i don't know how to write schizophrenic. DOOM worship.
Boomer shooter meets looter shooter, I guess. As other reviews point out, the game is somewhat long and potentially gets repetitive, but personally I find its reliance on randomness to spice things up works pretty well. Having the upgrade systems be their own minigames is another fun idea which helps this game stand out. I was pretty surprised in general at how unique it felt, and I think it's worth a try for anyone interested in retro-style FPS games.
Fun and somewhat mindless FPS-roguelike with borderlands-style looter aspect (but more overboard).
Artstyle and graphics is, by all means, something that clicks with you or not (or rather something you can or can't put up with).
A giant arsenal with a lot of standout weapons, and just as many that don't, marred by the random modifiers which can absolutely make-or-break a weapon, in good ways making a "low-tier" or "boring weapon" insanely fun, but also "high-tier" weapons next to useless or garbage.
The meta-progression is done in a super interesting way, in the form of three minigames styled after retro-games (Mario, Pokémon, Galaga), but gets pretty grindy.
The third major chapter of the game is extremely long compared to the first two, and kind of drags on the end of the game, not helped by the semi-procedually generated maps blending together, even less by returning to the same "hub-level" repopulated with enemies, and even worse by the final boss being extremely easy (for better and worse).
Artstyle and graphics is, by all means, something that clicks with you or not (or rather something you can or can't put up with).
A giant arsenal with a lot of standout weapons, and just as many that don't, marred by the random modifiers which can absolutely make-or-break a weapon, in good ways making a "low-tier" or "boring weapon" insanely fun, but also "high-tier" weapons next to useless or garbage.
The meta-progression is done in a super interesting way, in the form of three minigames styled after retro-games (Mario, Pokémon, Galaga), but gets pretty grindy.
The third major chapter of the game is extremely long compared to the first two, and kind of drags on the end of the game, not helped by the semi-procedually generated maps blending together, even less by returning to the same "hub-level" repopulated with enemies, and even worse by the final boss being extremely easy (for better and worse).
Oh gods, when will it end? Semi-infinite roguelight doom shooter, at the beginning you can feel the variety, the levels are randomly generated, the monsters are all quite different, but you get very tired of the number of levels already in the 2nd act (there are only 3 of them and they are very huge) There is basically no plot, only doctor’s notes after each level . I wouldn’t say that I didn’t like this shooter concept, there are many positive aspects in the form of driving music, but again, in the end, killing demons becomes not fun and too routine.
О боги, когда она закончится? Полубесконечный роуглайт doom-шутер, в начале чувствуется разнообразие, уровни рандомно генерируются, монстры все достаточно разные, но сильно устаешь от количество уровней уже на 2 акте (их всего 3 и они очень огромные) Сюжета в принципе нет, только заметки врача после каждого уровня. Не сказал бы, что мне не понравился такой концепт шутера, есть много положительных сторон в виде драйвой музыки, но опять же, под конец убивать демонов становится не весело и слишком рутинно.
О боги, когда она закончится? Полубесконечный роуглайт doom-шутер, в начале чувствуется разнообразие, уровни рандомно генерируются, монстры все достаточно разные, но сильно устаешь от количество уровней уже на 2 акте (их всего 3 и они очень огромные) Сюжета в принципе нет, только заметки врача после каждого уровня. Не сказал бы, что мне не понравился такой концепт шутера, есть много положительных сторон в виде драйвой музыки, но опять же, под конец убивать демонов становится не весело и слишком рутинно.
Normally, I utterly fucking despise roguelites. Doing run after run of the same thing, just with a minor buff or unlock for your next attempt being the reward at the end, is the most mind-numbingly monotonous way to drip-feed content and dopamine to a player. It is an insult to the very medium. And this game doesn't change my stance on that. However, I found myself acclimating to the gameplay loop of Nightmare Reaper a lot more comfortably than I thought I would, to the point that I was so used to it at the halfway point that I kind of wanted it to be over already.
