i feel like hrot really hits the platonic ideal of the 'Boomer Shooter Throwback' which has become so popular in indie game circles during the past few years. its really a very Simple game compared to its peers, it cuts back on a lot of the more flashy cinematic bits & direct callbacks to older shooters (see: new blood interactive) and tighten up the shooting & level design (see: shit like project warlock) to much success. what i enjoy about it more than anything are how important the little interactive details are to the developer - you look at his twitter feed and hes barely showing off the weapons and enemies and combat, its all just videos of an astronomical clock simulator he programmed in or a model railroad set that you can make drive around, it's a cute game. the world of post-monster-invasion czechoslovakia is inhuman at its core, groaning and spilling steam and oil from the grounds pores, all clattering pipes and dark brick corridors with rusty grate flooring or putrid water (silent hill esque?). none of the enemies have visible faces or entirely human body shapes, theyre all a little stretched out and bloated and they love to puke all over themselves. even the ceiling turrents make a sickly moan when you kill them (definitely silent hill)

and so, when combined, these two things (the careful extraneous details & the generally diseased atmosphere) intermingle and make you feel like the only two characters are yourself (as the player) and the world; the industrial parks and sewage tunnels all creak and shudder like a big big gross animal and the levels are designed in such a way as to loop around on themselves very well so you really do picture each one as a singular Thing rather than the discrete vignettes a lot of these type of games operate in (see: new blood interactive once again). i think the developer wants you to feel sad at seeing what this place has become post invasion and humanizes it to do that but i dont know much about the history of the czech republic or anything so thats where my train of thought ends.for me personally, the gunplay is kind of secondary to everything i just mentioned but its very satisfying, they use a straightforward reasonably varied pool of weapons and it all looks and feels good. i love to shoot guys, its just that simple