Project Warlock

I guess the best way to sum up this whole game would be thus: The developers tried emulating old FPS games without understanding what made them so good. Again. The first and biggest problem of the game is the engine - it's Unity. Optimized extremely poorly for how the game looks. The movement feels very floaty, and there's something off about strafing. Not sure how to describe it - moving forward and strafing at the same time feels very stuttery. The spells seem like an afterthought - since upgrading your guns (absolutely necessary for some of them) share the same upgrade points as buying spells - spells are often left out, not to mention they aren't all that strong. Except the freeze, freeze is your best friend. The start of the game until you get at least the shotgun is extremely slow, as your handgun is weak, and the staff uses your mana and eats through it pretty fast. Pretty much all enemies until then can be killed by throwing your dagger, as it does very high damage on throw. Even after you get the heavier-hitting guns you constantly feel like there isn't quite enough ammo - making those ammunition perks and capacity upgrades a priority. The music is fairly forgettable for the most part. It's not bad, but it's not something I'd put on my playlist either. The automap is just not there. Sure, there's a minimap in the top-left, except it's worthless. The range is abysmal, and it doesn't even show doors on it, or which colour they are. The difficulties are not properly balanced at all. normal is far too easy, and hard is far too punishing. There needs to be something in-between. Well, at least blowing enemies to bits is somewhat satisfying. Is the game worth your money? If you really enjoy FPS games like this one, and if you have a higher-end PC to play it on, maybe. But I'd honestly recommend just replaying some of the classics instead - Doom, Quake, Blood and others.

Five episodes, 12 levels each. Levels start pretty claustrophobic and altogether not that fun, enemies are not very distinguished for the most part- a lot of overlap in roles and many of them go down pretty easy. All that said I was having lots of fun by the third episode, barrelled through the fourth and then onto the fifth- and about 8 missions into the fifth I grab a key on a ledge, a wall drops down and about 12 rocket enemies suddenly spam the crap out of me. I die, fine, no big deal. But then my save game is gone! I'm like 56 levels into a 60 level game, and my progress is gone. Zero. No option to continue game, just "NEW" game. Apparently I ran out of "lives", because yeah for some weird reason this game doesn't have save games but instead has a lives system and then blamo- straight dead for all time. Unless I want to replay the previous 8 hours and try not to run out of lives. WOW THAT IS FUN. What is this game design? It's 2020. There's nothing fun about replaying an entire game just to finish the last couple of levels. Is that supposed to be a rogue lite element? I was going to give this game 4 or 5 stars. Not anymore.

Played it for about an hour & was absolutely not satisfied with the product. For a suppose throwback to 90's FPS, this needs a lot more polish & changes. - Frame rate issues. - Movement is floaty & inconsistent. - Mouse sensitivity is bad, even if locking vertical movement. - Resource heavy. - Axe cooldown visual feedback needed. - You can only toggle 'run'. There is no button to hold to run. - No Save/Load mechanic, a basic feature every old FPS has. - You cannot resize HUD. - Too many unnecessary 'retro' graphics options. Never once when I tried these, felt the game was like an old-school FPS since subconsciously I know this is a new game. I don't get what people see in this. - RPG system.... The biggest regrettable purchase I've made. Easily. But also, a lesson learned. NEVER fall for the hype or marketable strategy we see today advertising these games as a throwback to the old times as only few of them get it right. Always do research & decide if it's worth a purchase. Luckily I got refunded.

This is another one of those "look at me I'm old school" games that forgets what old school design truly is. The way the gameplay works is that you play though levels killing monsters to unlock points which you spend on improving your weapons and stats from the “workshop” a non-combat level you return to at the end of each run. If that sounds familiar it’s because it’s same type of mechanic used in a lot of rouge-like games. Old school games were all about the skill and timing which goes completely out the window once you introduce RGP-like upgrades into the mix. You can’t save mid level either. Instead the game uses a lives system and once you run out that’s all your progress gone. Unless of course you’re playing on the easiest difficulty, or backup the games registry files. (hint hint) 90s fps games had quick save for a reason. Another problem with the game is the lighting system. The graphics are fine expect for the fact that you can barely see anything. Turning the in games brightness to max helps a little but makes everything look ugly and not in retro 90s kind of way. I say you’re better off getting a genuine game from the 90s then this reimagining. It’s a shame too because the combat is really good and none of the problems I've listed are beyond fixing with a few patches. I think this game should do away with these modern FPS quirks and just embrace old-school design 100% and run & gun with it.

Right now the game is not very well polished and doesn't live up to a title of first GOG timed exclusive (for me personally, as I expected the game would recieve a much better QA testing from both devs and GOG), at least on the technical side of things. However, not mentioning performance or bugs, its a very entertaining FPS with meaty weapons, nice little RPG elements to add a little replayability, some neat references, good artwork and great music. Right now it feels like a INDEV game with amount of issues players are struggling with. But devs are all over the forums, taking notes and answering questions, while also working on improving the game, which gives hope, so if you're thinking about a purchase - wait a few patches before grabbing it to make your first impression feel much better and smoother than it would be now.