Ctesiphon

it's 2 hours long thats a bit of a bummer, grab on a sale, it's cute, was made by like 2 ppl i guess and it uses quake code and trenchbroom i think

Ctesiphon is the kind of game where you want to advise it as much as you want to not advise it. For every element it does well, it does an almost equal number of things poorly. It is a really neat looking late 90s throwback that has cool aesthetics, great movement and some reasonable combat, somewhat thrown off by odd sound implementation and really out of whack level design. It may well have the juice for throwback FPS addicts, but everyone else may end up finding it frustrating. As per usual, to be clear Ctesiphon is not too bad. At its core there is a lot to respect about it. For one is the aesthetic and mood. While this may seem like a surface topic to talk about, the look and mood of a game can make the difference between something you stick with or lose interest in before you even try playing it. Aesthetically Ctesiphon feels very 1998 to 2002. It has that late 90s, full 3D with lots of funky lighting effects to it. A popular comparison would be Unreal, but to me it looks and feels more like something made in LithTech such as AvP2 or Shogo. While not too popular an engine, it had some very distinct titles in it, and that kind of throwback sits with you. More impressively is this game is made in its own custom engine, which possibly helps with the render style and mood. Absolutely distinct in this regard. The look ties in with the theme. You are, from what I gathered in the fast (unvoiced) conversations, a bounty hunter who has been tasked with taking down a mercenary group in the city of Ctesiphon. You start out on a sun-kissed beach before moving to a nearby jungle at night and then on to the city and its locales as the game progresses. This takes place over about 6 or so large levels. Despite this, Ctesiphon is surprisingly short. I clocked in 3 hours, and that was with some almost full mission losses where I died close to the end and forgot to quicksave. This shortness can be seen as lack of content, and to a degree that is true. There are very few enemy types to take on, but they are mostly fun to shoot. These range from regular soldiers, odd office worker robots with chainsaw hands, drones that throw grenades at you and a couple of others. In most cases you will be fighting the regular troopers (who have the oddest agro sounds) and chainsaw robots, who are mostly satisfying to take on and shoot. Their AI is a bit dumb, but they gib nicely. What is annoying however are the huge mechs that stomp about the levels. They are, by and large, bullet sponges. You can use regular weapons to take them down, but in most cases you’ll need to find a rocket launcher or gyrojet gun to combat them. While that may sound simple enough, in the early game you frequently end up having to use shotguns and plasma guns on them, and neither are particularly effective against them. Considering the mechs tend to also have other enemies swarming you while this goes on makes the encounters with them frustrating. Thankfully you have two major advantages: the game’s arsenal and the movement. While the arsenal is slightly bloated, the majority of the guns are fun to use. Be it the basic SMG (which has a scope) the shotgun, the plasma gun or even going into the power weapons like the rocket launcher, gyrojet or the absurd water gun (BFG that is far more effective than the name suggests) the guns are fun to shoot and the enemies tend to gib well. Along with that is the movement. While there are not really any gimmicks to speak of, the custom engine with a clear attention to the movement speed and general motion shows the dev clearly knew what they were doing with that. While that may sound wishy-washy, consider good basic movement to car handling: drive a car with bad steering and then compare it to one that has been finely tuned. You notice the difference quickly. Essentially, the general combat and movement Ctesiphon nails! Unfortunately there is a big issue when it comes to the basics; The level design for Ctesiphon feels somewhat scattershot. Some levels are huge and difficult to navigate, then you will have levels with lots side routes that don’t seem to go anywhere. Maybe it was just my poor sense of direction, but sometimes I would miss a switch in places, or forget where a locked door was, leaving me to run around aimlessly for a while. On one hand, the folks who like no hand-holding will like it, and it does reflect some Im-sim design ticks, but I found it irritating when I missed a switch in a corner or a vital item in a location. An example would be on the penultimate level where there was a bridge I needed to raise. After running about the level for about 20 minutes I almost gave up, before diving deep under the water around the level and finding the last area that was only accessible by swimming under the building. Maybe I’m too accustomed to games with visual cues, but I found that quite frustrating. This is the imbalance of Ctesiphon: The combat, aesthetic and movement are stellar, but the level design (especially the flow) and some enemy encounters are annoying as heck. If you are patient, I think Ctesiphon would be a somewhat interesting game, but for the more casual player it will drive you up the wall. Despite these issues, I’d watch out to see what comes next. Ctesiphon feels more like a dress rehearsal than a full title. I’d love to see what the dev cooks up next. For now though, Ctesiphon is a take it or leave it title. Maybe pick it up if you yearn for LithTech titles, but be warned there is some jank contained.