Selaco

Finished the first chapter, for an early access, it is.. Substantial! This is one of the best Action FPS ive ever played and im hard to impress. The enemy AI, weapons, movement and combat mechanics are top notch, though it does suffer from weapon cannibalism (i found the SMGs useless for example, they share ammo with the Assault Rifle). That alone would be enough for a good Action FPS, but its the soundtrack, ambience and environmental design; a sleek and immersive Cyberpunk environment, full of lively follie and SFX, topped with pumping garage, house and melodic bass music with cerebral ambient electronica, this game is exploration heavy and the environment and music make exploration and simply sucking in the atmosphere an absolute treat. The Mall was my absolute favorite environment. I recommend to anyone who likes a hardcore action FPS, but also people who just enjoy vibing in atmospheric 3d environments. 9/10, i'm holding out that extra 1 for the full release.

Good: Graphics, visual and sound design Bad: game design These levels remind me of the worst Thief 1 levels - they are amateurish to the core. Whoever thought it would be fun to pull heavy barrels to solve mandatory story puzzles (and not in a half life 2 way, but garbage inconvenient way) should never touch game design ever again. up dev responded and promises to fix some of barrel pushing sections

The game is a work of love, down to the esoteric level design that, half the time, makes me open a guide just to not waste more than an hour trying to figure out. I'm in shock at how much detail is in the game. I get slapped really hard at the worst of times on Capt. difficulty alone but I got through it in the game's purest form and then went again with custom options. The most impressive bit of this is that all the content this early access game has crammed into GZDoom. I hope that chapter 2 comes out soon, getting blueballed by the final level didn't really leave a good taste in my mouth and I wanted to fight "it" so badly.

Damn, they put some game in this game

I bought Selaco because I loved Beyond Citadel and The Citadel and expected something similar: impactful gunplay, satisfying enemies, and a strong old-school FPS feel. Unfortunately, Selaco completely failed to deliver. 🔹 Graphics & Visual Design While the engine and rendering are technically fine, the visual design is awful. Everything is white: walls, ceilings, vents, weapons, armor, UI elements, even the protagonist. The only colors that stand out are blood and occasional effects — and that’s not a compliment. Compare this to DOOM labs or Resident Evil facilities: even limited palettes still have contrast, structure, and visual readability. Selaco has none of that. It’s visually exhausting and boring to navigate. Enemies also look bad. They’re not humans, but aliens/clones wearing human gear and armor, yet they behave like generic bullet sponges. Their blood isn’t human, their reactions are weak, and weapon impact feels nonexistent. 🔹 Gunplay & Sound Design This is where the game really falls apart. No weapon impact Terrible shooting sounds Zero feedback The pistol has infinite ammo — fine. But once you get an assault rifle, you realize it feels exactly the same: same damage, same sound, same feedback — only the model changes. The shotgun is even worse: it only works at point-blank range, almost touching the enemy. That’s not “high risk, high reward” — that’s bad design. Enemy reactions to hits are minimal, and the audio is so weak I’d honestly rather listen to someone drilling a wall next door. 🔹 Movement & Combat Flow Movement is extremely limited. No proper sprint Short stamina-based steps Long recovery No leaning or peeking Enemies are dangerous, but you can’t peek corners, so checking a room without throwing a grenade is basically gambling with your HP. This makes combat frustrating instead of tactical. 🔹 Level Design Object placement and props are fine — clearly effort was made there. But the color usage and readability completely ruin it. White walls + white enemies + white weapons + white armor = visual noise. This is some of the worst lab-level design I’ve seen in an FPS. 🔹 Story, Notes & Writing The notes are absolutely terrible. Almost every note is: “Something exploded… oh god… static… if anyone reads this… tell my family…” No substance. No world-building. No personality. The main antagonist is also painfully generic and uninteresting. 🔹 Melee Combat Melee is a joke. You can kick or punch enemies, but: No knockback No stagger Just raw damage It’s the laziest melee implementation possible and adds nothing to gameplay. 🔹 Music Forgettable. It exists. That’s all. 🔻 Final Thoughts Selaco looks ambitious on the surface, but underneath it’s bland, poorly balanced, and lacks any sense of impact or identity. If you’re coming from Beyond Citadel or The Citadel, this will feel like a massive downgrade.

