Shadowcat on 25/2/2013 at 09:47

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Anyone else playing this?

(http://teleglitch.com/)

It's brutal, but after a half-dozen games I'm finding it very addictive, and thinking I'll almost certainly pick up the full version.

Graphics are intentionally lo-res to the point where you really have to just imagine what most of the characters actually look like (so a step up from the classic ascii rogue-likes, but a non-dissimilar end result), but there's enough detail to be able to figure out what's what.

Levels appear to be semi-randomly constructed out of pre-fabricated components -- so you'll encounter familiar places every time you play, but they're assembled differently each time, and only the very biggest components will provide you with any kind of advance knowledge of any part of a level.

One of the key features of the game is the crafting of useful weapons and items by combining inventory objects together. The game completely streamlines this -- press C to open a menu of things you can create based on what you currently have -- so it's less a case of finding recipes through in-game information, and more a case of the game regularly rewarding you by telling you that suddenly you qualify for a New Thing.

Of course you'll then be able to learn which things get you which other things, so you do gain 'recipes' in that respect, but it's more retrospective. So as you play (and replay!) you'll be figuring out what you can get, what each thing does, and whether it's worth having in the first place, or perhaps if it's a component of something even more useful.

And all the while, you're blasting (or running from) a variety of enemies, some slow, some fast, some armed, some armoured, all of them out to get you.

The gameplay isn't complex, but it's challenging and fun.

Naturally there's no saving. You'll die a lot. I hear there can be some nasty difficulty spikes, too, and I've certainly run into situations I wasn't prepared for. I'm not especially good at it yet (I've yet to get through level 3 in the demo), but I'm having a good time regardless, so I figure the game is doing a few things right.

henke on 25/2/2013 at 10:45

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I dig the artstyle, will defenitely give the demo a go. I don't suppose it supports gamepad and has online co-op?

henke on 25/2/2013 at 12:24

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Yeah I guess it might get a bit dull if one player dies early on and only gets to spectate. Unless there was some kind of revive system built in. It would make the need for proper teamwork even more important though.

henke on 25/2/2013 at 16:48

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Tried the demo. Died already in the tutorial. Lasted 7 minutes in Level 1. Gamepad is a no-go but m+kb works great and the interface is very intuitive. Will play more later.

henke on 12/10/2013 at 08:16

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Damn this game is hard. Yet for some reason I can't quite stop playing it. Every time I die, on level 3 usually, from a guard usually, I vow never to touch it again. Yet, like with Dark Souls, it keeps nagging at the back of my head. This morning I woke up and realized what I needed to construct to help me get past the pistol-guards and zombieswarms on level 3. AND BY GOD IT WORKED! Just starting level 4 now, I have almost no health, my armor is falling to pieces, but on the plus side I have a bonus-life and a tripple-barrel nailgun! :D

Yes, I'm spoiler tagging objects, because much of the challenge and much of the rejoicing in this game comes from figuring out what you can make out of the things you find.

edit: moments into level 4, I step around the first corner only to find a welcome party comprised of giant zombies and shotgun-guards waiting for me. In a hail of gunfire I am dead and respawn back at the teleporter. I think I may have managed to shoot one of them in the foot. I walk back over there and toss a nailbomb around the corner, that takes care of all of them. I am now at 30 health, no medkits, and the entire level ahead of me. This is not going to go well.

edit2: this did not go well.