You know when people advise you to play something because “it is genre X”, but when you play it, the actual experience is different from what you anticipated?
Welcome to Beyond Sunset. That title people call a boomer shooter, but it feels far more varied and quirky.
For lack of a better term, Beyond Sunset is a retro FPS that feels like it is trying to blend numerous styles together to make a strange, almost-imsim-but-not concoction of a title. It ranges from large, sprawling chapters where you punch keycards to move through, levels that require you to assassinate targets in a huge open city area, to weird tower defense levels. While it never drops into the territory one could consider to be “bad”, it has lots of weird issues that will likely put folks off. If you can stick with it though, Beyond Sunset is one heck of an interesting romp.
[h1]A boomshoot by any other name...[/h1]
As stated above, despite the GZDoom heritage and the aesthetics, I’m loathe to refer to this as a boomer shooter. Normally I would say this through annoyance, like where you will find a single room roguelike with very simple mechanics and low effort graphics in the hope that people buy into it being a boomshoot (and I will say, will some of you folks learn what aesthetics are. 90s visuals are not “bad graphics”.) For Beyond Sunset however, it is because there is far too much going on. It goes far beyond what a typical throwback will do, and the focus on shooting enemies in a maze is just one small part of the whole. Aside from the game mixing things up with each chapter, the core fighting has far too few weapons to make it seem like a regular boomshoot, plus the volume of fire you take in changes the game a lot. If there are any other titles it reminds me of, it is a combination of Strife and the fellow GZDoom series, Ashes.
To simply call it a boomer shooter would be insulting to Beyond Sunset.
So what is the game about? From a story perspective, it places you in the slippers of a girl named Lucy, or at least that is what everyone calls you. You wake up after a short tutorial showing you the mechanics in a huge genetics lab building. After finding a sword in an office, you go on a rampage and meet up with a number of shadowy folks who claim to know your destiny and takes you in as a street samurai. From here you play over 3 episodes (though only the second one has different levels) as you try and unravel the conspiracy around your life. Plot wise, it does the job well and it keeps things interesting until the end. That said, it is not particularly deep, but does not need to be. Less Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell, more Johnny Mnemonic.
[h1]Running in the 80s[/h1]
One thing the game absolutely nails is the aesthetics. It has that retro-80s cyberpunk feel, all pushed through a quasi-religious lens. Think a more grounded version of E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy (well, if you played that) with a good chunk of synthwave and 80s microcomputer rainbow patterns on them. Think less Nintendo or IBM, more Sinclair, Commodore or Amstrad. The graphics are typical, pixilated GZDoom affairs, but they go for a more realistically proportioned than a number of Doom titles. Faces and features usually cannot be seen, and arms and legs are less chunky than other games. Even if, under the surface, Beyond Sunset were to be a bad game, my word would it have one of the nicest surfaces I can think of when it comes to retro-80s cyberpunk!
[h1]I'm (GZ)Doomed![/h1]
Thankfully, there is more to the game than just the surface level elements, though it is a slightly odd beast. The general moment to moment gameplay is good enough. Shooting and general movement is good, but since this is built atop of GZDoom, that is expected. The movement is quite heavily enhanced, with dashes, double jumps, slides and ground pounds etc. This helps a lot as the action is quite frantic with the number of projectiles flying about. Granted, you are absurdly powerful compared to your foes, and you can easily tear through them with ease, but there are many moments where you can suddenly find yourself getting cornered and ripped apart in short order.
The actual combat is somewhat odd. While there is not a massive degree of variation in it, it holds up for the most part. The enemy selection is somewhat limited in most cases, limiting things typically to melee mooks, two kinds of gun mooks and then maybe a heavy or two. This is complimented by the limited loadout of the player, with only 5 weapons. In most cases, the guns are upgradable and useful until the end, bar the pistol which is only any good for the first chapter really. The assault rifle and shotgun with be your workhorses, and their practical differences are mostly down to preference as opposed to a specific use case.
The most useful weapon you wield however is the katana. Not only can it be used to tear enemies apart, its alt fire can deflect shots back at the sender. This makes it useful not only through the whole game, but also can trivialise most encounters. It is also used with the hyper attack, which functions like the modern Doom games push forward resource gains (chainsaws and glory kills), and the katana is the most efficient way of building that up. Be cautious of becoming dependent on it.
[h1]Mixing up the floorplan[/h1]
Combat is nothing without an arena to fight in, and the levels in Beyond Sunset are its biggest mixed bag. When it works, it works very well, but at times it devolves into gimmicks. The levels themselves tend to be large, intricate and sometimes have side quests nestled into them. On occasion there will be a change in pace and the game will throw in something unique, such as on the third level of chapter 3 there is a tower defence section where you have to defend a computer system while repairing and helping out various gun turrets along the way. In general though, the game is typically non-linear.
[h1]Helps to have a map![/h1]
The non-linier nature can be a sore spot though. The GZDoom / 90s logic to the game is strongest here, and if you are not blessed with a good sense of direction the game will be an absolute nightmare. Since the only quest markers are on the game’s automap, finding a objective can be a pain. Even with a map, chapter 2’s first level is a twisting, turning mess of alleyways and walkways. If you like running around a maze and getting your bearing, this will be great. If you like a clear forward goal to work towards, this will be awful.
Finally, there are the Xanadu parts. These are VR missions, that go into a VERY vaporwave looking environment. Initially they are fun, but since it just repeats the same puzzle, it gets boring fast.
Beyond Sunset is such a mix of a game. It is like a late 90s shooter that got an 8/10 in a magazine, but everyone bar its most rabid fans forgot very quickly. For everything that works, they work really well. When it misses however, it feels like a slog without direction. As such, it is recommended, but with a huge caveat that you are likely to dislike it as much as you will like it.
