Fortune's Run - retro FPS inspired by Quake, Deus Ex and E.Y.E - now available on Early Access

[LESS T_T]

https://fortunes.run




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

Spoiler

Discover the quiet dystopia of Fortune's Run, where food is free yet people starve and every living soul on New Zabra is bought and paid for by off-world interests. A classic FPS with undertones of role-playing in the spirit of Deus Ex and EYE: Divine Cybermancy, featuring the campy tone of space operas and titles like Metal Gear Solid.

• The World
  Discover a rich science-fiction setting full of strange aliens, twisted conspiracies and gritty character drama. From the perspective of Mozah Lydd'sekh, washed-up ex-con extraordinaire, you will get to explore dozens of hand-crafted levels packed tight with narrative and fully voice-acted dialogue. New Zabra is an environment of constant violence, drug abuse and sexual exploitation. For most, there is no hope of redemption, but Mozah still dreams. Will you be able to navigate the wheels of karma without becoming just like those who wronged you?
  
  
• Combat
  The combat is fast-paced, complex and will require you to slow time with Focus™ to escape death and execute your foes with style. In addition to a standard FPS arsenal of rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers, Mozah can deflect incoming projectiles with melee attacks, stun enemies with special combos and perform kicks, grabs, holds, chokes and throws. Fighting games and character action titles have been a huge inspiration, contributing to a dynamic, highly technical feel.
  
  
• Stealth
  Experience a novel take on stealth gameplay, where speed is rewarded and acrobatic movement is the best way to navigate past patrols and cameras. No more creeping around! To Mozah, moving slowly is just the best way to get caught.
  
  
• Movement
  Circle jumps. Strafe jumps. Air-control. Fortune's Run uses a custom physics model based on the Quake 3 player movement. This ensures accurate implementation of hardcore first-person shooter mechanics. In addition to the classic set of moves popularized by Quake and Half-Life, you will have at your disposal physics-driven parkour mechanics: for example, wall friction can be used to reduce gravity to simulate wall-running. No context sensitive actions, only physics!

Some gameplay:

 

[Riskbreaker]

I recall this from way back when it was a zdoom TC. They had a small demo back then - I assume it's still available somewhere - showcasing Thief-like light-and-shadow-based stealth and DE-like UI. It had striking rusty, grimy aesthetics - a bit like Pyl/Dust I guess - and the environs were peppered with voxel models, something that wasn't that common in zdoom stuff back then.
I doubt that the old demo would be very representative of where this thing is in its current Unity incarnation tho - it looks considerably faster paced than anything initially shown. Still, I'm very much interested in it.

 

[toughasnails]

I wonder why the devs abandoned GZDoom for Unity? At least they'll avoid the issue with existing savegames becoming invalid with each new update I guess.

 

[Riskbreaker]

I found a working link for the old 2015 demo
http://www.mediafire.com/file/fh8xb8y7rvlgprs/FortunesRun_Demo.wad/file
I fired it up and it seems to work fine with the latest build of GZDoom I'm using. So, if someone wishes to check it out, go at it. Again, no way in hell is this representative of how the game seems to be now but it would be interesting to make a comparison once they release the new demo.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

I recall this from way back when it was a zdoom TC. They had a small demo back then - I assume it's still available somewhere - showcasing Thief-like light-and-shadow-based stealth and DE-like UI. It had striking rusty, grimy aesthetics - a bit like Pyl/Dust I guess - and the environs were peppered with voxel models, something that wasn't that common in zdoom stuff back then.
I doubt that the old demo would be very representative of where this thing is in its current Unity incarnation tho - it looks considerably faster paced than anything initially shown. Still, I'm very much interested in it.

Is Pył a good game, btw?

 

[robinox]

looks rad.
will it come out on gog?

 

[Riskbreaker]

Is Pył a good game, btw?

I'd say yes and it's unique for sure but it's not something I'd recommend without qualifications. It's rather janky and often frustrating. If you ever do try it, go at it as you would in some tactical shooter. Go slowly, set your starting riffle to single fire mode, try to take enemies one by one with headshots whenever you can, be prepared to save and reload a lot. Direct close quarters combat against multiple enemies can be hellish, they have all the mobility of Unreal's Skaarj whereas your movement feels slow and you go down really, really fast. It's rather stingy with supplies too, another reason you shouldn't be trying to spray and pray.

 

[Beowulf]

From all those faux retro FPS announced lately this one looks the best.

 

[gerey]

The katana seems rather weak, considering how many cuts it takes to take down an enemy.

