Core Decay - an old-school atmospheric immersive sim inspired by Deus Ex

[LESS T_T]

https://coredecay.com

Spoiler

Inspired by 90s FPS, more focused on exploration and resource management, with all sorts of cybenetics modules and such. Coming to mobile first, and then PC for some wacky reason.

CORE DECAY is an upcoming retro FPS for PC and mobile. Explore derelict facilities, uncover a vast conspiracy, install cybernetic upgrades as you gain levels, and find a wealth of unique weapons and powerups in an old-school shooter inspired by the classics of the late 90s.

FACE A DYING EARTH
The year is 2089. For decades past, the availability of natural resources has declined to the point of societal collapse. Nations are governed by corporations, and the planet is on the brink of an ecological collapse that will leave nothing left alive.

During mankind’s last breath arises a shadowy network of conspirators, bent on saving the human species using any means necessary – even if it means sacrificing all it means to be alive.

Follow the trails of a mysterious organization across a dying Earth, in an atmospheric singleplayer adventure over 11 levels.

ABANDON YOUR HUMANITY
You are an anomaly. Waking up in a cold storage pod with little recollection of your past, you find yourself far less human than you remember – and far more of a machine.

With strange but powerful new abilities, you are forced to either embrace your new self or fight to retain your humanity.

Upgrade yourself with game-changing cybernetic modifications as you explore levels, defeat enemies, and gain experience.

BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
Leave a wake of destruction as you travel across mysterious installations left behind by the ominous Contingency Accord, and turn their own weapons against them as you trigger facility-wide reactor core meltdowns.

As you traverse vast, deadly facilities, you will come across powerful armaments – experimental weapons long since forgotten, and unrivaled in power.

Use an arsenal of 8 unique, upgradeable weapons as you battle both security robotics and the remnants of experiments gone horribly wrong.

About combat from recent devlog: https://coredecay.com/devblog/update8/

COMBAT IN CORE DECAY
When looking at older FPS games (and newer ones for that matter), there are two main directions that these games take in terms of combat:

Fast-paced, reflex-driven, player skill based combat as seen in games like Doom or Quake. In these games, the primary appeal of the combat is the excitement of making split-second decisions, use your innate skill at aiming, reacting and responding to changing threats, and just the overall exciting audiovisual experience of intense combat. This is certainly the most immediately recognizable approach, and more modern games such as Doom 2016 executes it with perfection. When done well, this can be a high-adrenaline experience like no other.

Slower-paced, methodical, resource-based combat more commonly seen in immersive sims such as Deus Ex or System Shock. In this case the appeal isn’t so much in reflexes or aim, but rather how you approach encounters before they have even begun. Player resources are limited – you rarely have as much ammo, health, armor etc. as you need – and the challenge is one of exploring the levels and making choices on how to approach things in a way that lets you complete the level without depleting these resources. Combat is just as frequently something you choose to avoid as something you choose to engage in, and the risk of losing a battle and having to retreat is also a risk of losing valuable ammunition or health.

It should be emphasized that this is a spectrum – most games apply a bit of each, with the extremes (e.g. Doom 2016 and Deus Ex) focusing more strictly on one or the other. Some games such as Unreal 1 or Descent lie somewhere in the middle – action-filled combat, yes, but also mixed up with longer periods of atmospheric exploration and making a mental picture of the levels as part of the gameplay challenge.

Among recent games that specifically market themselves as “retro shooters” or similar terms, virtually all of them have focused much more on the former, with a great emphasis on super fast-paced combat and adrenaline-filled experiences. This is not a bad thing, and a lot of these games do it super well and are a joy to play – but the reason I bring it up is that it shapes players’ expectations on what they will get out of these kind of games.

Core Decay, on the other hand, leans more towards the second approach. Resources are limited and finite, levels are sprawling and complex, and the core challenge of the game lies less in the combat difficulty and more in the strategy of how to make it through a level using limited tools at your disposal. Exploring the facilities, finding alternate access routes, sneaking up on enemies or finding ways to bypass encounters entirely are all a large part of the experience, and the overall game aesthetic and storyline also reinforce this focus on exploration over combat.

That’s not to say that combat is viewed as an oversight or in any way less important – but the role of it is as a tool to facilitate meaningful level-wide decisions rather than being the most prominent aspect of the game. As a result, combat is a bit slower paced, with a greater emphasis on pre-engagement strategizing (can I sneak up on these enemies first? Are there environmental hazards I can make use of? Could I bypass these enemies entirely?).

