I knew going into HROT that it's a competent FPS styled after the original Quake with the aesthetic of drabness maxed out for scenery composed of 50 shades of brown. What I didn't expect was how there's a pervasive oddball sense of humor threaded throughout the dingy dystopia that endeared the project to me beyond simply providing some top-notch shooting action.

I'm pleased to report that enemy HP values and attack patterns provide plenty of variables to consider in the middle of a firefight, and that the levels "flowed nicely" at least by my standards.

A worthy addition to any FPS aficionado's collection.

This game is like if s.t.a.l.k.e.r and quake had a baby but they doubled up on weirdness, so many wacky, off the walls moments lol i suggest just playing cause of that

but honestly im a sucker for the boomer shooter genre
not to much to say other than run around, circle strafe and collect keys.

it doesnt invent the wheel, buuut its very good at what it does, the atmosphere is so forboding and creepy and one level scared the shit out of me, even! you always feel uneasy.
cool enemy design as well

if you love this genre its a most have so check it out whenever you can

It's very rare that I find myself re-playing a game.

Even rarer that I replay it soon after I finished it.

Even More So that I replay it so many times I decide to tackle the highest difficult available and do challenge runs, I finished this game on Very Hard pistol starting every level and getting all kills and secrets.

This is a genuinely excellent boomer shooter that does, basically everything right.

The levels are incredibly fun to explore and, despite the game's overly brown color pallet, are incredibly distinct from each other and an absolute joy to play.

The enemies are challenging and fun to take down, the weapons feel amazing to use, the environments and music are really eerie and atmospheric, I genuinely adore this game, one of my all time favourites!

One thing to note though: the gameplay and movement feel, despite the game's obvious Quake influence, is a lot more akin to Duke Nukem 3D than it is Quake, so, be wary of that!

If Dusk is colorful Quake, then why someone decided to bring us brown Dusk?

Jokes aside, Few games can approach minimalism the way HROT does. Simplicity is the basis of almost everything here: No strange mechanics, weapons that everyone are familiar about, level design that is open but without being too complex or large. The colour palette is as minimalistic as it gets. And the story? Minimalistic is too much to describe it: There’s no story at all. Not even a minimum backstory to serve as a an excuse for the action, which is what usually happens in this kind of games. Here, no story at all. Just pure action and atmosphere.

Aesthetics are a very important thing for me when it comes to videogames. At times, they might even do the trick for me even when the gameplay is not that great (which is not the case of HROT, whose gameplay is excellent). That’s why i like to play games done in GZDoom: Even if the mechanics are always the same, sometimes i just want to see some nice things and hear some nice sounds and all of that. My first impression with HROT, wasn’t a very positive one. It’s not that i straight out disliked it’s aesthetic, actually i found it very attractive: Sepia is essentially the colour of everything that’s old, the colour of the memories, and therefore, it was a very sensitive choice considering this game was supposed to be inspired by the nostalgia of 80’s communist Czechoslovakia. HROT is supposed to look like an old photograph, and i find that even poetic (specially for a boomer shooter). But on the other hand, a part of me was seeing a brown Dusk, suspecting that this whole minimalism would end up becoming pure monotony. Thankfully, i was completely wrong actually. I don’t think i have the exact words to express how or what made the aesthetic not only sustain and keep me hooked but also how it managed to surprise me at many times. I guess it must be mostly due to the subtle changes in themes and general mood throughout the episodes.

So i played the first episode expecting some kind of spooky or even depressing mood, but truth is, i felt none of that. I would even describe the first episode as a comfy gaming experience, meaning of course i enjoyed it pretty much. Until Episode 2 for sure, which is where the heavier horror elements start playing a role, just like in Dusk’s Episode 2, because even if Dusk is entirely built around horror tropes, is in the second episode when you deal with something more akin to the typical survival horror experience. And then the Episode 3 is the one featuring the most surrealistic and absurdist elements, just like in Dusk’s episode 3. Also, despite having some dank humour all around the game, i think this third episode is the one featuring the funniest and most bizarre ones.