Now, let me be clear that that is absolutely not to say that this is a dry well, far from it. Nightmare Reaper has to have one of the most extensive catalogues of overpowering and ostentatious tools of destruction that a man can lay his hands on. If you can think of it, there's a high chance the game has it. Saws, blades, nukes, black holes, and every caliber in the American alphabet are all on the table when it comes to turning sprite-based monsters into a fine, red mist. Well, as fine as spritework can get, anyway. And there's even mod support, so you should be able to find whatever you're looking for if it's somehow not in the vanilla selection.
I also appreciate a lot of the little QoL quirks about the game, like the fact that there's no dumb credits or anything at the start of the game - you just find the game in your library, hit play and: Poof! You're in the psych ward faster than an Ultrakill player. You also use a totally-not-a-Nintendo-GameBoy™️ as your pause menu, where you can change the actual colour of the not-GameBoy™️ itself, fiddle with a surprising amount of game options, change your weapon loadout, and access your skill trees to buy upgrades in the form of minigames, including a 2d sidescroller, a totally-not-Pokemon™️-clone, and a space shoot-em-up. I do wish the minigames had a little more meat to them, but more time being spent on it would ultimately detract from the maingame, so it's understandable.
Obviously, it being a boomshoot made within the past 5 years means it will have a handful of problems, unfortunately. Even with all the fancy movement options the game gives you, such as up to three jumps, rocket jumping, knockback jumping, and even a grappling hook, the basic game plan is always going to consist of two words: circle-strafe. And since the weapon selection is such a clear highlight, and with it being a roguelite, it's obviously going to suffer in a lot of the other areas, such as the general art direction and layout of the environments, seeing as most of them are going to be randomised, with a few mid-to-late-game exceptions.
Speaking of the art direction and environments, have fun spending 25% of the time killing shit, and other 75% looking for secrets, such as the exact same black crack pattern on a dark-coloured cobblestone tile, or a C4 charge hidden underneath a shallow body of water that you could've sworn you walked right over like five times. And since it's an indie game, I hope you're looking forward to hearing a healthy helping of Gianni.
The music, unfortunately, isn't really anything to write home about either. A serious reliance on samey chugging riffs make for a perfectly listenable, but uninteresting and repetitive listening experience. Not unfitting of a game in the roguelite genre, but honestly a bit depressing, seeing as it came from Andrew fucking Hulshult, which came as a shock to me, seeing the wasted potential a game like this had to have a soundtrack that could make my cock hard enough to cut glass, as seen in other projects he was a part of, namely DUSK. There's also only 14 different tracks in the entire game, so just how often you're going to be hearing the same track also plays a big part of it. Still, it's not irredeemable.
All in all, there's a lot to love about Nightmare Reaper. It clearly has a lot of ideas, and was a serious passion project, seeing the absurd variety of weapons on display, for one, and while it's not exactly going to be winning any awards for peak BoomShoot design, much less anything else I've covered so far, it's incredibly inspired and can be an absolute treat to play.
Now, let me be clear that that is absolutely not to say that this is a dry well, far from it. Nightmare Reaper has to have one of the most extensive catalogues of overpowering and ostentatious tools of destruction that a man can lay his hands on. If you can think of it, there's a high chance the game has it. Saws, blades, nukes, black holes, and every caliber in the American alphabet are all on the table when it comes to turning sprite-based monsters into a fine, red mist. Well, as fine as spritework can get, anyway. And there's even mod support, so you should be able to find whatever you're looking for if it's somehow not in the vanilla selection.
I also appreciate a lot of the little QoL quirks about the game, like the fact that there's no dumb credits or anything at the start of the game - you just find the game in your library, hit play and: Poof! You're in the psych ward faster than an Ultrakill player. You also use a totally-not-a-Nintendo-GameBoy™️ as your pause menu, where you can change the actual colour of the not-GameBoy™️ itself, fiddle with a surprising amount of game options, change your weapon loadout, and access your skill trees to buy upgrades in the form of minigames, including a 2d sidescroller, a totally-not-Pokemon™️-clone, and a space shoot-em-up. I do wish the minigames had a little more meat to them, but more time being spent on it would ultimately detract from the maingame, so it's understandable.