Which brings me to the point of all this…

A weakness of the Announce Trailer is that it did not show combat in this context at all. Given the presentation of the game, it’s assumed to be a high-octane, fast-paced shooter like most other similar-looking games out there, and so when the combat shown is fairly simplistic, it misrepresents the gameplay loop. Even knowing the premise of “the combat is supposed to be slower-paced” that doesn’t really say anything on its own and all it does is ask further questions of why the combat is slower-paced and what purpose it serves.

Of course the combat is still far more simplistic than the final product will be – it’s an alpha version after all – but even so it’s important to present things in the proper context.

When viewed within the other systems of the game – the level exploration, player cybernetic upgrades and leveling system, weapon upgrades, secret routes, storyline presentation and so on – the way the combat is presented is far more representative of what it’s trying to achieve. Unfortunately I realized after the case that the trailer doesn’t really do any of this.

It’s something I will definitely take to heart and future trailers will put a greater emphasis on presenting these systems rather than just show a few seconds of direct combat engagements.

Seems it's in the middle ground of fast-paced FPS and immersive sim. Low-level gameplay from the former and mid-level gameplay from the latter, I guess.

 

[Lemming42]

just the overall exciting audiovisual experience of intense combat. This is certainly the most immediately recognizable approach, and more modern games such as Doom 2016 executes it with perfection.

The game does sound alright though.

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam page:

 

[ivarhill]

I'm the lead developer of the game - been lurking on these forums for a while, but noticing this thread got me to finally make an account

Just a small point of clarification, it's coming to PC and mobile simultaneously. I wrote a bit on my reasons for also releasing a mobile port in an interview here: https://medium.com/@barrettbearbaker/core-decay-26844eb0731d

And OP is indeed correct, it's attempting to be a middle ground between classic Doom/Quake-style shooters and immersive sims such as Deus Ex/System shock, somewhat more towards the former (if nothing else for reasons of resources and budget). Do feel free to give feedback on what's been shown so far, I think this community often has really good insights and would love to take any opinions into consideration.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

middle grounds rarely work.
but good luck anyway, it seems you need it a lot.

 

[ivarhill]

Yeah, I think that's a good point - it's easy for middle grounds to end up just feeling conflicted with no commitment to either style. I'm leaning more towards taking inspiration from immersive sims rather than to try to attempt a full-on hybrid for that very reason. More of a classic FPS with lots of alternate routes and a focus on exploration and atmosphere, and keeping it focused on that. It does seem that there's been a few articles recently that took my combat analysis of Deus Ex to mean "this is a modern reimagining of Deus Ex" which makes it sound a bit more grandiose than it really is :D

I'm trying to avoid getting all too ambitious since this has been a solo project for 2 years and although I've recently taken on a few more contributors it's still really small in scope - so I'm focusing on making sure I can provide a fun 11-level singleplayer experience and not try to over-reach in features or content. It's definitely a smaller game and the price will reflect that as well, but hopefully it can end up being an enjoyable one

 

[Citizen]

Nice, retro FPS, pretty cool idea

 

[luj1]

This is certainly the most immediately recognizable approach, and more modern games such as Doom 2016 executes it with perfection.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

I'm trying to avoid getting all too ambitious since this has been a solo project for 2 years and although I've recently taken on a few more contributors it's still really small in scope - so I'm focusing on making sure I can provide a fun 11-level singleplayer experience and not try to over-reach in features or content. It's definitely a smaller game and the price will reflect that as well, but hopefully it can end up being an enjoyable one

haven't you learnt anything from the latest years? overpromise. always overpromise. to part fools and their money and because if your game doesn't do anything special, why would i buy it instead of one of the thousand others who aren't special either? if you overpromise enough, you can even earn so much to just grab the money and run, that's how business works today.

 

[LESS T_T]

This will be co-developed and published by 3D Realms.



Interestingly now there's no mention of mobile release.

