KickStarter Prodeus - retro FPS by ex-Raven devs

[Curratum]

I dunno, I like the level design aesthetic so far. Gameplay is solid enough, even though imps are a bit too turret-y and wouldn't move or chase you down a lot of the time.

The cheap deaths do annoy me, though. Those flying horned skull exploder enemies will sometimes spawn in at random locations and rush you and they hurt A LOT, and you can't really hear them screaming amid a full-on clusterfuck of enemies.

The sniper railgunner enemy is also pretty cheap. I died twice on the Memoriam level, the one with the rune after Chaos Generator. One death was more than 50 HP lost to a single flying skull, the other was the sniper.

I am playing on the highest difficulty, but when the game is not pulling cheap tricks like this, it's very manageable, and it makes those deaths feel even more annoying and cheaper.

 

[Lemming42]

I'm baffled by the death mechanic. As far as I can tell there is literally no penalty for death. I wouldn't mind the checkpoint system if enemies respawned, but even on Very Hard difficulty, they don't. You can't fail at the game, death means nothing.

Enjoying the game but the fact that failure lacks any kind of consequences is really getting to me and making me wonder what the point of continuing is. Even a Dark Forces 1 style system would be great, where you get to respawn without consequences but have only three lives per level, but as far as I can tell you have infinite lives in this.

 

[Curratum]

I'm baffled by the death mechanic. As far as I can tell there is literally no penalty for death. I wouldn't mind the checkpoint system if enemies respawned, but even on Very Hard difficulty, they don't. You can't fail at the game, death means nothing.

Enjoying the game but the fact that failure lacks any kind of consequences is really getting to me and making me wonder what the point of continuing is. Even a Dark Forces 1 style system would be great, where you get to respawn without consequences but have only three lives per level, but as far as I can tell you have infinite lives in this.

If you look closely, you'll find you are getting scored at the end of each level. You take significant score penalties if you die. If you want to be "good" at the game and score high on the leaderboards, you need to do deathless runs of levels, on the highest difficulty, and do them as fast as you can.

Sure, it's an autistic mechanic aimed at speedrunner types and a younger demographic, but it is what it is. The challenge is still there, if you're attempting a deathless max diff run and you're pushing for time, and you just restart the whole level if you die.

 

[Lemming42]

Interesting. Honestly, I can't bring myself to care about my score or speed. I think I'll have to just grant myself three lives and manually restart the level if I use them all up, which feels a bit ridiculous and obviously isn't what the levels are designed around, but I'm not sure how else to make the game into... well, a game. It's a shame because I'm really enjoying the combat and level design otherwise.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I've taken a self-imposed challenge to complete all levels on one life.

But yes, no saving is a huge bummer that's bugged me since the EA. I'm very disappointed that they did nothing about it since then.

 

[Jaedar]

I've taken a self-imposed challenge to complete all levels on one life.

Yeah, I try and do this as well but when I die at like 90% level completion due to a single mistake I can't be arsed. The lategame enemies can easily kill you in 2 hits (and their attacks are hard to dodge) which can be very frustrating.

I don't mind too much losing quicksave (it can be exploitable, so I get wanting to limit the players ability to brute force every encounter), but free respawns is a much worse alternative.

But yes, no saving is a huge bummer that's bugged me since the EA.

I feel like the game has only gotten worse since EA, except for having more maps and weapons.

 

[Curratum]

But yes, no saving is a huge bummer that's bugged me since the EA.

I feel like the game has only gotten worse since EA, except for having more maps and weapons.

I pirated during very early early access and the game didn't feel good at all. Pirated again when they announced they have locked the final build early summer 2022 and it was a very different game, one that I enjoyed enough to buy it.

 

[Jaedar]

I pirated during very early early access and the game didn't feel good at all. Pirated again when they announced they have locked the final build early summer 2022 and it was a very different game, one that I enjoyed enough to buy it.