Obviously, it being a boomshoot made within the past 5 years means it will have a handful of problems, unfortunately. Even with all the fancy movement options the game gives you, such as up to three jumps, rocket jumping, knockback jumping, and even a grappling hook, the basic game plan is always going to consist of two words: circle-strafe. And since the weapon selection is such a clear highlight, and with it being a roguelite, it's obviously going to suffer in a lot of the other areas, such as the general art direction and layout of the environments, seeing as most of them are going to be randomised, with a few mid-to-late-game exceptions.
Speaking of the art direction and environments, have fun spending 25% of the time killing shit, and other 75% looking for secrets, such as the exact same black crack pattern on a dark-coloured cobblestone tile, or a C4 charge hidden underneath a shallow body of water that you could've sworn you walked right over like five times. And since it's an indie game, I hope you're looking forward to hearing a healthy helping of Gianni.
The music, unfortunately, isn't really anything to write home about either. A serious reliance on samey chugging riffs make for a perfectly listenable, but uninteresting and repetitive listening experience. Not unfitting of a game in the roguelite genre, but honestly a bit depressing, seeing as it came from Andrew fucking Hulshult, which came as a shock to me, seeing the wasted potential a game like this had to have a soundtrack that could make my cock hard enough to cut glass, as seen in other projects he was a part of, namely DUSK. There's also only 14 different tracks in the entire game, so just how often you're going to be hearing the same track also plays a big part of it. Still, it's not irredeemable.
All in all, there's a lot to love about Nightmare Reaper. It clearly has a lot of ideas, and was a serious passion project, seeing the absurd variety of weapons on display, for one, and while it's not exactly going to be winning any awards for peak BoomShoot design, much less anything else I've covered so far, it's incredibly inspired and can be an absolute treat to play.
Has its bursts of fun but it can be really tiresome. I think part of this is the game is just too long. The levels are incredibly same-y, all procedurally generated so you're more or less experiencing the same level several times in a row. There are 3 chapters, each of those has like 9 sections, and each of those has 3 levels. I don't think it's the best format for a "roguelite" because it lowers the stakes, there are no runs, and if you find one really good weapon it will carry you through the entire game.
It's okay. The guns generally feel good but even with their special effects I never ran into anything that really knocked my socks off or varied gameplay significantly. The randomly generated levels get too samey really quickly which isn't helped in the slightest by how long this game is. I got like 15 levels in and when I realized I was still in episode 1 of 3 I knew I wasn't in it for the long haul.
Let's get the bad things out of the way: it's an ugly fucking game that's released when rogue-like games are pretty much everywhere.
Despite this, it's a very good game that you can get sucked into for hours. After a while its artstyle which looks like someone ate and vomited Wolfenstein 3D starts to feel cozy and the gameplay thankfully doesn't feel worse because of it.
It's effectively just a boomshoot with generated levels where you can find hundreds of weapons and upgrade yourself by collecting treasure and perfecting levels. What makes its formula work is that various modifiers on weapons make the game feel so different that it feels like it has as many synergies as Binding of Isaac.
Due to its procgen nature the game can be a little unfair, and not in a fun way, but it's ultimately nothing compared to dozens of hours I've put into it. I only wish the levels felt a bit more different, as sometimes they run together even with different tilesets.
Despite this, it's a very good game that you can get sucked into for hours. After a while its artstyle which looks like someone ate and vomited Wolfenstein 3D starts to feel cozy and the gameplay thankfully doesn't feel worse because of it.
It's effectively just a boomshoot with generated levels where you can find hundreds of weapons and upgrade yourself by collecting treasure and perfecting levels. What makes its formula work is that various modifiers on weapons make the game feel so different that it feels like it has as many synergies as Binding of Isaac.
Due to its procgen nature the game can be a little unfair, and not in a fun way, but it's ultimately nothing compared to dozens of hours I've put into it. I only wish the levels felt a bit more different, as sometimes they run together even with different tilesets.
Is this just another throwback shooter in the sea of games of this genre we have today? Yeah, pretty much.
Nightmare Reaper’s quirk that sets it apart are the randomly generated levels and variety of weapons that can be found. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough for me. Indeed, it was fun for a while, but then all the levels started blending in together, and I got more and more bored as I kept going, so instead I just quit.
Overall, it’s alright, I had fun, I just wish I continued to have fun. Someone who is a bigger fan of this genre will have a better time than me.
