HROT - Quake-inspired shooter set in socialist Czechoslovakia

[Lemming42]

Yeah, third episode was superb. It felt like the game's tone of weird psychedelic black comedy had really solidified by that point.

Great game, so many standout moments across all the episodes -

spoiler

the Grandma statue stalking you and glaring at you through the window, the Newt dance party, cleaning the boss battle arena with the crappy little sweeper thing, the little dog going apeshit and mauling scores of rats, the Gorilla that comes to life and just slides towards you with no animation, the fucking homing boulders in the mines. And of course, whatever the hell was going on at the end there.

One of the best throwback shooters, easily. Brave enough to really forge a unique identity for itself rather than just aping 90s games.

 

[Kabas]

E3's opening map is both and little piece of mindfuck.

Spoiler

Is this the first time ever that a section in a video game game was based off War with the Newts?

Spoiler

Never read that book, what does the Newts have to do with wolfenshtein 3D?

 

[Jenkem]

Just completed the game

My opinion of the game actually improved as the levels went by with the third episode ending up being my favourite. A very good game.
What the fuck was that final level tho?

I feel like the 2nd episode is the best, the levels in the first half of Ep 3 are pretty good, but the last few levels are just crap and feels like the dev gave up and just shitted out some simple maps and added arena fights just to finish the game

 

[Van-d-all]

Between this and Boltgun I'm starting to feel that recent boomer shooters conflate them with arena shooters. Arenas however, work really lousy in single player with brain dead enemies. Both are fun atmospheric games aside from that.

 

[luj1]

Thoughts after a couple of levels,

- I like that everything can be destroyed or interacted with
- music is cool and eerie
- shootgun feels good (!)
- rest of the weapons so far are meh (wine bottle is not even a weapon)
- enemies die too quickly on normal
- enemies have shitty design generally. the fat riot guard is a copy of Q1 ogres. Enemies are too similar
- secrets are decent
- level design is ultra basic, feels like a demo sometimes

TLDR Satisfying little retro shooter to pass the time 3.5/5

 

[luj1]

reminds me of the Quake clone Chasm

 

[Kabas]

- rest of the weapons so far are meh (wine bottle is not even a weapon)

You can actually use it as a weapon by using the alternative fire mode and throwing it like a molotov. Why would one waste a good bottle of wine like that tho?

Is it just me or most of the people who played HROT didn't learn about the existence of the "Kick" button until way later?

 

[luj1]

Thoughts after a couple of levels,

- I like that everything can be destroyed or interacted with
- music is cool and eerie
- shootgun feels good (!)
- rest of the weapons so far are meh (wine bottle is not even a weapon)
- enemies die too quickly on normal
- enemies have shitty design generally. the fat riot guard is a copy of Q1 ogres. Enemies are too similar
- secrets are decent
- level design is ultra basic, feels like a demo sometimes

TLDR Satisfying little retro shooter to pass the time 3.5/5

Finished the first episode

Let me add that boss design is attrocious, and the AI is shitty ofc

Still a nice relaxing little game with therapeutic effect

 

[luj1]

- rest of the weapons so far are meh (wine bottle is not even a weapon)

You can actually use it as a weapon by using the alternative fire mode and throwing it like a molotov. Why would one waste a good bottle of wine like that tho?

Is it just me or most of the people who played HROT didn't learn about the existence of the "Kick" button until way later?

Learned about the kick from the start. Manhole covers hold secrets when u kick them

As for alt fire, I havent encountered it in Ep 1. And its not in the controls

 

[Kabas]

As for alt fire, I havent encountered it in Ep 1. And its not in the controls

Not exactly the "Alt fire" button, sorry for not being clear, it's the grenade throw button. While wielding the wine bottle you throw the bottle instead.

It's no Dark Messiah but i did managed to kick the ogre from the building one time.

Kick somehow manages to feel neither useful(save for a few very specific situations) nor impactful. I still feel stupid for learning about the existence of this feature so late.

 

[luj1]

Eh. Playing Episode 2

This game starting to get boring. Seems like a Dusk clone now in Ep2

The boss fights are getting even worse, if that was even possible in the first place

 

[Modron]

Barely two weeks old only and already inspiring someone else:

 

[Kabas]

So, we're already at the point where we're getting shooters that are inspired by Quake-inspired shooters that are inspired by Quake?

 

[Jenkem]

kicking is VERY useful for kicking grenades back at enemies

 

[Kabas]

kicking is VERY useful for kicking grenades back at enemies

This is one of those specific situations, yes.

 

[luj1]

Bonus points for political incorectness (wifebeater armor)

 

[Strig]

I had a lot of fun with this game, probably more than I anticipated. In terms of design Hrot has a lot more in common with Chasm than with Quake. It's far from ideal, this has to be said, but the humor and especially the local flavour won me over. I imagine Czechs should be downright ecstatic, because even though we share a lot of experiences with Pepiki this game is so uniquely Czech, that even their next door neighbours won't be able to pick up on many things. It took me a second to understand why I'm suddenly being shanked by Nazi Newts just because the book title in my country is a bit more ominous, and that was one of the more universal and obvious references.