 

[Melan]

Looks surprisingly promising (although I hope the non-stop radio chatter is due to cutting together a demo reel). Let's hope the callbacks to DX and SS are not just nostalgia bait - the interface is great, but this will live or die by the gameplay and writing. Even if it has DX's shit combat.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

stop doing retro shooters please
the joke gone too far

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I will pre-order, but the author will have to change setting to fantasy world. Instaed of high-tech weaponry we should use spells, instead of cyborg we can fight skeletons and zombies.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I will pre-order, but the author will have to change setting to fantasy world. Instaed of high-tech weaponry we should use spells, instead of cyborg we can fight skeletons and zombies.

they already made Amid Evil

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I will pre-order, but the author will have to change setting to fantasy world. Instaed of high-tech weaponry we should use spells, instead of cyborg we can fight skeletons and zombies.

they already made Amid Evil

Didnt care much for this one in particular, they should try making it again. Amid Evil was kinda shallow, it lacked the deep christian meaning one can expect from a proper classical mythopoeia fantasy.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I will pre-order, but the author will have to change setting to fantasy world. Instaed of high-tech weaponry we should use spells, instead of cyborg we can fight skeletons and zombies.

they already made Amid Evil

Didnt care much for this one in particular, they should try making it again. Amid Evil was kinda shallow, it lacked the deep christian meaning one can expect from a proper classical mythopoeia fantasy.

Saints of Virtue is waiting for you then

The game takes place in a world allegorical to the spiritual aspects of the human heart. The player represents a Christian who enters his own heart to do battle with spiritual forces of temptation and to become a true 'Saint of Virtue.'

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

The "first dev blog entry" for this game (I've totally missed this, so I made sure it wasn't posted here before): https://coredecay.com/devblog/post1/

THIS IS CORE DECAY


Welcome to the first dev blog entry for Core Decay! I’m Ivar Hill and I’m the Game Director of the project – those of you who have followed its development for a while will know me as having worked on Core Decay as a solo project for a number of years!

Core Decay is, at its heart, a love letter to the immersive sims of the late 90s and early 2000s. As with games such as Deus Ex or System Shock, it places a heavy emphasis on presenting an intriguing setting, with a focus on open-ended exploration, immersion, and discovery.

As is a staple in the genre, it also makes for a soapbox to explore philosophical ideas – Core Decay’s story centers heavily around the nature of consciousness and humanity, and how in a desperation to survive we may find these ideas to be more mutable than we’d think.

SETTING
Core Decay takes place in 2089 – this is a time of great desperation, as near-unlivable environmental conditions and shortages of vital resources have led to major societal shifts. Although – perhaps surprisingly – the world has been spared from larger military conflicts, society at large sees itself simply trying to survive year by year as living conditions are only getting worse.

Unbeknownst to the general public, things are even worse than they seem, and the Earth is about to reach an entirely non-survivable state much sooner than anticipated. There are, however, those who know – and this group of individuals is set to sacrifice everything to make sure that humanity can keep on surviving even when all else is lost.

It is in this world of despair that you awaken, unsure of who you are or what led you to the place you find yourself in – and throughout the game you will go on a great journey of discovery spanning five continents.

LEVEL DESIGN
The game is structured into ten locations across the Earth – each a large area to explore with its own narrative and atmosphere, and all part of the game’s larger storyline. Although Core Decay does not feature large hubs as such (akin to Deus Ex), most of the locations of the game are not entirely hostile – there will be people to talk to and many non-combat areas and approaches.

As with any immersive sim, the most significant focus of the game is offering you many ways to resolve objectives, with exploration and creativity being just as viable of a way forward as engaging in combat – often even more so!

Spoiler

THE CITY OF SEVERSK
As an example, an early game level features an enclosed facility that you have to enter. This facility is located in Seversk, Siberia, and the heat and water it generates has attracted a small group of survivors who have made an encampment next to it, finding a way to survive even in the harshness of the Siberian winters.

This settlement of survivors, led by a previous facility employee named Mikhail, has been plagued by problems. Radiation leaking out of the plant is slowly poisoning the inhabitants. Furthermore, the facility water lines have been cut off leaving the settlement with no continuous source of water, and their stockpiles are running low.

To make matters even worse, friction within the settlement reached a breaking point – although Mikhail attempted to take a humanist approach and distribute the limited resources according to who needs them most, not everyone feels the same. In a dispute, a smaller group of people argued for a survival-of-the-fittest approach, and although not able to stage a full scale mutiny they nonetheless split up and formed their own smaller camp nearby.