Story
You play as a woman (I forget whether she has a name) who is insane, to the point where every time she goes to sleep, she dreams of a retro FPS game. It's nothing more than a framing device for the gameplay. At times there are doctor’s notes that can be found in your room (you are hospitalized) which can be interesting, but they come very rarely.
Does anyone else get tired of a boomer shooter with an almost non-existent plot, I find it the biggest flaw in the genre.
Mechanics and gameplay
It’s the standard throwback shooter formula. The level starts, kill all enemies while making your way through it, kill a boss if there is one, and end the level. The randomly generated levels that Nightmare Reaper uses are also its biggest flaw. They are better than a badly designed level, but they all feel the same, since there is rarely anything to set them apart. I guess the way this could have been avoided is by just making the game shorter, since as of now it's long, like very long.
Another variation to the formula is the way weapons are handled. There are a lot of them, but instead of having a slot for each one, you have to choose two or three and discard the rest. Weapons are found through levels, either being dropped from monsters or just found randomly on the ground. They come in various rarities and the higher the rarity, the more quirks they have. This is great and all, but there is one problem. Once you find a high-rarity weapon, replacing it becomes difficult. Since if you were to replace it with something worse, you suddenly made the game much harder.
There are other gamemodes like minigames and an arena, but none of them caught my interest.
Graphics/Artstyle
2.5D graphics are similar to old FPS games like Wolfenstein and Doom. There is improved lighting and effects compared to them, but still, the graphics are a bit bland.
Atmosphere/Immersion
Unfortunately, any type of atmosphere or immersion the game tries to build is held back by the randomly generated levels and the RPG-like weapon rarities.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is made by Andrew Hulshult. (Who could have guessed!?) Classic metal FPS OST, it's alright, not much more I can say. My favourite part is “Lucid Mayhem”.
Final Thoughts
I wish my dreams were as epic as this, instead, I kidnap doctors and take pictures of cars.
Nightmare Reaper’s quirk that sets it apart are the randomly generated levels and variety of weapons that can be found. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough for me. Indeed, it was fun for a while, but then all the levels started blending in together, and I got more and more bored as I kept going, so instead I just quit.
Overall, it’s alright, I had fun, I just wish I continued to have fun. Someone who is a bigger fan of this genre will have a better time than me.
Story
You play as a woman (I forget whether she has a name) who is insane, to the point where every time she goes to sleep, she dreams of a retro FPS game. It's nothing more than a framing device for the gameplay. At times there are doctor’s notes that can be found in your room (you are hospitalized) which can be interesting, but they come very rarely.
Does anyone else get tired of a boomer shooter with an almost non-existent plot, I find it the biggest flaw in the genre.
Mechanics and gameplay
It’s the standard throwback shooter formula. The level starts, kill all enemies while making your way through it, kill a boss if there is one, and end the level. The randomly generated levels that Nightmare Reaper uses are also its biggest flaw. They are better than a badly designed level, but they all feel the same, since there is rarely anything to set them apart. I guess the way this could have been avoided is by just making the game shorter, since as of now it's long, like very long.
Another variation to the formula is the way weapons are handled. There are a lot of them, but instead of having a slot for each one, you have to choose two or three and discard the rest. Weapons are found through levels, either being dropped from monsters or just found randomly on the ground. They come in various rarities and the higher the rarity, the more quirks they have. This is great and all, but there is one problem. Once you find a high-rarity weapon, replacing it becomes difficult. Since if you were to replace it with something worse, you suddenly made the game much harder.
There are other gamemodes like minigames and an arena, but none of them caught my interest.
Graphics/Artstyle
2.5D graphics are similar to old FPS games like Wolfenstein and Doom. There is improved lighting and effects compared to them, but still, the graphics are a bit bland.
Atmosphere/Immersion
Unfortunately, any type of atmosphere or immersion the game tries to build is held back by the randomly generated levels and the RPG-like weapon rarities.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is made by Andrew Hulshult. (Who could have guessed!?) Classic metal FPS OST, it's alright, not much more I can say. My favourite part is “Lucid Mayhem”.
Final Thoughts
I wish my dreams were as epic as this, instead, I kidnap doctors and take pictures of cars.