While it won't reinvent the wheel, Conscript is still a pretty solid Survival Horror that perfectly showcases the strengths (and weaknesses) of said genre.

First and foremost is the best thing Conscript has going for it, which is the oppressing atmosphere. While the game isn't all that scary, the WW1 is used to perfection, with details like the war torn environments and soldiers suffering from stress adding to the tension. Couple this with the excellent sound design and you have an experience that will always have you on looking over your shoulder. On the gameplay side of things its also pretty good, with a great mix of gun play and the occasional melee weapon that can help conserve ammo. Exploration is also greatly emphasized, with a ton of optional areas that reward you with very nice rewards (ranging from the occasional new weapon to new inventory slots). What shocked me initially was that the game utilized elements of both classic and new Resident Evil, with the inventory management of old mixed with the more modern games upgrade systems. This isn't a negative however as not only does this add to the exploration, but the upgrades never feel necessary and can be completely avoided if you want a more classic experience. Lastly this game is absolutely gorgeous, with the retro looking design sticking out in the best way possible, especially in some of the later chapters.

It's not all perfect sadly. The most glaring flaw of Conscript is just how easy it is. I played on the default difficulty and not only are you absolutely flooded with ammo throughout ( never needed to use the Rifle/MachineGun because of this) but the enemies are just way too simple to avoid. Adding to this is how stupid they can be, either losing track of you or just not attacking for some odd reason (this can happen naturally but most of the time it doesn't feel like that). I also feel like the game can lean a bit too into being old fashioned, as things like the ability to have checkpoints are labeled as detriments and will lock you out of the highest rank. This wouldn't be a problem if some sections didn't have random instakills that make you lose a lot of progress (I remedied this by saving a fuck ton in the second half). Another victim of the old fashioned design is just how much backtracking is in the game, with shortcuts being few and far between alongside the lack of an unlimited sprint in sections you've already cleared which just adds to the annoyances. Final thing to discuss is the story which just exists. While some of the early moments foreshadow something stranger going on it never really explores those themes and just becomes a standard rescue your sibling adventure. It tries to spice things up with various flashbacks but these don't really add anything and could've been cut (or optional).

Despite some issues I still came out of Conscript loving my time with it. For just $20 USD you'd be getting a lot out of it, with a solid 10 hour running time mixed with the various endings/NG+. A fantastic first game that makes me excited to see what Jordan Mochi and Catweight Studio will be cooking in the future.

8.5/10