HROT is a truly bizarre game, clearly heavily inspired by both Quake and Dusk, it's both of them and yet neither, as in many regards it's more akin to Duke 3D in the way it attempts to portray a realistic world. The game engine, a home developed one, like that of Dusk, is visually very close to Quake 1 or software Quake 2. The theme, a psychological horror like Amnesia or Dusk, combined with the visuals which lean hard into soviet era hungarian aesthetic results in a truly unique game - body horror and disturbing themes combine to create something that is hard to explain, but very playable. The body horror in particular is everpresent - vomiting guards, horses in gas masks, wheelchair bound foes who spit bullets, a gymn pommel horse with a rocket launcher, the game ramps up the wierdness to the point that nothing seems out of the ordinary. The concept, if considered long enough, is a meme and critique heavy perspective of a hungarian considering the insanity of their own lives in the context of video games, though HROT doesn't ask you to consider this any more than it asks you to simply exist in the world it portrays. Perhaps the best way to recommend HROT is 'Quake but at the end of each episode you get a recipe' or 'KingPin's visuals with Duke 3D's realism, and Stalker's world' but these imply that the game is far more derivative than it really is - HROT is simply HROT, a truly unique and special shooter, developed by someone in awe of Dusk, but with a much tighter understanding of what made Quake work. Where Dusk is all about subverting expectations and pushing you to a challenge limit, HROT is about cleverly balanced combat encounters. It matters not, HROT is simply put a wonderful game, well balanced, well paced and incredibly put together. At about 2 hours per episode. it's not too long, but it's witty, very european, and highly engaging, even if 50% of it appears to be sewer levels!
