Zortch
released on Jun 08, 2023
Meet Zortch Maxinum: short order cook, amateur engineer and professional slacker; Bored and tired of her day job she decides to go on a holiday but alas she picks a cheap option: turns out it's a scheme by aliens who capture humans to eat their brains! also this game is a sci-fi horror comedy fps
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Solid retro FPS game guns feel great with plenty of enemy variety and nice level designs
It’s like finding an lowkey N64 game at a Blockbuster because you couldn’t pick up Turok that weekend
Another case similar to REKKR, not in that these games are very similar, but in that both fill the same niche. They both feel like something that could have come out back in the day, Zortch feeling like something you could get right in the middle of the year 2000 and see it turn into a cult classic, with smooth gameplay and a silly story and setting.
This game is impressive to me in so many ways, the custom engine in use here has wonderful vertex lighting, funky early 2000s physics and extremely smooth movement. The developer has focused a lot on optimizing this engine for as many systems as possible, and can apparently run on single core CPUs. If you have issues with it, report it, they seem to get to work on it really fast.
Another impressive aspect is the enemies, there's so many of them for a game that's of this sort and it still has more enemies than DOOM as well. They're also so mobile, a lot of them can jump around (or fly) so fast and with such precision that they can really flank you and surprise you. I had a lot of fun engaging in the encounters in the hard difficulty, I recommend jumping straight to it if you're already familiar with this kind of game, which you most likely are if you're looking into playing this one.
The levels aren't too long, having 20 of them and they're usually ~15 minutes and boss levels are only up to ~5 minutes long, while they can be confusing and there's no map system, if you look closely there's signposting to follow and you shouldn't remain lost for long. This game is pretty good at pacing and not overstaying its welcome.
Only thing I found kinda questionable at first was the sprinting being very modern, but later on I realized that if it was like DOOM where you can shoot while running you'd just be too unstoppable, so I understood why this decision to lock your weapons was made.
This game feels really authentic beyond its aesthetic and is clearly the product of passion. It's an impressive showcase of how to create something that feels just like a lost gem from the past without falling into the same issues that a lot of the games from the time had, and also it's so cheap that it's hard to say no to it. Please buy it, it's great.
This game is impressive to me in so many ways, the custom engine in use here has wonderful vertex lighting, funky early 2000s physics and extremely smooth movement. The developer has focused a lot on optimizing this engine for as many systems as possible, and can apparently run on single core CPUs. If you have issues with it, report it, they seem to get to work on it really fast.
Another impressive aspect is the enemies, there's so many of them for a game that's of this sort and it still has more enemies than DOOM as well. They're also so mobile, a lot of them can jump around (or fly) so fast and with such precision that they can really flank you and surprise you. I had a lot of fun engaging in the encounters in the hard difficulty, I recommend jumping straight to it if you're already familiar with this kind of game, which you most likely are if you're looking into playing this one.
The levels aren't too long, having 20 of them and they're usually ~15 minutes and boss levels are only up to ~5 minutes long, while they can be confusing and there's no map system, if you look closely there's signposting to follow and you shouldn't remain lost for long. This game is pretty good at pacing and not overstaying its welcome.
Only thing I found kinda questionable at first was the sprinting being very modern, but later on I realized that if it was like DOOM where you can shoot while running you'd just be too unstoppable, so I understood why this decision to lock your weapons was made.
This game feels really authentic beyond its aesthetic and is clearly the product of passion. It's an impressive showcase of how to create something that feels just like a lost gem from the past without falling into the same issues that a lot of the games from the time had, and also it's so cheap that it's hard to say no to it. Please buy it, it's great.
Strange, but really good. The combat, though a bit unconventional, is solid once you get used to it. Levels can get long, but they never feel like they're wasting your time. My only two major complaints is that a few enemies are too tanky, and that the Flamethrower is useless in most scenarios (save for killing the bug enemies).
aliens tried to suck my brain :(
aliens tried to suck my brain :(