Talking to Mikhail, he asks you for three favors. One is to re-establish the water connection to the facility, and therefore the settlement. The second is to approach the splinter group and convince them to rejoin the larger group, as he fears – rightfully – that they are staging a violent takeover. The third is to find a way to stop the radioactive emissions from slowly killing the settlement inhabitants.

If you approach the splinter group, their leader has an alternate suggestion – poison the water line connecting to the larger settlement, allowing them to move in and claim the resources for themselves.

Dealing with the water situation – or the survivors at large – is optional, but if you choose to do so, you have multiple ways to handle it. The water line can be fixed, which will gain Mikhail’s gratitude. Alternatively, you can poison the lines leading to the larger settlement – or just personally kill everyone within – which will let the splinter group move in, and let you retrieve facility access as a result. Finally, you can also poison both water lines, killing off all human survivors altogether.

If you choose the first option, the splinter group can also be dealt with. You can talk them into joining the larger settlement again by changing their viewpoints, which will make Mikhail very grateful – although it’s a difficult task. You can also convince the group to leave altogether, a less optimal solution but still pleasing Mikhail. Finally you can simply kill the splinter group, earning Mikhail’s disapproval unless sufficiently argued for in a later conversation with him.

In addition to all these various options, you can also engage either settlement in direct combat. Although very challenging it’s still possible to simply kill all the survivors, also gaining facility access as a result.

And as mentioned earlier, all of this is entirely optional, as this is just one among many ways to get into this facility!

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
From a broader design standpoint, Core Decay is developed with a focus on verisimilitude – or in other words, things should behave or present themselves in the way you logically expect them to. This doesn’t necessarily mean realism, though given the game’s near-future setting there’s definitely some overlap. A few examples of how this manifests itself in practice:

• There are many areas of game levels which serve no specific gameplay or design purpose, but rather make sense in terms of how the location might have been constructed from a lore standpoint.
• In-world pickups are placed in locations that make logical sense, rather than being arbitrary. A person who barricaded themselves into a room might have put ammunition in it, whereas an IT office might contain bypass tools.
• There is no real-time map on the HUD. Rather, you might see maps on screens in the level, or be sent images over your comlink that you can look at for reference.
• Doors that look like they could be destroyed with explosives, can be.
• The game always explains or makes logically clear how you have reached a certain destination.
• Avoiding enemies is a perfectly viable way to proceed – even ones important to the story.
• Log entries usually comment on the world around them. A room is unexpectedly flooded? The nearby terminal probably mentions it, unless it happened after an evacuation.
• Humor within the game is based on the personalities of whoever wrote emails/chats/log entries that you encounter. If whoever wrote a log entry has a certain sense of humor, that is reflected in their individual entries. If they are the serious type, that sets a different tone.
• If you lose a leg, you move slower. If you lose both legs, you have to crawl until healed.

As can be seen in the above examples, this design philosophy is distinctly different from a gameplay-first approach. Rather than design around specific gameplay mechanics and have all other aspects follow – a methodology that works fantastically well for many subgenres of shooters! – in this case the focal point is the worldbuilding, narrative, and atmosphere. An approach that, I hope most will agree, is very suitable for a story-focused immersive sim

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
Regardless, in terms of actual mechanics there’s many ways you can interact with the game world, all serving to provide you with a wide range of options at any given time.

Combat is usually a viable approach, although not necessarily the easiest or most straightforward one – the world around you is very dangerous and being selective about when to take the risk of engaging in combat is wise. At your disposal is a wide range of weapons (both lethal and non-lethal), as well as many ways to upgrade and enhance your combat ability.

Actual management of weapons and other equipment is done through a grid-based inventory, requiring you to strategically decide which equipment you want to keep throughout the game, balancing your available resources with your playstyle.

Apart from weapons and equipment, you can also install cybernetic implants into your body which has both combat and non-combat benefits. All cybernetic implants are passive in nature but can provide significant abilities! Run faster, jump higher, see through walls – the opportunities are endless!

It is not just dealing damage that has a lot of depth to it, however – taking damage does as well! When taking damage, it is absorbed by one or several of seven regions: your cranium, torso, abdomen, left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg. Different sources of damage may spread differently – for instance, breathing in toxic gas mainly damages your torso, and falling from high heights mainly damages your legs. Once damaged, a body part may give you certain penalties until healed, and if entirely incapacitated you can suffer some quite drastic downsides!

There are also many objects around the world to interact with – most notably, computer terminals and PDAs which may contain interesting information or means to control various parts of the level. These also often provide a window into the lives of various inhabitants of the places you visit.

