty crazy passives and a generally insane character, as well as a maxed out gun with rapidly recharging ammo. Earned me something like 70k xp, forgot to check the data. I'm curious what other classes get to make them viable in the later stages, because without the rogue's 200 damage taken cap ability, I'd have gotten utterly massacred long ago. Enemies were spamming 1k damage shots at me constantly, and I was only able to get 1600 hp and a 600 point shield which took a long time to recover.
 
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This is pretty cool. The mix of top-down arcadey action and tacticool elements reminds me a lot of Crusader: No Remorse/Regret. Implementation of roguelike and ARPG elements is also interesting. For example, you may pick up a weapon with an under-barrel grenade launcher but instead of functioning as alt. fire it has a chance of triggering on shot, giving you an extra projectile. There is also dodge chance, so while you mostly dodge shots through movement, sometimes the character will automatically dodge a shot directed at him. Not sure if this blend of action gameplay and roguelike/RPG stats is successful in the end, but I find it intriguing so far.

Enemy AI does encourage rather repetitive behavior though, at least in the first few levels. Against most humanoids (except for maybe shotgun androids as they are devastating up lose) you can just aggro them before retreating behind a corner and popping heads as soon as they round it. Meanwhile turrets and buildings are sitting ducks if unprotected by other enemies and dealing with them is a matter of rounding a corner, popping off a few shots, then dashing back behind cover, rinse and repeat. However in later levels you are swarmed by multiple enemy patrols from all sides and gauntlets of turrets and mortars, so I don't think these issues are as harmful to the game as Nerd suggests.

Returned this shit game after less than 15 minutes of play.

I can't believe developers still think it's OK to disallow your players to remap keys. Fucking Germans and their shit UIs.

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Whatever do you mean, friend?
 

Damned Registrations

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I noticed you can't rebind the item hotkeys, maybe he's talking about that? I assume they just haven't gotten around to it yet. Actually, how does that work with a controller? Must be some awful cycling thing?

Regarding the whole easy gunplay of shooting dudes as they round corners and pot shotting turrets from far off, that's mostly a symptom of having more firepower than the enemies can handle. Later on when you can empty a clip at a tough enemy and need to back up and reload while his three buddies keep coming, or even the enemy himself if he's a badass, things get hectic real fast. Also, some of the turrets spawn flying drones you can't directly attack, meaning you can casually wait behind cover because they'll rain lasers on your ass. Plenty of other things can throw you for a loop too- teleporting enemies, healing drones, slow but obnoxiously accurate tracking missles that will circle you for quite a while unless you lure them into a wall, preferably far enough away to not take the splash damage. Oh, and there's the suicide bomber drones that don't quite die after attacking, and the more elity guys who do some sort of teleporting grenade thing like the mortar turrets except they do it even without LOS. You can also use enemies against eachother, because they'll murder eachother or even themselves with friendly fire.

Weapons have been incredibly varied so far. There are the usual suspects, shotguns, full auto guns, sniper rifles, pistols (only as starting weapons so far?) and burst fire rifles as well. You can mod these to have full auto or semi instead of their default, along with a bunch of other things like refunding ejected ammo or only being able to eject an empty clip, or having massively reduced recoil while standing still, or making your ammo pierce enemies or ricochet off walls. There's also more unusual weapons, like rocket or grenade launchers, whether dumb fire or enemy seeking or guided by your cursor. And two different kinds of flame throwers so far (status effects are a thing, I've seen (and suffered) burning, acid, stun and radiation so far), a nailgun that regenerates ammo slowly all the time, a laser rifle that regenerates ammo super fast after a short delay, a bolt action sniper rifle that not only pierces enemies but ricochets like 5 god damned times and terrifies me because shooting yourself with ricochets is definitely a thing, even with normal guns against certain kinds of terrain like the metal shipping containers.

This isn't even getting into the passive and consumable items you can carry something like 8 of at a time (they do really cool shit, often with a drawback for stronger items) and upgrade for a fee at certain kiosks, which can also sell them or do various weird shit, the passive class abilities you can choose from the start and acquire a few more of along the way by using a consumable item, or the basic stats you can upgrade from certain chests, or the random mods on weapons that do things like nerf their damage but give them regenerating ammo or just give them massive clip sizes compared to default. There are also effectively cursed chests, alternate difficulties of levels to select sometimes, optional quests within levels, timed chests that are very difficult to get but can be opened later IF you have a keycard.

Oh, and not only do enemies need to reload just like you do, you can see their remaining ammo for almost all of them, and how long they'll spend reloading when they start to.
 

ColCol

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Haven't played it yet, but after hearing it recommended I checked out a few videos. Looks great and I plan to play it as soon as possible.
 

Leechmonger

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Game gets repetitive rather quickly. I got to the final stage on my second attempt, and continued to consistently reach it on subsequent runs. Then the game shits itself. Even if the final stage were good, though, there still wouldn't be much to to the game. Low skill cap, quite a few bugs, and grinding galore. Meh.
 

Astral Rag

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Synthetik Arena is available now for free:

SYNTHETIK: Arena is the Stand-Alone expansion to the Rogue-Lite Top-Down Shooter SYNTHETIK.

Stand your ground against relentless opponents in five unforgiving challenges. Master the uniquely deep and satisfying weapon mechanics and the unprecedented amount of customization. Discover many dozens of weapons, items, perks and character upgrades. Join the fight alone or through seamless 2 player online co-op!
 
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Perkel

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Thanks to SSeth review bought it. Fucking dope game and has co-op as well. Really loving it.
 
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he hugely oversells it, just for the pace: the combat is lethal and the enemies scattered, thus the gameplay is slow and ponderous. even worse, once the maps are mostly emptied the hunt for the terminals begins, and the backtracking at snail speed too.
 
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Damned Registrations

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he hugely oversells it, just for of the pace: the combat is lethal and the enemies scattered, thus the gameplay is slow and ponderous. even worse, once the maps are mostly emptied the hunt for the terminals begins, and the backtracking at snail speed too.
You might want to try surviving past the second level if that's your impression.
 
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i reached the... third boss? maybe fourth? it's been months ago. it's still the same. the reload thing is actually annoying and your progress is tied to the weapons you find ie bad weapon = you died.
 

oldbonebrown

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Is there any going back once you have gotten used to playing Raider with the Kaida?
Everything else is too slow and weak
 

udm

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Got this during the last sale and just started playing it. Only about 7 hours in but it's really fun. I'm digging the high skill cap. I don't know about shit weapons = u ded, but I've gotten up to Floor 4 with just a fully upgraded nailgun and self-printing ammo and barely any good items.
 
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Got this during the last sale and just started playing it. Only about 7 hours in but it's really fun. I'm digging the high skill cap. I don't know about shit weapons = u ded, but I've gotten up to Floor 4 with just a fully upgraded nailgun and self-printing ammo and barely any good items.
The nailgun is really good. First impression is that you got a joke weapon, until you open up on a group of enemies.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
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Yeah nailgun is one of my favourites. It'll fall off eventually, but not for a long long while. Weapons that don't need to reload are my favourites in general, reloading gets you killed pretty quick when you're being overwhelmed. Other than that weapons that give a permanent stat upgrade on kills are great for obvious reasons, and I've got a general learning towards smgs with huge ammo capacity and high fire rates. But the variant system means you never know when you'll find a weapon that has just the right combination of stats to be really awesome or a weapon you normally like is suddenly pretty shit.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
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I mean, your starter pistol should be able to carry you to the second boss or so if you need it to. It's pretty much impossible to not find a decent weapon by then.
 

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