In Shadow Warrior using the katana was a high risk, high reward choice, since you were trading range for damage.

 

[toughasnails]

The katana seems rather weak, considering how many cuts it takes to take down an enemy.

In Shadow Warrior using the katana was a high risk, high reward choice, since you were trading range for damage.

I thin melee combat looks fine enough, reminds of the old Demonsteele mod for Doom. And the movement is p fluid too by the looks of it, almost like Dishonored.

 

[LESS T_T]

Demo is available now

 

[toughasnails]

 

[randir14]

Played the demo and liked it. Looking forward to the full release. The graphics are weird though, some prop decorations are full 3D when you wouldn't expect them to be (like wires handing from ceilings) while others such as barrels are 2D.

 

[Lemming42]

Playing the demo now and it's already very impressive. They got the horribly grimy 90s sci-fi atmosphere is down perfect. So many cool stylish touches too, like the alien keypad that you just have to guess the numbers on. On Rare difficulty, the combat is shockingly brutal and unforgiving when it gets started, and you're basically forced into hiding, fleeing and ambushing, which the level design lends itself to perfectly. Really excited for the full release of this one.

 

[Curratum]

Store page:
RELEASE DATE:
???

How about a nice fuck you?

 

[good fucking shit happen]

This shit looks like the retroshooter version of Human Head's Prey 2. Will give it a spin for that reason alone.

 

[Echo Mirage]

After watching the ABG gameplay posted above I'm getting serious Nar Shaddaa flashbacks from Jedi Knight.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

Aight, so this is exactly like Prey 2 but with an 90's coat of paint.

The Good:

• They nailed the science fiction grimy city look
• Movement feels solid
• Guns pack a good punch
• There's a dedicated kick button - fuck yeah - and the levels are all featuring huge shafts for them to fall down into
• Comes across as a hybrid between a 90's shooter, an immersive sim and something cinematic post-HL
• B-ball first thing in the game
• Enemies don't just stand around waiting for you to kill them and on the intended difficulty poses a fair challenge
• Set pieces are good and enemy placement keeps you on your toes
• Ammo placement, pacing and secrets, it's all good and manages to balance between being too stingy and hard and being too easy and mindnumbing. Lots of secrets and alternative paths.
• Soundtrack is the shit

Shit I don't care for:

• Parkour systems in these shooters are almost always bad. Come the fuck on, Doom didn't have a jump button and now they want you to bounce around like some flipper ball over chasm that will instakill you? It's no Mirror's Edge but it works
• Three weapon limit, it doesn't ruin the game and you have to make choices I guess, but it's still lame
• Sword is kinda weak, how do you block a sword with your fists? Makes it kind of useless since it takes up an entire slot
• Voice acting is amateur hour, with a million filters, but they switch up to the Twi'lek speak from KOTOR at times and that helps it from becoming too grating
• The Desu Sex limb damage system is annoying, it's cool that you can wreck your knees and start limping but it happens too often and you're not given enough shit to fix yourself up on the difficulty mode I played on. Unless you savescum like a motherfucker to avoid this it's not great.
• Wanting to be an immersive sim there's so many gimmick items and shit it's easy to forget or ignore it. Like having to take a smoke to regen energy you use for short bursts of slowmo

The Bad:

• Difficulty setting makes reference to the faglord Civvie
• The end of the demo says to look forward to sum Fortune's Run: Chapter I or sum shit, nigga, when has this ever worked out? Just make the game and release it, if it gets a sequel, then great, but if it's the first part of some ebin space opera you've got planned out? Forgetti.
• Huge missed chance to work with this setup to make the game mission based and with self-contained levels. You're like a bounty hunter or something but the game wants you to care about this important plot it got with you being set up and there's some ninja sent to steal your shit. This is fine for setup but storyfaggotry ain't these developer's strong suit. Why not do the Jedi Academy thing?
• Stealth system nobody asked for, this game wasn't made for it but you're still ranked over stealth at the end of the mission.

Okay, so to sum it all up, this is the lovechild of the biggest fucking FPS orgy you can think of, there's some Strife in there, some Deus Ex, a lot of Prey 2 and a bit of Dark Forces II, with some modern touches, like the healing animations that started with Far Cry 2, Hotline Miami scoring system, Star-Wars-but-cooler aesthetics, some F.E.A.R. with the enemies, their banter and general design, the slowmo.