Weapons are pretty damn good, they are actually pretty similar to the ones from Dusk. And there’s even a crossbow, which i forgot to use during enormous chunks of the game, just like it happened to me when i played Dusk. There’s something very interesting about weapons here, and it’s their sound. Weapons in HROT don’t sound as explosive as they usually do in this genre. The sound design applied specifically to the weapons is another thing that could be described as minimalistic. Most of them are even pretty quiet. But defying expectations, they are incredibly satisfying. I think it is quite an achievement to design weapons and making them super fun to use without being all over the top, which is something that has become quite of a norm in this genre.

In conclusion, i loved this game. I wish there were more games like Dusk. I-i mean like HROT.

Um jogo inspirado em Doom 1 e 2 muito criativo e bem divertido, ganha pontos comigo por ser feito por uma pessoa só.

Um Doom com elementos de terror se passando na URSS definitivamente é uma ideia kkkkkkkkk

Conceitualmente o jogo me chamou muito, mas acho que não tenho tanta paciência mais para esse estilo (tal qual Doom 1 e 2) onde se você morre você reinicia a fase do 0, independentemente de quão longa for.

I'm going to summarize the reason why I decided to abandon this game. Imagine going through 10-15 minutes of a level, collecting everything, occasionaly getting lost just to arrive at what you assume is near the end of the level. You open a door and see a massive boulder sitting at the end of it, as you sprint trying to get out of its range you occasionally turn a corner just to finally be able to sigh a sigh of a relief. But just as you were celebrating your quick reaction the boulder turns the corner in a comedical fashion and it end up killing you, and you would have to restart the whole level again. Granted I wouldn't have hated that as much as I did if the game didn't want me to speedrun through the level again just to hopefully get something right the 2nd time

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what caused the rise of retro-styled first-person shooters as of late. Many games have been wildly popular, well-received, and commercially successful since. While it could be traced back to Interceptor Entertainment's Rise of the Triad remake in 2013, I'd argue it truly kicked off with David Szymanski's excellent modern classic Dusk in 2018. Naturally, there's been a lot of these games since then as the genre has exploded into mainstream popularity. HROT is one of many, and it's in a bit of a confusing place. HROT genuinely feels like a passion project from developer Spytihněv. None of it feels trend-chasing or cynical, and yet, I can't help but feel HROT fails to make a significant mark in a genre filled with games of this style past and present.

HROT's gameplay is as standard as retro shooters go. You're given the standard assortment of weapons, from pistols, to shotguns, to grenade launchers, et cetera. The enemies are all fairly derivative, too. Kejdovecs are just ogres, and konfidents are just scrags. None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Genres are inherently derivative, and all of these retro revivals take influence from previous games in obvious ways, such as Dusk with Doom/Quake and Ion Fury with Build engine shooters. The problem for me is that HROT on a gameplay level just doesn't do enough to distinguish itself. Everything from the base game mechanics, to the enemy design, to the level design, is all perfectly functional and often fun. They all perform their jobs quite capably but aren't anything particularly unique or interesting. Standard enemies and mechanics isn't uncommon in this genre, and it's a genre that primarily lives and dies on its level design. I can't point to any level in particular that is necessarily worse than the others. However, I simply think that these levels are largely standard and I also, by consequence, struggle to remember them individually as well. There has to be at least three levels set in a train station that look and play essentially the same. Complaints about unoriginality aside, I did enjoy my time with HROT. The guns mostly feel pretty good to use. I hear a lot of complaints online that the weapons feel unimpactful, but in this case I think it works, as the broken-down look and sound of your weapons enforces the hopelessness of the 1980s Soviet atmosphere. Even on hard mode HROT feels largely fair, there weren't many moments where I felt the game was cheating me, though occasionally I felt ammo was overly sparse. I do wish the levels had more verticality - for the most part enemies are on the same playing field as you, and even Doom had enemies on different levels of elevation. It can sometimes make HROT feel a little static when enemy placement doesn't change heavily. I'm bitching and moaning, but no one should take HROT as merely mediocre. It is a fun time with occasionally creative moments (such as a mine cart ride) that unfortunately blends together into an entertaining albiet unmemorable mush.

