need to know
what is that? A Quake/Dusk inspired retro shooter set in 80’s communist Czechoslovakia.
release date May 16, 2023
to pay $20/£15
developer Spitifnev
the publisher Spitifnev
review date Core i5 12600K, RTX 3070, 32GB RAM
steam deck unverified
Link vapor
Soviet-core Boomer shooter Hrot takes center stage at the level of independent developer Spytihněv, all of which are inspired by or directly correspond to real-life locations in and around Prague. The tenement blocks, subway stations, churches, and castles in this twisted version of the city all feel like cheeky recreations of real-world locations: he’s MyHouse.wad scaled up to gigantic dimensions. .
The levels twist and fold into each other in amazing ways, and Spitifniev likes to troll. He created these areas and retreated levels He’s less of a designer than a dungeon where he’s actively conversing with you and laughing at your failures as if he were a master I can feel it.
Activating a switch or picking up a key almost always has some sort of trick to it, walls falling down revealing enemies, trapdoors putting you in a sticky situation, or even the game throwing you in. Or completely teleport to a completely different part of the map. Hrot absolutely does. It was full of little gags like this that always made me laugh. Even when I had a puncture, I was always grateful.
I had to be away from my computer during the late night session and back up again the next day. ”
One of the unforgettable parts is the game’s riff on the classic Indiana Jones boulder trap. Early in Episode 2, towards the end of the level, we encounter something surprising but standard. When one mission ends, voila, the next one awaits. Only this time, the rock doesn’t roll in a straight line. it will follow you. In the middle of a spooky deep underground uranium mine, an astonishing debauched saxophone slapstick ensues.
One of my favorite levels, Granny’s Valley, takes you to a farm in the countryside. In its center is a macabre statue of an old peasant woman. monument of reality Inspired by Czech novels), the farm builds interesting levels of puzzle boxes and searches for keys until the secret is finally revealed.
The thing is, Granny’s statue stalks you through the farm and even ambushes you at points, making for some of my favorite moments in Hrot.grandma herself aren’t you so scared I’ll take a look, but thin surprise The first time I found her in her nowhere, I was horrified enough that I had to walk away from my computer during a late-night session to pick her up again the next day.
Hrot’s moment-to-moment shooting is great, requiring a wide variety of powerful enemies to improvise and master its weapons, but I found it rather limited. It’s all FPS staples: pistols (even more fun when dual-wielded), series and double-barreled shotguns, SMGs, sniper-style crossbows, and the “Fussite Hand Cannon” (pronounced Rocket Launcher). The look, feel, and sound are all great and balanced with each other.
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I’ve always appreciated that Supershots are less obsolete than regular shots. The Hrot’s ammo economy saves ammunition even when both barrels are overloaded. But the only place Hrot’s weapons aim to be unique is a little disappointing. There are two wacky Soviet space superweapons he would like to see put to better use. Despite the extreme scarcity of ammunition, it proved to be underpowered. Spyitihnev leaves a lot up for debate when it comes to retrofuturistic beam weapons, especially considering how crazy Froto ends up being.
goofy
Episode 1: Kiss Me Gustav is the most gruesome and oppressive character, focusing on a sparse and modern Soviet-era location. The middle chapter, “The Degustation,” remains my favourite, moving into the countryside, mixing in more pagan and rustic settings such as Gothic castles and haunted farms. Finally there are his 3 level areas: Kasperk Castle, Dobrosov Fortress and Granny’s Valley, and for me this is exactly his FPS map of all time. It depicts the journey from a 14th-century castle, from climbing battlements before descending into a flooded cellar, to cramped Soviet bunkers, to that gruesome rural keyhunt I just described. . This sequence is a flot at its best, highlighting the diversity Spitifnev was able to squeeze out of this dark and brown world.
Episode 3’s gastroscopy really excites Flot’s sense of absurd, surreal weirdness. stupid— and most of the time it worked for me. The first level “War with the Newts” is a new favorite, A satirical 1930s Czech novel It’s the eponymous work, and oddly enough, it’s also a great boost to Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Other highlights include bumper car bosses and an adorable rat-killing canine companion who quickly shot to the top of my favorite video game dog list.
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The goofiness was useful to me until the final boss of Flott. It’s going to be a spoiler, but oh Spectacular shirtless President Vladimir PutinTo me this non-sectur felt like a wet fart and not in a good sense of the more scatological humor of Hrot (this is a game where you can take the dump out and let it flow).? The first of his two episode bosses is a wacky zombified/robotized version of the historical leaders of communist Czechoslovakia, Clement Gottwald in Episode 1 and Gustav His Futhark in Degustation. They felt like Wolfenstein 3D mecha’s sharp, winking riffs that reflected the absurdity of his Hitler, a perfect cap to each act, but low-poly Putin’s 20th-century socialist politics It felt like a weird meme about dating Flott more instantly than at home.
It’s not a perfect comparison, but it keeps coming back to the otherworldly Spec Ops: The Line, which finally battles George Bush.The epic Putin, like the end of Lost or something, has only fanged and withered Hrot for me: “All the accumulated and mystery was for this?”
kind of zombie vladimir lenin the boss battle right there By the way, Mecha Lenin would have felt a lot more real if there were a lot of contemporary Lenin imagery throughout all three episodes that served as effective foreshadowing. earned, The final boss of an absurd, real-life politician. I could have been a zombie Brezhnev, but a reanimated Stalin would have been cocky. Ending complaints aside, I loved Hrot and was hooked all the way through that awkward final battle. Hrot is a really good FPS of his and one of the best Boomer Shooter Renaissance him.