Despite some grating problems, like this shaping up to be another one of those way too short Chapter I games that never get a sequel, like SiN: Episodes, this is the best retroshooter I've played so far that runs on Unity. It got more going for it than just nostalgia. So as far as I'm concerned this is a D1P for sure.

for what it is and compared to what else is on the market
if they buffed the sword, focused less on the story and platforming, made self-contained missions, dropped the stealth and did some tweaks here and there
when it ends up in development hell or the devs abandon it after the first episode leaving all that storyfaggotry being inserted for nothing

I posted some screenshots from my playthrough here, if anyone of you faggots want to check it out. Not many mid-combat screens since I have the key bound to F12 and this game doesn't fuck around on the higher difficulties.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

After watching the ABG gameplay posted above I'm getting serious Nar Shaddaa flashbacks from Jedi Knight.

Playing it gives even stronger Nar Shaddaa vibes my dude, you need to give this a spin if DF2 was your thing.

 

[toughasnails]

So it looks like this will be an early access release too, whenever that happens. If so I'm a bit disappointed given how long it was in development already, not even counting the time it spent as a GZDoom TC.

I'm actually starting to wonder, maybe there is some data showing how having an early access period helps the hype building and sales? Or could it be that some devs simply assume that it does.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

I'm actually starting to wonder, maybe there is some data showing how having an early access period helps the hype building and sales? Or could it be that some devs simply assume that it does.

Pretty sure that's just what devs that are desperate and strapped for cash do, or if they are in serious need of testers. In this case it must be a need for a funding injection since publishers won't be throwing fat stacks at this anytime soon and there was no kickstarter or anything like that. The levels are pretty high fidelity and the quality bar here is pretty high, so it'll take time to make more content that stays this good. Even if the combat is ready they can't just slap together a bunch of levels Doom-style and call it a day.

 

[Lemming42]

After watching the ABG gameplay posted above I'm getting serious Nar Shaddaa flashbacks from Jedi Knight.

It basically feels like an immersive sim version of Dark Forces at times, which I suppose is a good thing.

Stealth system nobody asked for, this game wasn't made for it but you're still ranked over stealth at the end of the mission.

The stealth system isn't too bad IMO, it's more about moving quickly from shadow to shadow than creeping around. Trying to play it like Thief (which I did at first) doesn't work, it's more about using the parkour system to go over enemies' heads and hurl yourself into shadowy corners. The fists also seem to be silent - if you can creep up behind someone, you can kick them in the back to stagger them and then quickly close in and and press F to grab them, at which point you can do this weird chokehold takedown thing, which people nearby don't seem to notice unless they're looking right at you.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

The stealth system isn't too bad IMO, it's more about moving quickly from shadow to shadow than creeping around. Trying to play it like Thief (which I did at first) doesn't work, it's more about using the parkour system to go over enemies' heads and hurl yourself into shadowy corners. The fists also seem to be silent - if you can creep up behind someone, you can kick them in the back to stagger them and then quickly close in and and press F to grab them, at which point you can do this weird chokehold takedown thing, which people nearby don't seem to notice unless they're looking right at you.

The chokehold thing is fine, as is getting the drop on enemies, it's just that it doesn't mesh with the rest of the game that you're supposed to pay attention to shadows and shit. After the first enemy is down you're probably alerting everyone else anyway and it's not this constantly viable way to play the game. This shit ain't Dishonored and I think it's a waste of time to go in that direction with the shadows alone. And if you were to maximize how stealthy you were that's just not a fun way to play the game. The player is like the offspring if John Wick and Kyle Katarn decided to DP a Twilek from Star Wars.

Dark Messiah did this thing too, wanting to have a Thief larp in the game, but that was more designed for it, with alternative paths that let you sneak past enemies, and backstabs being more powerful, the bow being silent and all that. This is a game where you go balls to the wall, rushing into a room, slowing time down, blasting the walls with the brains of alien thugs, and then stitching together you blown open stomach with a fucking needle. I don't know man, the levels and pacing just doesn't seem to facilitate stealth that much. Made more sense even in Deus Ex.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

After getting blueballed by Bethesda due to them fucking up the development of Prey 2 this is fucking great, I just played Supplice and it made me appreciate this shit even more. Donut Seal of Approval granted. Just hope it doesn't turn out like WRATH did or becomes vaporware. Shit, reading the Marathon-like terminals in Supplice even made me want to go back to the snappy dialogue and voice acting of this one as well as the computer ascii console shenanigans. Buy this game when it's available people.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Glad to see one of these games is actually good, though a lot can change between now and when it gets released.