An honest and solid shooter that draws on some classics of the past while still maintaining an identity of its own.
Dread Templar is a revenge journey of a young man whose grandfather was killed by a demonic being. A mysterious figure grants the protagonist supernatural powers, and from there begins an ominous journey of vengeance and bloodlust that will lead to confront his nemesis.
The game, inspired by the 90s shooter tradition, is a tribute to what FPS games used to be: speed, lots of weapons, exploration, and varied enemies whose sole purpose is to give the player a challenge. To enrich these characteristics, Dread Templar borrows some mechanics that other modern games already have to diversify its gameplay: there's a character growth system through runes that represent modifiers and abilities for weapons and the player, the inevitable bullet time (time slowdown), and a useful dodge to escape the attacks of more agile enemies.
The game is structured into episodes, each with a specific theme and bestiary, though some monsters remain a near-constant presence throughout all the adventure. Each level also has a certain number of secrets to discover, rewarding those who venture out in search of hidden items and runes to modify their playstyle. Progression is fairly linear, but the player is still encouraged to thoroughly check every environment for some good treasure hunting. There are also "side areas" on each map — additional zones with dedicated loot and monsters, optional to the game's overall economy but often rewarding the player with new runes. At the end of each episode there's a battle against a special boss, each with its own special abilities.
There's also a horde mode (Guardian Mode) that requires the player to survive waves of increasingly fierce monsters, with the chance to earn credits to upgrade their gear. A nice addition for getting some practice against the enemies encountered during the campaign. There are no kind of multiplayer modes.
As mentioned earlier, abilities are tied both to the player themselves (health, stamina, etc.) and to weapons (damage, ammo capacity, special mutators), with two silver slots and one gold slot for each characteristic, with the latter granting the best upgrades. Gold runes are the rarest, since they often unlock the "infernal" versions of certain weapons, like the pistol and the shotgun for example. In addition, depending on your playstyle, you can change your combinations of runes and abilities by interacting with dedicated altars scattered throughout the levels.
The gunplay is satisfying and every weapon feels responsive, though some will see more use than others (the revolver above all), but Dread Templar pushes you to experiment with all the firearms thanks to the runes, so you can approach every encounter with the best possible tool. Just like in old games, the player always has all weapons available, mapped to the number keys on the keyboard, even though a weapon wheel (apparently present if you play with a gamepad... but shooters are meant to be played with mouse and keyboard!) would have been welcome too, for quickly selecting the weapon you need depending on the situation.
Technically, the game runs on Unity and features a retro style reminiscent of old shooters like Quake, favoring a comic-book-like characterization and style over super-detailed environments. Everything works remarkably well, even if some sections tend to be more simplistic or a bit less detailed. For a production of this kind that's perfectly fine, considering that a single developer essentially created the game, with some external collaborations. The music accompanying our rampages is well-crafted, leaning toward hard and pure metal, with the occasional choir and solemn chant for the more important moments, although a few tracks are perhaps recycled a bit too often across levels.
If we really want to find flaws in a production of this kind, besides the already mentioned audio department, there's a bit of underlying repetitiveness, and boredom can come in during long sessions. Still, it's a simple game that's worth trying nonetheless. Aside from a couple of bullet-spongey bosses, it is a very enjoyable game, fairly recommended.
