Project Warlock

PW is a fun arcade game, but is not like Doom/Duke3D. I would give PW 4-5 stars if it had more interesting levels, an automap, and a "save game" feature. Who would like PW: - Players who like the pixel art style - Like customizing guns/abilities/stats - Like shooting groups of enemies with satisfying guns/explosions - Like replaying levels (if you don't play "casual", you'll have to restart the entire game when you run out of lives) - Don't mind short generic levels, just want to gun down enemies Players who want an experience like in Doom/Duke3D will be disappointed: - If you've played those games, you can immediately picture levels you loved. You can imagine moving through the level and where the traps/battles/neat layouts were. Every level felt unique and exploring them was fun. Levels in PW feel like a stage to shoot monsters (corridor, small room, repeat). I can tell effort went into designing the levels, but they're easy to get lost in and still feel like every room is the same corridor/box. My suggestion to the developer: - Include an actual automap where I can press tab and see everything I've explored (not a minimap in the corner). Maybe seeing the maps in an automap will help me appreciate their design. Also, if the option to create custom levels becomes available, we might see some really cool designs from players with larger, more complex layouts

Project Warlock is an impressive debut game from a high school developer, but could use a few improvements. PROS: + Old School fun + Nice juxtaposition of old school sprites and modern lighting CONS: - 1920x1080 max res - No 21:9 support - Movement is jerky, especially when strafing, and *especially* if also running - Melee attacks sometimes never fire (happens with both knife and axe) - Poor audio cues (e.g. no warning that a monster has spawned behind you, monster sounds play when there are no monsters around) - Doors not shown on mini-map - Doors, grates and secret doors can be very picky about positioning to activate The game is still a lot of fun and is worth checking out if you are a fan of the classic FPS genre that is poorly served today.

I love retro shooters - old and new. Project Warlock and DUSK have been the pinnacles of recent games in the genre for me. I just can't express how much I have enjoyed my time with these games. There is a recent I come back to them both, even after several completions. PW just scratched the right itch for me, even more so than DUSK perhaps, with its great level design, awesome selection of weapons and spells - all upgradable for differtent kinds of playstyles and straight forward action. Very rarely I got lost, and even when I did I was soon on my way again. Please, give PW a chance if you are curious. Beacuse, if you think you will like it, you will love it - at least I did.

I spent a couple months with this nagging "I need to play a shooter" feeling. I own a handful of others, but this one scratched the itch. It runs on the aesthetic and general idea of old shooters, yeah, but with some design elements that make it more of a modern shooter. You can play on casual with no real penalties from death other than starting a stage over, or you can play on harder difficulties and have to make it through on limited lives. Only the hardest difficulty, according to the new game setup, has any changes other than the lives mechanic. I played on Casual, so keep that in mind for the rest of the review. If you need to quit before beating an episode, you can just quit anywhere in any stage. You'll start that one exact level over again when you get back. Like older shooters, you get back your health the same way you get back ammo - pick it up off the floor. Mana works the same way. You have two uses for mana starting off - a staff and a light spell - and these two uses are so useful you don't really need any others. The light spell doesn't technically use any mana, but if you're at 0, it won't work. The staff's a decent weapon with upgrades available to change out how it works, and the light spell becomes essential for finding secret areas and passages. Most of the options you have are like this - they remain useful even when other options become available. In actually playing it, it doesn't feel like the old Doom. It feels like they made their own sort of game, and borrowed the artistic style of the old ones. What used to be pushing graphical limitations has become a design choice. You can't save in the middle of a stage, because that would let you get around the lives system. On the other hand, the levels are so short, and quitting and coming back is so easy and loses you so little progress, you don't particularly need it. It saves on its own at every loading screen. And since Casual doesn't change damage or health, bosses will still floor you.

I love this fucking game. I played it when a relationship was falling apart and I played it again during a serious depression. I'm a lot better now and playing it a third time on Hard. The graphics and music are just perfect and shooting mechanics are suitably awesome. Guns feel good. My only issue with the game is it doesn't have a sequel yet.