HROT, like Quake before it, is a bleak and unsettling descent into a country slowly crumbling apart. Many of HROT's levels are pulled from real life Czechoslovakian locations which ground the game into a level of deep rooted and personal culture that, while I can't entirely empathize with being an American, can at the very least appreciate. In a generation where most games want to be colorful and cartoony, HROT's dedication to dust, grime, and diesel is admirable and helps it stand out from the crowd. There are many surrealist touches to the game that lend it an eerie feeling. For example, the player is never sure if the military forces they are fighting are human or distorted monsters, facsimile of people. The low-poly graphical style compliments this well, with its chunky character models and pixelated textures not only feeling highly authentic but also adding to said surrealism, and I love the ability to choose between software and OpenGL looks. There's even a good bit of humor, too, such as a boss fight consisting of enemies on bumper carts and a level where you fight off an army of newts. This gives HROT a lot of personality, a good sign that Spytihněv is having fun with his work. If there's any part that I disliked, it's that the game doesn't truly support framerates above 60 FPS, simply duplicating identical frames and giving the game a choppy feeling. Either truly support high framerates or cap your game at 60, because this middle ground is worse than both of those.

Unlike a lot of retro-style shooters which opt for heavy metal or classic MIDI for their scores, HROT's score from Sjellos consists largely of dark ambient undulations and menacing beats. It's not particularly memorable work, but it underscores the action decently enough. The soundtrack is, fittingly, as oppressive as the Soviet regime, pulsing and pounding whereever necessary while reeling back for more atmospheric moments. The lack of memorable melodies hurts it, I can't recall a single song from the game or album off of the top fo my head, but it's effective enough for what HROT needs.

Among the retro shooter craze, HROT feels like a bit of an oddity. While it doesn't do anything particularly new and interesting on a game design level, it's dreary atmosphere, roots in Czechoslovakian history, sense of humor, and retro sensibilities will easily find it a niche with the right audience. The problem is mostly that HROT, despite all of this, just isn't as inspired and creative as many of its contemporaries. It's a competent and enjoyable ride, but one I won't be leaping to replay or recommend anytime soon. If you're itching for a new retro shooter, HROT may be up your alley, but there's certainly better out there.

HROT is another boomer shooter in the recent wave of games in this genre. It’s set in Czechoslovakia during the 80s, and that can be seen all throughout the game. All the signs are in Czech, the level design takes a lot of inspiration from soviet architecture and the colour palette is entirely brown. The setting is very well contextualized, but the player character goals and his enemies are left blank. You go through a level, killing some foes, and then go to the next one without any idea where you are going or who you are fighting. Overall if you have played and enjoyed the likes of DUSK and quake and don’t mind the issue, I presented than you will probably enjoy this one.
Story
HROT left me confused. It's rare for a game to give so little reason for your actions (in this case, to beat the levels). What kept me going was mostly curiosity. The game constantly throws at your bizarre enemies, although they always fit the aesthetic. It has a charm and personality but no singular vision.
Gameplay
HROT has pretty simple boomer shooter gameplay without any new fancy additions. You are faster than most enemies you will face and have an arsenal of 11 weapons. They are fun to use, but aren’t anything new. There isn’t even an alt fire. Enemy variety is pretty good. You never get stuck fighting the same enemies. I can say the same about the level design. Even the sewers were interesting. Although that could be because they are the same colour. There is also a lot of interactivity in the levels. For instance, you can flush a toilet or ring a doorbell of a flat and hear a dog bark on the other side. It adds to the charm of the game. There is even a section where you ride a bike. It should be noted that the levels are based on real locations.
Graphics and artstyle
As can be expected from a boomer shooter, it's low-poly and retro. It also has a specific colour palate that is consistent through the whole game. Everything is washed out and brown. Given the 80s socialist country aesthetic, I think this is to be expected.
Atmosphere
The feeling I got from playing HROT was of confusion and slight paranoia. No idea where you are going or who you are fighting and whether you should be fighting. Of course, you should. After all, you have to protect the state, but on that note, why are you fighting alone.
Soundtrack
A dark ambiance ost that fits well enough with the rest of the game.
Final Thoughts
Not suitable for youth under the age of 30 by decision of the committee.

Dentro da Hilux
Ela movimenta no beat do tuts, tuts
Vidro embaçando, ela roçando na fivela
O pau torando e eu pegando ela
O pau torando