Análises recentes de Ahkrin

Slightly worse graphics than SotFS, but way better enemy placement. Definitely recommend this over SotFS if you just want the PvE side of things.

Nice and simple dig-then-defend game. Highly recommended.

Fun game if you like rogue-lites (not -like) with noticeable ways to improve further runs beyond just gitting gud, although learning how things synergise does go a long, long way too!

Has brief moments of repetition if you need a certain material (there are shortcuts for materials later), but a very good game that you can strategise in without having to focus too much.

Has an 'in mission' mode where you repeatedly build up the 'map' and introduce more areas, more enemies, and consequently more loot to gear up with. This gear then helps you build up the map more, and also fight the boss. Upon finishing being 'in mission', you lose said gear (it's a rogue-lite after all), but keep materials to upgrade your hub. Has a nice feel to it once you get into it.

Also, the music is surprisingly catchy, and in a good way.

Quite pricey if you own the originals, but I've had no trouble with controller support and the matchmaking and net code works a treat. If you've not played these games before, or just want a hassle-free way to play Overcooked over the Internet, it's a pretty fun romp. Pretty basic gameplay loop, so I would recommend a friend so you can laugh at each other fumbling around.

Fun game for those with enough imagination to fill in the blanks of this minimalist style.

Would recommend waiting a few days though as there's a bug preventing mission completion (can't detain people on beds). EDIT: This got fixed already. :D

The rest works seamlessly though, so this quirky game has potential!

It's alright...

Short and sweet: a well supported game, by a transparent development team, that doesn't try to take itself seriously for what it is. You're a dwarf. You go on underground missions to collect shinies. You use over-the-top weaponry and tools to blow up the nasties that you stumble across so you get the shinies home and get paid handsomely.

It's early access at the time of me writing this, but this game is solid already, and I can't wait for more!

Overview of Gameplay:
A shooting game that feels like Hotline Miami and the top-down GTA's had a love child, Splatter makes for a nice simple shooting game that rewards ingenuity with a scoring system but may be completed with plain attrition for those who like to take things slow(er). I've only played on Normal at the time of writing this, mind you. The two difficulties above normal might contradict the slow-but-steady success.

For those unfamiliar with the two games I mentioned, you control the character with four-directional keys (defaults to WASD/Arrows) from a top-down view and use the mouse to rotate-and-aim your guns. The aiming reticule is essentially a stylised mouse pointer, bullets may hit obstacles in the way of where you're aiming though, or fly past it, so bear that in mind.

Without giving too much away, foes come in several shapes and sizes to force prioritising of who to deal with and how to deal with them (do I stand in the corner and hope the big guy dies before he gets to me?). Some even require a hard counter to defeat, such as one that may only be killed by explosive barrels or deterred with flares.

Pros:
I quite like the music for the game, it doesn't feel jarring in comparison to what's happening in-game for the sake of including music. The main menu music is pretty nice as well, it's not so repetitive that you want to sort out your settings as fast as possible lest you hear a five second loop some more times.

On the topic of sound, I like the fact that internal and external sounds are affected by walls and the like; when I started the game I noticed that the rain would get louder the closer to the window(s) I moved. It's a subtle touch, but it makes the game that bit more enjoyable.

The game doesn't suffer from giving you weapons that strictly only hurt enemies either, who's heard of a grenade launcher that only damages people? Tables, sinks, doors... they may all be destroyed by your arsenal, or left to get in the way of your foes! Forcing enemies that can't destroy tables into choke points has made my life a lot easier on many occasions, and also given me a nice score bonus for multi-kills to boot.

Destructible objects also give way to the other feature I appreciate in a game, adding exploration value. Splatter contains several secrets in most of the levels that give the player perhaps early access to some weapons, money (to upgrade things), health kits (no nasty, cheap health regen! :D) and more!

Missions with escort/protection elements to them weren't overly annoying either, I never felt like I had to make myself a meat shield to keep someone alive, or pull a Wanted and shoot around them to kill foes.

Another subtle touch I appreciated was the slow motion resuming a paused game resulted in. If I'm in the middle of a mission and have to AFK in a hurry I do not want the ESC key on my return to lead to my immediate demise because I couldn't remember where the multitude of enemies were with perfect clarity.

Cons:
My biggest qualm with the game has to be how immediately a mission can end. I like to explore levels as I progress through them and perhaps double-check I didn't miss anything before finishing it, however on my first playthrough of a mission I never really knew where 'the end' was; I would finish an objective to then find the screen is fading away to give me a mission score screen! I don't like playing a mission twice just to collect some money I missed.

I mentioned earlier the enemies are varying, and of course there's your typical slow, big, and tough enemy. The problem is their pathing AI is the same as the smaller enemy that attacks in a similar manner... this leads to a bulky enemy trying to fit through a door that is way too small for it!

I also noticed that the larger enemies consist of several sprites stacked on top of one another to give them more animations. They don't fall out of sync (no scary floating torsos, yay) but the legs do look odd when the enemy is shot at. I often used a pistol to whittle them down from a distance and a shotgun once they came too close for my liking; however the fast pistol shots led to the legs turning static while the torso played an impact animation. Pistols don't really slow enemies by much so the big guy would continue moving towards me with static legs... unless they're on roller-skates?

Splatter also suffers from way-too-excited-NPC syndrome, practically everyone I spoke to would be way too happy to say everything as if I was across the room and in need of severe motivation to do anything (granted, the protagonist does have a gruff demeanour). When gathering the objective from strangers, ignoring the way it's presented made things more enjoyable than listening intently.

Speaking of listening intently, each mission would give a transition cutscene to give a sense of story progression... except each mission is around 10-15 minutes (or less if you like to speed run) but the conclusions the protagonist comes to are as if he's been reflecting on matters for days! For example, after helping a settlement (not in that way, Preston) for a couple of missions my character gave the impression of it being the last bastion of humanity that he had grown attached to. I don't know about you, but I don't miss somewhere if I've only been there for half an hour.

Pausing the game unfortunately does not quieten the in-game ambient sound, hitting ESC on a rainy level meant I didn't have the sounds of enemies and the like, but I instead had to put up with loud rain on its own!

The slow motion on resume also led to an interesting bug. There are upgrade stations that bring up an overlay when approached for you to decide on what to upgrade... however my character would still fire when I click on the menu as if the overlay wasn't there. I couldn't see the shots, or what I hit, but I could hear what was going on. Make sure the slow-motion ends before interacting with stations!

Last of all, a couple of achievements could do with being made secret. I won't say too much on the matter other than reading their descriptions led to me being prepared for a few sudden events. If you want to at least be surprised, don't read the achievements on your first playthrough!

Conclusions:
If you want a top-down shooting game and don't care much for plot then I definitely recommend giving this game a go; it's not flawless in execution, but I enjoyed playing it.

If RPG-esque immersion is something you want, or a deep plot, then steer well away!

Rating:
6/10

Reviewed by Ahkrin 'Descol, community member of Validus.