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Shardpunk Verminfall - Tactical Survival RPG in a Steampunk, Rat-Infested World

cyborgboy95

News Cyborg
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
2,758
https://shardpunkgame.com




https://af.gog.com/en/game/shardpunk_verminfall?as=1649904300

ABOUT THIS GAME
Do you plan your route to reach the stack of boxes shielding you from the two rat snipers on overwatch? Or do you take the sole fusion core in your possession and hurl it at your enemies? You go with the latter and watch core’s powerful charge annihilate enemies that were blocking the way to a door. It’s a door that sadly won't budge. The door needed a fusion core inserted in its ever-hungry socket, the same item that you exploded to defeat your rodent foes.

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STORY
There has been an unexpected breakthrough during the long and exhausting siege of The Empire's Capital. The Rat Swarm managed to breach the walls and flood the city with vermin. You control a group of surviving city-dwellers who are trying to escape and rescue as many others as they can. They will need to scavenge the destroyed city for resources, fight off rat vermin, and escape safely from the city.
sniper_rat_shot_2.gif


You will need to use every single tool at your disposal: every scrap of metal, fusion core, weapon upgrade, and medical supply to tend to the inevitable injuries. Push through three districts with progressively more vicious enemies, rising emergency levels, and supplies that dry up like blood from a decaying knife wound. Constantly on the move, you’ll search bodies and lockers only to realize that each detour means the Rat Swarm reinforcements are getting closer. The only respite is locked behind bunker doors that can only be opened with the most precious of all finds: the all-powerful fusion core.

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Choose Your Misfortune
How will you deploy your fusion cores? You could use it as a super-powerful explosive to get rid of a five-rat-strong pack, but then you’ll lose the means to open a bunker door that will allow you to tend to injuries and fix up weapons
Blow Off Some Steam
All the guns in Shardpunk are energy-based, and once you get a specific number of shots in, you’ll need to cool it off. However, you can test your luck and attempt a fifth shot on that four-shot cannon. But if it backfires or overcharges, you’ll have to hope that there's still one turn left before that rat sniper gets his bearings
Bunker Dilemmas
The hiss of the heavy bunker door locking down behind you is only a part of the deal. It's never a matter of “is anyone hurt?” but rather “whose injuries require the most attention?” You’ll rarely be able to heal everyone and save some med kits for later. Who can keep fighting despite their wounds?
Do You Split?
Should you keep all your troops moving at the same pace to find and reach the bunker door in one piece, or split the crew into groups and cover twice as much ground? You can scavenge more loot with the latter strategy, but you’ll risk your smaller squads getting cornered and wiped out by an enemy swarm
Draft A Motley Crew
Shardpunk gives you loads of flexibility in putting together your crew of survivors. For example, you could go with the dependant Mycroft with his exoskeleton, powerful ground slam, and heavy cannon that holds more limited charges, or you could take your chance with Silas, a twice-shooting jerk. Sure, he hates everyone, but has a chance to blast two rats in a round
Pick Your Tree to Climb
Get a few kills in, pick up that experience, and reach a temporary zone to upgrade your skills. Should you invest in a larger area for the katana-wielding close combat, or put your skills in the shotgun spread? It’s yet another choice that will impact your experience

There is a free demo available on steam
 
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Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 22, 2020
Messages
2,194
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
Alright, finished the demo, here are some impressions:

- I am sick of the pixel graphics, but I guess I could tolerate it here
- the game is literaly Halfway with some Darkest Dungeon elements (namely stress that can cause negative quirks and camping between missions)
- The structure of the game is the same as in Halfway, ie there is a "strategic map" where you can select the path that you take towards the ultimate objective, in the individual missions you always have to find the exit and sometimes also fulfill some other tasks before exiting, plus you have to loot as much as possible
- combat is just as simplistic as in the Halfway, ie there is cover, two actions per character (ie move, double move, shoot/use skill/use item), each character has different weapon and skills
- characters can level up to learn new skills and even upgrade their weapons, you need to loot food (like in DD, food gives back health and morale, lack of food reduces them), medkits, grenades and other useful stuff
- while Halfway had the "base" where you could do stuff in between missions, camping is much more detailed here, with obvious DD influence
- there are like seven or so playable characters in the demo, each is fairly unique and follows a basic archetype (sniper, gunslinger, heavy etc)

As for the gameplay itself:
- AI is OK, ranged enemies take cover and sometimes overwatch, melee enemies try to swarm you
- it seems that once you make contact with the enemy, they keep coming either in unlimited waves or at least in massive numbers, this makes sure that you are under constant preasure to keep going towards the exit instead of hoarding all the loot
- difficulty is pretty solid (lost two characters out of four in the first playthrough)
- Atmosphere is pretty great, though I cant say much about the storyfag elements from the demo

Honestly I am pleasantly surprised by the difficulty and general flow of the gameplay. If you liked Halfway, this is a game you will definitely enjoy, especially if you like DD as well. Got it on wishlist right after playing. The only real drawback for me is the pixel graphics, but w/e, I can live with that if the game itself is good.
 
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cyborgboy95

News Cyborg
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
2,758

cyborgboy95

News Cyborg
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
2,758
Devlog #116: the new demo
Howdy!

There's been a separate piece of news about it on Steam already, but here I am to inform you that the latest demo of Shardpunk is available for you to play. I hope that you will have a blast playing it.

I'm posting a few gifs from my gameplay session as well

care!

giphy.gif


giphy.gif


giphy.gif
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,437
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1183800/view/3696934093372648357
Deluxe Announcements
Unveiling the contents of Standard and Digital Deluxe Editions, their prices, as well as free Blood Pack DLC

Hey everyone!

