Viscerafest

Review

Viscerafest is a piece of playable poetry wrapped around a bloody gut-punching, alien shooting, retro-style shooter, that seems to be heavily inspired by games the likes of Duke Nukem and Quake.

And not just heavy inspired; Viscerafest literally plays out and feels just as good. Lead by a tenacious, narcissistic female protagonist who doesn’t care about anything other than quick cash out and goes the extra mile to cause as much mayhem as possible, a fitting personality for the game I must say.

Plot: The year is 3796 and you’re taking control of Caroline. A bloodthirsty, psychopathic mercenary who wants nothing more than to marry her wonderful boyfriend, Athens Fetter.

The problem is money, the wallet is running a bit short right now and the ring ain’t cheap. While browsing for an easy buck, Caroline spots a listing for a bounty job. A warlock named Cromune has a rather hefty bounty on his head.

He's being accompanied by a small faction of the U.S.C. (The United Scientific Conglomerate) Lead by Dr. Mortice. The job won’t be easy, a small army is defending Cromune.

But what's an army to someone who's taken on a legion? What're a few hundred soldiers to death incarnate? Nothing but a slaughter... Nay... A viscerafest.

Gameplay: After choosing one from the four difficulty levels, the game starts off with a neat intro that shows us our female protagonist, some minor details about her personality, and her motivations for getting into the mission.

As Caroline reaches the base to hunt down Cromune, she is greeted with a quick tutorial on how to collect and interact with items, how the ammo pickup works in this game, and so on. More bits and pieces will be revealed as the game progresses.

Two things to notice about the game the moment you start: 1. The movement machines are just fantastic, fans of games the likes of Duke Nukem and Quake (like me) will get instantly hooked, and 2. Limited resources, giving the game a much more challenging flavor combined with the difficulty of your choice. 

At first, it seemed like a no-brainer having limited resources, but soon the realization kicked in how scary it can actually be, and you subconsciously start saving ammo.

The cool thing is even with little to no ammo, you can still kick some serious Alien butt with your bare hands.

It’s a constant juggle as you fight to stay alive, constantly balancing your ammo, health, and armor.

But not to worry, as the game is not totally unfair, and you get a fighting chance with some powerful weaponry (nine, to be exact); even though these weapons are ridiculously powerful, they even out the playing field just enough to keep you alive.

Combined with some ultra-smooth Quake-like movement machines, this game turns into a pure joy ride for the FPS lovers out there.

Secrets and objects: The game features some simplistic yet creative puzzles; not really puzzles, but just something to make the game a bit more interesting. They mostly consist of hidden keycards for locked doors, switches, and hidden rooms.

These puzzles are spread throughout the game evenly and with enough difficulty to make you think, but not enough to distract you from your Alien murdering primary mission.

After finishing each level you are greeted with a counter screen that shows you how many Aliens you’ve killed, your finishing time, how many secrets you have collected, and how many skulls you have collected (in-game currency).

World design: From Claustrophobic dark neon narrow corridors to large open hallways, Viscerafest has it all, wrapped around an 80s neon-themed retro world.

It’s a fairly simplistic pixelated retro game, but the detailing and cosmetic features are eye-catching.

The world design and its environmental hazards play an important role throughout the game, impacting gameplay on each level and contributing to all the amazing puzzles and hidden item placements as well.

Sound effects and background music: The background music was a total banger, on point for the theme of the game. A retro-ish, punk-rock style and metal mixture. Very enjoyable.

The same goes for the sound effects; on point with the weapon, damage, and environmental sound effects, not too high and not too low, just on point.

Voice-over work: We usually don’t expect voice-over work from these types of games but Viscerafest shocked me with its competent and stylish voice overs. The actress who did the voice job for my Sweet Caroline did a fantastic job; she made the character so much better, with all of her quips and one-liners.

And a major, major shout-out for making Caroline sing while being idle; that was awesome, and every game should do something like this. I wasn’t expecting Caroline to sing, and she sang so well!!! I’ll bump an extra point just for that.

Review written by BiteMexD for Zeepond.com!

Viscerafest Steam Store Page