HiveComb

I know boomer shooters are the big waves these days, with the most prestigious I can say no doubt being the Brutal Doom mod series. Yet one of these days something extravagant arrives. Plays like a hyper fast game, but is expanded towards survival and RPG mechanics.

And I mean mechanically, it is build to be grounded. You have to manually remove and put back magazines, cock weapons, ammo reloading done poorly means lost munition too. Enemies don't die, unless their heads get blown off, and yeah, deeply ambiguous lore about angels and demons destroying the planet. It's a sequel game too.

Guessing I missed some stuff, but playing long enough, contextually I caught up eventually. I can't convince you to check this out unless you're fans of old school Doom, Wolfenstein, and Marathon. That, and into dark fantasy, cyberpunk anime with some kinky erotica.

Yes, humanity has mostly been decimated, what is left are recruits for the ongoing war inside a place called The Citadel. My character, the martyr, is guided by many while giving me very useful tips through the dialogues, and eventually pointing the directions.

My mission is to return fighting back to earth, and eliminate the six Trumpeters to win the current war. It's also revealed that I'll be fighting demons, and brainwashed soldiers as well. There's nothing really crazy to learn here. Storywise, pretty somber undertaking as it delves into philosophical areas about life before, and what it means to go on.

Ok, I had a tutorial level, but even I can easily get confused at times when it comes to handling a gun. Across this playing field, there are multiple of these surrounding me, and two-three hits close, and I'm dead. Strafing, cocking my shotgun every round, and running into the pyramid.

You would think that's the end, later I get an axe and just to save ammo, I pummel goops and these monstrosities in the mix with it. Suffice it to say, switching up weapons help a lot somehow. You can also lean left and right around corners, crouching helps against recoil too, but this is a fast shooter, you're not also supposed to be in one place the same time.

Thankfully, I picked up all kinds of weapons, and facing off against the human enemy types have really put the shooter name to test. Enemies here are somewhat relentless, but not hard to take down. They're aggressive to the point that even taken down, they'll still find ways to shoot at me. Unless their limbs are gone or they're braindead. Actually being merciful, I kill them off quickly. Not their fault they're like this. Also, I often forget this, but gold farming is important.

The mentioned allies will be everywhere, and often times will also act as shops to buy and sell. Buy what? Well better armor, more ammo, health, oxygen and foodpacks, and many more. Heck, weapons can also be upgraded, they also have to be repaired otherwise they'll get jammed up.

An hour playthough, and all I saw were 94% health of theirs. It's not stupidly artificial that it's needed till maybe late game. But do save up the gold too. This is the first run through till the first Trumpeter. I thought I had to get ready for serious action, so I needed to stock up. Didn't need to, since my friends were giving me battle armors, and a freaking mini-gun. Aww, that's nice.

Wait, what are foodpacks for? Well Hunger. I'm flesh being. I die, and reanimate through a cryochamber one more to get going. But I'd say, for the good of the species, it's better to eat while plowing through everything coming at me. Especially demons.

There's also the virtue upgrades. Involving finding these floating objects, and increasing my sin virtues. Like Pride increase my health, stamina, and such. Greed means more movement speed. Sloth is life and stamina recovery. You get the gist. The fighting in this game is going to get a whole lot harder, and I have to really gear up best as possible.

Oh, I forgot to mention skills, but I only unlocked double jump so far. I've looked for guides to help me get around, but somehow no one to this day managed to find anything much noteworthy. Maybe it involves looking around, and finding hidden areas. Levels get bigger, and the enemies are different after progression from form to attack types.

Notice I fit a scope on my rifle, that wasn't available earlier till I bought it. Enemies can easily kill if I'm also closer. The boss battles really are on a whole other level. Yeah, biblical to eldritch horrors, to well, something out of Neon Genesis.

The best way to sum is, this isn't like a full on powerhouse trip game. At least, I don't think it is. It's definitely more than fan service, because even in its primitive state, there's so much fun to have playing a realistic type boomer shooter. And yeah, I played this one with headphones.

Tensely peaking corners, jumping out, and getting the right shot at enemies. Strafing, avoiding damage. Finding characters to talk to. Trying out every new weapon type, despite me only fitting in ten at the same time. Yeah, I have to replace those too in my inventory. Game design is more mechanically elaborate, and with quite the hidden depth to it, surprisingly.

Don't get me wrong, cocking, using the alt fires, and everything else doesn't always pan out, and key information feels at times missing. Even the UI isn't like any other games either. I guess to immerse myself, I had to bring out my inner Sci-Fi geekdom and work with what I got. I feel like as more people will continue to play this, more information will come out of it.

Sort of like a mystery box, but filled with 90s gore, Lovecraftian creatures, weird H.R.Geiger-esque erotica, and anime waifus. Seriously, there are crazy artworks to find, and some of the angels designed in this game are even interspliced with cybernetics like, blowing my mind now.