We can't wait for all of you to get your hands on Shardpunk tomorrow. Here's something to increase your appetite even more!

We are thrilled to reveal that Shardpunk: Verminfall will be accompanied by
four additional digital goodies
for the players. Free content includes the first playable Shardpunk’s Tech Demo from 2018 -
“This is The End”
, and the
Blood Pack DLC
which adds a layer of gore to the base game. Players will also be able to purchase the post-ratpocalyptic
Official Soundtrack
, as well as the
Digital Compendium
which describes the game’s history, and its features.

Shardpunk: Verminfall will be available in both
Standard
and
Digital Deluxe Editions
.

Standard Edition
includes:

  • Shardpunk: Verminfall game
    : developed by the one-man army, Sławomir Bryk. Shardpunk mixes turn-based tactical strategy with RPG, survival, and resource management as players gather their teams, scavenge for resources, fight hordes of mutated rats, and seek shelter to live another day.
  • "This is The End" Tech Demo
    : the first playable version of the game from 2018, showing the first attempt at the game that Shardpunk: Verminfall has become since. This content is available from the game’s launcher to everyone who buys Shardpunk: Verminfall.
The Digital Deluxe Edition
of the game includes the Standard Edition contents as well as the following:

  • Official Soundtrack
    : 13 dynamic tracks composed by Michał Ratkowski, whose portfolio encompasses more than 30 video game titles. Get ready for 45 minutes of dark melodic tunes that capture the post-ratpocalyptic world of the game and indulge yourself in the Shardpunk: Verminfall Soundtrack at home, or on the go.
  • Digital Compendium
    : the most exhaustive write up of the history of Shardpunk Verminfall and the numerous features of the game. The Compendium consists of the interview with Sławomir Bryk – the game’s solo dev, description of units, enemies, automatons and the game’s killer steamy weapons, as well as a bunch of tips and tactics for survival. All of this accompanied by detailed pixel artwork that fleshes out the game’s visuals.
The Blood Pack DLC
will be available from Day 1 for everyone who owns Shardpunk: Verminfall free of charge.

  • Blood Pack DLC
    : For the discerning gore fans. The free DLC’s name says it all - Blood Pack effectively changes Shardpunk into Splatterpunk, and includes fully optional content focusing on brutal and bloody in-game animations.
The Standard Edition will be priced at $11.99, and the Digital Deluxe Edition will cost $15.99.

The Official Soundtrack and the Digital Compendium will also be available separately for $2.99 each.

If you haven't yet, make sure to join our Discord community to share your adventures!
See you tomorrow in the Capitol!

Clockwork Pile and Retrovibe

 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,437
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1183800/view/3696933459154197517

Devlog #140: Shardpunk is now live!
I've released my first commercial game. Wow.

The moment has finally arrived - I'm thrilled to announce that Shardpunk: Verminfall is officially released! I'm eager to hear your thoughts and feedback. Whether you have suggestions for balancing or difficulty, requests for future updates, or just want to share your experiences playing the game, I'm all ears.

Also, please consider
leaving a Steam review
- it will help me tremendously.

1tvW9dc.gif


I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to all the amazing people who have helped me reach this point. First and foremost, a big thank you to my family and friends for their unwavering support throughout this journey. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the talented individuals I've had the pleasure of working with, as well as the dedicated publisher team, playtesters, and the fantastic Discord community.

Without each and every one of you, I would not be where I am today. Your encouragement, feedback, and contributions have made a world of difference in shaping my game and getting it to this point.

9lL1PTt.gif


Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm throughout this process. I hope you enjoy playing Shardpunk: Verminfall as much as I enjoyed creating it!
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,084
Finished it.

The game is fun but very flawed:
- For each character there is one best development path and there is no need to figure it out.
- There are permanent negative traits which are equivalent to team wipe.
- The player's damage output goes higher much faster than the game's difficulty.
- The procedural maps start to repeat at some point. There is only one boss in the entire game.
- From start to finish the game takes like 6-7 hours which is too much for a Roguelike. The thing is you can missclick and lose everything.

D066F0B6D8AF8032BD183DC9E5D2C7302A1B928D

F5D854CD0DEEF8519AECE0C2C5BF0A89F16AD63C
 
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lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,196
This looks even worse than Pathway. At least in that one I could see exactly what I was looking at. Here this looks like a bunch of blobs.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
This looks even worse than Pathway. At least in that one I could see exactly what I was looking at. Here this looks like a bunch of blobs.
I agree the zoomed in Steam trailers look awful, but the actual game isn't zoomed in like that. If you're on the Steam page look at the broadcast video instead.

I really liked the demo for this. Picking it up.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,084
This looks even worse than Pathway. At least in that one I could see exactly what I was looking at. Here this looks like a bunch of blobs.
Actually the pixel art is pretty cool. The rats death reactions are brutal and satisfying.



The problem with the game is that it took the worst parts from XCOM and it multiplied them several times.

My team was composed of 1 sniper with 6x overwatch, 1 gunner with 6x free shots and one brawler with 6x free attacks on kills. Basically my team could kill 18 rats in one round. Pretty insane.

But this is bloat and it make the skills much more important than other tactical layers. In some way I enjoyed it but at the same time it's pretty braindead and it's one the factors which kills the replayability.

Edit: I have to say something positive about the game. It's probably one of the most fair roguelike game I ever played. It doesn't pull bullshit out its ass just to punish you as a player. This is good.
 
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