I think I played the EA 2 years ago, probably first version but idk. It played the same as now just less bullshit like double jumps, achievements, lore terminals.
I have no idea what you mean by play differently, unless there was some super early version where movement was broken or something.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Finished the main campaign. Level design was mostly fine. I'm not really a fan of this kind of level design as I vastly prefer to more dungeon-like maps like in Hexen 1 & 2. There was always a very good sense of flow however and I can appreciate the time and care it probably took to design levels with a constant forward momentum to it. Level props were neat and full of detail and I never felt bored in the sense like I was trudging through repeating areas or corridors. I'm not really sure what they did during Early Access because all the levels I played when the game came out on Steam were the best ones and the new ones were not particularly interesting. Many of them looked cool but were mostly spectacle arenas. The last level itself was fairly lame and I was disappointed that there was no final boss enemy. Still, I was sufficiently entertained and that's great. Most importantly Prodeus serves as a great platform for custom maps. A lot of them that I played during Early Access were already doing some really cool stuff and I can't wait to see what can be done with more time and practice.

 

[Jaedar]

I also finished the campaign. Of the maps added since EA, space station was the clear standout for me. I do like that they mostly continued with making the maps feel a bit connected, where the end of the previous map and start of next often have some connecting area.

It's a good game, and I had a lot of fun with it, but I am also very disappointed. It's really weird, because somehow the EA felt more finished than the release version.

Adding double jump and dash made all the old maps worse (some a lot worse, some only a bit, but not one of them better) and even in the final maps it didn't feel like they were well integrated. 2 of the weapons that are in the keybind menu don't exist in the campaign. The final map was really short and had a cliffhanger ending, which seems to hint at *more content to come*.

It really feels to me like they hired some kind of business consultant after the initial EA, and followed all their bad advice. YOU GOTTA ADD LORE TERMINALS SO YOUTUBERS CAN MAKE LORE VIDYAS! Doom eternal has double jump and dash, you have to add that! Gotta have perma collectibles that you can spend in the shoppe for upgrades! Achievements!

The game needed none of it, and adding it made at least half the maps in the campaign actively worse (they ruined Hazard ffs). It could have been so amazing, and instead it's just good.

 

[Curratum]

Out of curiosity, Jaedar, what difficulty did you play this on? I'm up to something like 30-40% of the campaign and I already wish I had dash, just got double jump.

Would have definitely helped with a lot of the times where I died multiple times on some of the levels.

 

[Jaedar]

Out of curiosity, @Jaedar, what difficulty did you play this on?

Hard. Back during EA I did a lot of the maps deathless on very hard, but it got too hard towards the end, and I'd rather do deathless on hard than use respawns for very hard.

 

[Curratum]

I'm on the highest diff, and I'm getting creamed in the really clusterfucky fights. Can't do much when the game spawns screamer lost souls 10 meters away from you or when you're made to fight one of those Prodeus homing plasma units in a fucky tight spot and you *wink-wink* don't have double jump or dash!

 

[otsego]

A fun romp that reminds me of Amid Evil in most of the best ways (Amid-Evil-with-guns). Has touches of nuDoom in it but they aren't overly offensive (a few areas feel arena-ish but it's not so bad). The worst offender so far is the overload of particle/VFX that can easily obscure your screen during intense battles. There were times I was shooting at a wall through VFX and my own muzzle/projectile flash not realizing the enemy had moved around me. The Brutal Doom influence is clear in that regard. The AI is also pretty much like Amid Evil -- move toward player until dedded. All of the weapons feel great and none of them fall out of usefulness (ie. the pistol).
I feel the only 'old school' part of it is the fact the action can be fast and it has pixelated graphics just because.

A solid GOG purchase.

 

[Darth Roxor]

i find a secret exit at the start of a level

secret exit just boots me back to the big map

???