I LOVE SELACO, holy peak. Game design is lovely, It reminds me a lot of half-life. This game never take the control from you, so it keeps you immersive all the time. And the similiarity continues throughout the level design as well, they really want you to use the interactivity they offer (which are quite a LOT) when going through these levels. Sometimes you have to push this box to reach certain spots, or you have to throw this chair to blow up some mines blocking your way, or blow up this wall with nearby red barrel that you can push. The only UI's hint you're getting is the objectives in text, otherwise, you have to pay attention to the enviroment. There are also secrets that you can discover, along with a bonus level if you curious enough. Gameplay is absolute peak, It's quite fast but not "boomer-shooter" pace (despite being on a Boomer-Shooter engine), you still need to take a breath at some point to reload, waiting for the enemy to finish suppresing you, or just lay in wait for them to come at you. Enemy AI will try to overcome you in every way. Riflemen will swarm you from every angle or flush you out with grenades; Heavy Gunners will pin you down in place; enforcers will charge in first place; engineers will try to build turret and then close distance with their shotguns. Every weapon have their own purpose with many modifications that could alter their functions. I think the variety is almost perfect. If you think that your first playthrough isn't "tasty" enough, then you can play the "new game+" mode with randomizers, custom modifiers that you can choose,and mutators. The map itself is very atmospheric! The bombings and firefights in the distance, random clutters when you're alone (it does feel a bit creepy at some point), or the background noise of a wartorn city. Weapon sounds are nice too, in short: the sound design is fantastic. I love the graphics, I always love a stylistic approach than realistic one since they tend to be aged more perfectly. For a (GZ/UZ?doom engine), they really push the visuals to the limit with this one. Story is interesting (in a good way), most of the time you will only get context from the enviroments, and notes that you will be finding around the game. There isn't a central antagonist or something so far, just you (Dawn Collins) against them in general. But the potential is there. While this game is still in early access, chapter 1 (the only avaliable one atm) is around 11+ hours long so it's already meaty if you decide to buy it now. Plus, the replayability value makes it really worth it if you want to stay around for more. 9.5/10 - I'm still waiting for the rest of the game to come out so I can give the remaining 0.5.

[H3] You know Selaco is loved, I know Selaco is loved. What’s next? [/H3] With the best will in the world, Selaco’s discussion leans a bit too heavily on running in GZDoom. Don’t get me wrong, it [i]is[/i] incredibly impressive. It’s a fun marketing line to highlight that Selaco runs on one of DOOM 1993’s great-grandchildren. However, even a developer said: “As a player, you will not be able to tell that you are playing a GZDoom game.” And in fact, Selaco plays more like a Build Engine game. Debris flies everywhere during firefights, and there’s been a clear intention to make as many objects as possible interactive. The extent of this is usually pretty surface-level; microwaves explode, computer monitors light up, and there’s an arcade cabinet dotted around with a schmup mini-game. Even limitations symbolic of DOOM engine games seem to have been overcome, as Selaco includes sloped surfaces and detailed smoke effects. Gameplay-wise, Selaco is still a glorified keycard hunt. There are few objectives beyond reaching certain locations, pulling specific switches, and finding the right keys to progress. It’s what most people would expect in a game marketed like Selaco, but it does feel like a missed opportunity to shake up the formula. One of my favourite stages has you drag a barrel dressed up as a person (Jonathan <3) across an office to place him on a weight-controlled switch. As you drag him, more and more enemies begin spawning in, creating one of the most difficult yet dynamic moments in Selaco. All this to say, Selaco matches gameplay expectations but doesn’t often subvert them. Another example is the gun library; they’re all fun to use, especially the sniper rifle and nail gun, but there’s nothing here that you haven’t used before. The plasma rifle is identical to DOOM, the shotgun is boilerplate boomershooter (still satisfying, however), and the assault rifles mimic the classic chaingun. It would have been fun to see a weapon with a higher skill ceiling, or one that takes advantage of the environment more. Blood, for example, would still be a great time with a traditional arsenal, but it also demonstrates just how much flavour a varied arsenal can bring to a game. With Chapter 2 on the horizon, I’m hoping to see Selaco take some more risks. I want it to become innovative, rather than merely iterative. What better time to do this than after a perfected yet non-controversial Chapter 1?

What happens when you throw Ion Fury, System Shock and Doom 2016 in a blender? You get this bizarre, but satisfying boomer shooter. Nice fast paced gameplay, soundtrack and design. Can't wait for the whole thing.