CULTIC

Definitely marvellous retro shooting game. It's really an impressive and arduous journey.

One of the most atmospheric FPS out there. Clearly inspired by BLOOD, tho, not as difficult (in a good way). Amazing take on the build engine style gameplay and map design.

Easily a new all-timer for me. Wears its inspirations on its sleeve - and as someone who LOVES Resident Evil 4 and the DOOM/Build Engine "2.5D" aesthetic, this game is an absolute dream come true. There's an extremely high level of polish here with tons of cool little details and gameplay options, like being able to wield fallen enemies' tower shields. Extremely fun, varied level design that takes you across every spooky locale you could possibly want. I played on HARD and found it challenging but fun, there are a few frustrating enemies and combat encounters but there's a significant bit of freedom with how you can approach combat, which was MUCH appreciated... Unlike this game's closest comparison, BLOOD, the combat doesn't require speed and precision at higher difficulty levels. I loved the chance to play this a bit slower, like Resident Evil, which made it easier to explore, appreciate details, and find secrets. I got a LOT of time out of the two episodes, with most levels taking me an hour or more to fully complete in my first run. There's a ton of replayability here too, with built-in settings to fully customize your loadout at level select and even take a loadout from a saved game, which I used to do a New Game+ style run at the end of my first playthrough. I do have some minor issues: while the music overall is fantastic (I particularly loved the first level's track) I found it to be repetitive in spots. I wish the shotguns did a little more damage, even when fully-upgraded. I would also like the option to have the pocket lamp (flashlight) from the start, once you've unlocked it and/or beaten the story. If there is a way to select it in the loadout settings I haven't discovered it. And the heavy-armor SWAT guys are BS.