If I would be on the fence about Hrot that Nu Pogodi handheld game randomly laying around would've won me over in an instant. I had it as a kid, so it made me chuckle. Like many other things — that ED-209 moment at the end was awesome, homing Indiana Jones boulders were a dick move but still funny. And of course the various not-so-exotic locales. Running around commie blocks, basements, local stores, old city centres was great. It reminded me of that Polish jank, Target, where you could run down to a basement of a regular commie block and meet hordes of thugs wielding miniguns for some reason. But that's also one of the drawbacks here, Hrot could've used more of levels like that and fewer sewers, mines and nondescript corridors. Even the castle levels felt a bit out of place but at least they were fine for variety. The enemy roster is also pretty unimaginative and weapon sounds are pretty atrocious, especially the SMG sounds like a rapid series of wet farts. The shotguns are fun to use and maybe a few more arenas to use the special weapons would've been nice. Music on the other hand is excellent.

I'm wondering how people outside of a certain "cultural context" perceive this game, or even younger people who don't remember all the minutiae of living in the Eastern Block. I would assume that it's just a curio to them, while for an old fart it's like seeing childhood memories translated into a "Quake map".

Between this and Boltgun I'm starting to feel that recent boomer shooters conflate them with arena shooters. Arenas however, work really lousy in single player with brain dead enemies. Both are fun atmospheric games aside from that.

There are a few arenas in Hrot but it's not as pervasive design choice as you make it out to be.

 

[Kabas]

I'm wondering how people outside of a certain "cultural context" perceive this game, or even younger people who don't remember all the minutiae of living in the Eastern Block. I would assume that it's just a curio to them, while for an old fart it's like seeing childhood memories translated into a "Quake map".

AUTODROM was a part of my childhood and the game did't let me ride on one of these cars. My disapointment was immeasurable.
Or maybe i just failed to find the way to do it, who knows?

 

[Strig]

I'm wondering how people outside of a certain "cultural context" perceive this game, or even younger people who don't remember all the minutiae of living in the Eastern Block. I would assume that it's just a curio to them, while for an old fart it's like seeing childhood memories translated into a "Quake map".

AUTODROM was a part of my childhood and the game did't let me ride on one of these cars. My disapointment was immeasurable.
Or maybe i just failed to find the way to do it, who knows?

I tried to ride them for about five minutes. I even tried loading the game before I killed those zapping wankers. I was hoping that I'll be able to use the one empty bumper car to zap them back and... you know... bump them. Like you should. No such luck, day ruined.

 

[V17]

 

[luj1]

Great game, so many standout moments across all the episodes ...

One of the best throwback shooters, easily. Brave enough to really forge a unique identity for itself rather than just aping 90s games...

have to disagree

this game is really shitty

some of the worst weapon design & enemy design I have ever seen in my life

level design basic af too

Bosses are the worst I have ever seen

 

[SharkClub]

Communism as seen by western leftists vs communism as seen by people who had to live under it.

 

[luj1]

The more I play this game the more I realise how shitty it is

I launched Turok 2 after this, compared to HROT it felt like playing Doom Eternal

 

[V17]

Finally finished this game.

If it weren't for the overall style and setting, it wouldn't be that great. The quality of weapons and enemies varies, but what I found most lacking was the movement. It felt a bit like a 2.5D game that doesn't dare to create something quake-like. The movement is fast, but a bit flat and boring.

However the setting is fucking amazing. Few games manage to create something so coherent even though it's basically a dark parody. Spytihněv managed to create a game that's unmistakably czech and unmistakably his own. I have great appreciation for this and I can tolerate some jank to get it. For this reason alone I can recommend it.

 

[SilentMRG]

Dusk uses Unity and runs horribly on a potato. Unity + Potato just doesn't mix. HROT, despite being younger than Dusk, runs beautifully on a potato, this is because the developer was not lazy and rolled up his sleeves to build his own engine, something rare among indie developers. It may seem silly that I'm talking about PCs (potatoes), but, for those who own potatoes, these things make a difference.

Overall, I found HROT to be more fun than Dusk and much faster in gameplay. One of the things that bothers me about Dusk is that no hands, I don't know, maybe the Dusk developer was thinking about VR? Because playing Dusk is like playing a game designed for VR due to the lack of the character's arm holding the gun. HROT doesn't have this weird art direction decision or whatever. The only thing that bothered me a little was the color, brown everywhere, but that's a detail that doesn't make much difference. Anyway, I hope that HROT receives more episodes and expansions, this title has a lot of potential to burn over the years.