Bouchart: How many people are going to confuse Strafe with Strife, which actually was made in 1996?
qwixter: I did.
Perhaps it's intentional. It does seem confusing when they keep mentioning a specific year rather than saying back to the 90's etc. I know the whole point it the game is pretending to be a game from 1996 but doing that is confusing.
The store page made me think it was a re-release of an old game at first glance but then things didn't add up: the screenshots looked modern and the price seemed too high for a re-release. Also the date but the year could be when it's available here not when first released.
Much of the joy of a 90's shooter was in finding all the Easter eggs and exploring the hand-crafted levels along with scripted events and switch/key puzzles. Quick save/load was available and essential (for me at least). The retro graphics on the weapons look too much like the modern impersonation they are. Quake (1996) and Jedi Knight (1995) had low polygons but it made up for them with its textures to make it look good despite the limitations. Duke 3D used sprites for the weapons.
I can take-or-leave the 90's aesthetic they've used as a gimmick but the procedural levels and rogue-like features, that it seems like every indie game has to have, make this unappealing to me.