El Paso, Elsewhere is an early 2000s/very late 1990s third-person boomer shooter with Max Payne slow-mo diving and a level based structure. You get a bunch of guns that all feel good and the maps are pretty well designed too.
Then you have the aesthetic, which is this weird noir lo-fi vibe mixed with really good voice acting and great (if slightly campy at times cough cough the raps ) music. Pretty cool. The story came across as a bit self-serious and borderline pretentious as first (but maybe a fun, intentional kind of pretentiousness?) but evolved into a really interesting/compelling story involving vampires I won't spoil.
The levels are pretty snappy, like 5-10 minutes apiece, and mowing down vampires and paranormal creatures is overall really fun. If I had one criticism, it's that 50 levels was a bit exhausting for the story they wanted to tell. I would have preferred the 30 best/most important ones carrying a more tightly-paced narrative with the less critical 20 being relegated to optional bonus levels you can unlock.
Ultimately, a super cool game that has put Strange Scaffold on the map for me as a studio to pay close attention to. I also wonder if this game could be a model for smaller devs making a 7-10 hour third-person action game campaign in the future. Really nifty!
Then you have the aesthetic, which is this weird noir lo-fi vibe mixed with really good voice acting and great (if slightly campy at times cough cough the raps ) music. Pretty cool. The story came across as a bit self-serious and borderline pretentious as first (but maybe a fun, intentional kind of pretentiousness?) but evolved into a really interesting/compelling story involving vampires I won't spoil.
The levels are pretty snappy, like 5-10 minutes apiece, and mowing down vampires and paranormal creatures is overall really fun. If I had one criticism, it's that 50 levels was a bit exhausting for the story they wanted to tell. I would have preferred the 30 best/most important ones carrying a more tightly-paced narrative with the less critical 20 being relegated to optional bonus levels you can unlock.
Ultimately, a super cool game that has put Strange Scaffold on the map for me as a studio to pay close attention to. I also wonder if this game could be a model for smaller devs making a 7-10 hour third-person action game campaign in the future. Really nifty!
There's a decent Max Payne homage here, but it's buried beneath a game that doesn't know when to stop. The level designs, enemy roster and weak gunplay (the shotgun being the exception) aren't enough to keep the game feeling fresh through its 50 levels.
The narrative is so self-indulgent in its drowsy mood that it becomes hard to care about any points it might try to make about the abusive relationships and vicious cycles the characters go through. A shame the trippy visuals and cool soundtrack can't pick up the slack, either.
There's an ok game here if played in short bursts, but it just doesn't come together in the end.
The narrative is so self-indulgent in its drowsy mood that it becomes hard to care about any points it might try to make about the abusive relationships and vicious cycles the characters go through. A shame the trippy visuals and cool soundtrack can't pick up the slack, either.
There's an ok game here if played in short bursts, but it just doesn't come together in the end.