Apart from combat and exploration, the game also features stealth elements (though it’s worth noting that it is not primarily a stealth game – non-combat approach more often involves finding ways to avoid even getting close to hostiles!) as well as a dialogue system where you can talk to people (or non-people…) that you come across.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
We have of course only scratched the surface of Core Decay within this post, but nonetheless I hope it may have shed some light on what this game is trying to be and what you might expect out of it! Some closing notes:

THIS IS NOT DEUS EX 5
…having spent a couple thousand hours playing the Deus Ex series, I wish!

But no, in seriousness, I do want to make a point that despite drawing a lot of inspiration from games such as Deus Ex or System Shock, Core Decay is still very much its own thing. It is in the spirit of these classics but there’s a ton of things it does very differently – the last thing I’d want is for anyone to feel their expectations are not met. However, let me say this with great confidence: If you do enjoy Deus Ex or System Shock, there’s very much to enjoy for you in this game!

THE GAME IS EARLY IN DEVELOPMENT
I also want to iterate something I’ve mentioned in various places over the last few months – Core Decay is still very early in development! There’s a lot left to be done, so I’d recommend setting your expectations on a release date accordingly

NEXT ON THE DEV BLOG
Future dev blog posts will be much more “behind the scenes”-like and show more insights into the development process. I wanted to make sure to present the game a bit closer first, but expect to see things like level design, coding and art sneak peeks as we move forward!If you have any thoughts or questions, you’re very welcome to head over to the 3DR Discord server – https://discord.gg/3drealms – where there is a dedicated Core Decay channel. Thank you all for your time, and see you in the next update! Je pense, donc je suis.

 

[Curratum]

This is Bore Decay.

Didn't like what I see back in September at Realms Deep, not really sold by the new advertising. Anyone who masturbates in front of his future buyers, "casually" mentioning he has spent "a couple thousand hours" playing Deus Ex games, is already a massive autist in my book.

Same thing is happening with Gloomwood - the dev can't stop jerking off on his Twitter account about how he has played the old Thief games to death and every fan mission ever and understands the design so well, and yet his own game is shaping up to be a pale imitation of Thief.

This attitude really gets on my tits. "Look, guys, I am this game's biggest fan and I'm making my own game that I want to sell you because you also are nostalgic about the old one, but my game is both kinda the same, and at the same time totally different! Pinky promise!"

 

[curry]

waste of everyone's time

 

[Fedora Master]

Oh, another retro shooter. Throw it on the pile, guys.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Interesting little news:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-core/news/well-well-well-this-was-unexpected

The maker of the highly anticipated and much delayed Half-Life mod "The Core" got hired by 3DR as a level designer for Core Decay. Which means "The Core" will be delayed indefinitely.

 

[Infinitron]

Deus Ex-inspired intro cutscene:

Your journey begins in Antarctica. Get the Core Decay demo at the end of 2021! Trailer shown at Realms Deep 2021

 

[Ash]

This is Bore Decay.

Didn't like what I see back in September at Realms Deep, not really sold by the new advertising. Anyone who masturbates in front of his future buyers, "casually" mentioning he has spent "a couple thousand hours" playing Deus Ex games, is already a massive autist in my book.

Same thing is happening with Gloomwood - the dev can't stop jerking off on his Twitter account about how he has played the old Thief games to death and every fan mission ever and understands the design so well, and yet his own game is shaping up to be a pale imitation of Thief.

This attitude really gets on my tits. "Look, guys, I am this game's biggest fan and I'm making my own game that I want to sell you because you also are nostalgic about the old one, but my game is both kinda the same, and at the same time totally different! Pinky promise!"

Jesus, calm down.

Give each fresh meat a chance to produce something good before you shoot him down based on...nothing? You've said nothing about the design of the game, just hate that he is passionate about some good old games. I don't even know why you're mad. Do you even know why you're mad? What specifically about this behavior of his is bad or wrong? You just stated it pisses you off but not actually explained why. Do you realize that is a bit nuts?

 

[rohand]

Don't know why this gave me some Chasm vibes

 

[Jaedar]

Looks pretty neat. If this manages to scratch the same gameplay itch as ss1 I'm in. The world needs more rollerskating cyborgs.

But I am also very upset that doom 2016 is what people consider a fast fps these days.