SULFUR

I don't like to write reviews, but I think this game is massively underrated, and I would strongly recommend it to any shooter fans out there. It gets compared to extraction shooters a lot, but I think this is a little misguided. The extraction shooter elements are extremely light, so if this gives you pause, please do not be dissuaded. You can basically exit any level instantly, on demand, as long as you pay a small fee to recharge your amulet (it does not feel small at the very start, but it is). These elements have only gotten lighter with the recent addition of multiple difficulty settings. It still has a great looter shooter vibe, but the extraction elements are very light. Of course, you can always challenge yourself by running into an area with an empty inventory and an uncharged amulet and just work with what you find - this is a lot of fun and quite viable because of cooking mechanics (see a few paragraphs down). On the other hand, if you consider yourself a more "serious" type and feel dissuaded by the cute art style, I will add that the cuteness of many of the enemies creates a bit of a funny juxtaposition with the [i]incredible[/i] violence you can commit with a well-built gun. Do not judge a book by its cover - blood and gore enjoyers will be satisfied with the bloodstains, gibs and body part drops (which you can cook with!) in this game. Speaking of which, the cooking system is a lot of fun. There are tons of recipes for all sorts of foods, and you can find cookbooks if you don't feel like spending the time experimenting or looking up recipes. It used to be that you had to just know the recipes, which I kind of liked. But these days, the game keeps track of recipes you discover for you, and shows what you can craft with what you have - I have grown to like this because of the sheer number of recipes. It's still rewarding to know recipes by heart so you can prioritize keeping more useful ingredients in your inventory until you find a cooking station. It's very fun to craft good healing items from trash and body parts you find on the ground. It gives you the opportunity to be resourceful, which I find one of the most satisfying feelings. Gun building in Sulfur gets a lot of credit for its depth and complexity, and I think it deserves that. It's not on the same level as wand building in Noita (another [i]fantastic[/i] game), but it's considerable. There are quite a few fun ways to build guns, and lots of approaches are viable on some guns but not others. It can sometimes have a sort of "ARPG gem slot" or "STALKER artifact slot" feel where you try to cancel out the negatives of some enchantments with others to achieve the overall effect you want. Except some of the enchantments get wild and wacky, and working around them can be a worthy exercise - so it's frequently a lot more rewarding than just balancing minuses with pluses. Overall, fantastic game, and very great, very active devs. The game has been getting a lot of content updates for a while now, and occasionally some balancing changes that have disappointed some. But for what it's worth, I think most of the balance changes have been well-reasoned, even when they affect my playstyle (I miss the old Matrix Oil). I think the devs are doing the right things and deserve all the success they can get. Bottom line, this is one of my favorite games ever made, and I would love to see it blow up - if you're on the fence, I would strongly, strongly recommend giving it a chance.