 

[Ivan]

gave this a spin on GP and having a solid time. just finished the level where the minigun is introduced.

will have to bump the difficulty. Hard seems like it should be "normal" or even "easy" I haven't come remotely close to dying

 

[Boleskine]

https://www.eurogamer.net/prodeus-review-a-fearsome-hybrid-of-old-and-new-fps-ideas

Nonetheless, Prodeus is the most impressive retro-shooter since 2018's Dusk, and probably the best shooter outright since Doom Eternal launched in 2020. While not as subversive as Dusk, Prodeus makes up for its less radical approach with its superior shooting and infusions of modernity. And if you found Doom Eternal too didactic in its design, Prodeus can conjure similarly intense encounters without being overly pushy. Prodeus deftly rides the line between the two, and watching it walk the temporal tightrope is never anything less than thrilling.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm two levels away from the end and I'm having an absolute fucking blast.

I'm a little bummed about some of the pointless/stupid changes they did since early access - in my view the double jump is dumb and almost ruins some of the EA maps like Hazard. I also think the entire shop thing is downright unnecessary, and agonising to collect all ore in each level to satisfy my autism distracts me from the game at hand - while unlocking the plasma gun early is even more gamebreaking than the double jump. The fact that there's still no saving and death penalty is also BLAH.

That said, I've had nothing but fun with this game. It's really just awesome. All the post-EA content maps (starting with Corruption) are consistenly very good, with Hexarchy being the only one that feels slightly lazy, but the carnage is enough to save it. On very hard there are some sections that are absolutely balls to the wall difficult, especially those involving slayers and harbingers (fuck those cunts with a swarmer up the ass). I'm also muchly amused by some of the bigger shootouts between the two mutually hostile munster factions that happen in the later levels, the tesla reactor at the end of Trench is definitely a highlight in that regard.

Seriously, I'm amazed. BROdeus has a few odd quirks but unless I forgot about something (other than Overload, but I wouldn't count it), it's the best 'retro shooter' released by far, and perhaps the only one among them where I don't really have a significant complaint that would otherwise spoil my fun.

 

[Curratum]

I'm having an awesome time too, but the difficulty being so uneven sort of bugs me.

I'm cruising through 95% of a level on maximum difficulty, then there's a closed room arena spawn and I get creamed 4 times in that. There's so many things that one-shot you from nearly full HP, it's a bit annoying.

The big Prodeus units with the homing plasma shots are so cheap, it's surreal. I'm overall pretty annoyed by the tracking / prediction so many enemies have but what can you do.

Bottom line is more than positive. I haven't had this much fun with a retro-styled shooter since Dusk, and Dusk I enjoyed so much only because it was sort of the first. In comparison, Prodeus is a much much better game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm overall pretty annoyed by the tracking / prediction so many enemies have but what can you do.

juke it?

 

[Ivan]

I liked Prodeus before the double jump. I love Prodeus now that I have the double jump. Doom Eternal flashbacks baby

 

[Curratum]

Next upgrade is a dash, isn't it? Double jump really works very well with the level design, I need 1 more ore for the dash boost upgrade.

 

[Ivan]

the finale for corruption sure sucked. it isn't made clear that you can't shoot through the red electric forcefield but enemies CAN. aside from that, have been loving the level design AND thanks to the double jump, it makes fighting against the long armed creatures a lot more fun to counter and doge

I have no urge/desire for a dash. I pretty much have my button pressed on sprint the whole time anyway for speed and don't feel the enemies are nearly as fast as they are in Doom Eternal

 

[Curratum]

the finale for corruption sure sucked. it isn't made clear that you can't shoot through the red electric forcefield but enemies CAN. aside from that, have been loving the level design AND thanks to the double jump, it makes fighting against the long armed creatures a lot more fun to counter and doge

I have no urge/desire for a dash. I pretty much have my button pressed on sprint the whole time anyway for speed and don't feel the enemies are nearly as fast as they are in Doom Eternal

There has to be an auto/always run option, I never press anything for sprinting.

 

[Ivan]

level design has been notably less impressive in what I think is the 2nd chapter of the game (portal transition). It's become much more Serious Sammy, featuring arena style combat with a few pillars sprinkled in. Not a fan of the ammo recharger either. It makes it feel quite lazy, I hope it changes gears fast.

^cool, is there a previous weapon option I'm not seeing? Hoping I could map that to Q instead of the weapon wheel