REKKR: Sunken Land

If the headline makes any sense to you, grab this game right now! If not, consider it an odd shooter out of the mid/late 90's, definitely not gonna give the young adrenaline junkie his fix, but very solid all around.

REKKR as a game had the goal to be a game that could potentially launch in 1996, as shown by its website used for the original release, stylized as if it comes from the time in which web browsers barely had features and could only load things very slowly, As such, this game is NOT built on GZDoom tech at its core, rather using its features as optional extras, but uses the old DEHACKED for the vanilla 1993 DOOM release. The original DOOM engine is way more limited than most think, and DEHACKED only allows you to basically swap values around without being able to really add anything new. As such, it is amazing that this game feels like more than a DOOM reskin or clone. Things certainly play into the DOOM archetypes but many clever design choices like having the punch be a combo, the axe be a powerful swing, the rune launcher be like a mine launcher, enemies being less about hitscan and more about quick projectiles, really makes it feel like something that was more inspired by DOOM rather than something simply built on it. This game delivers on its premise of bringing an unique experience that could have been created in the years where this genre was getting the motion for mainstream success while also not feeling like a simple clone of whatever was done in that era, it makes its limitations work in its favor and gives you something that you'll really only appreciate if you know how these games function, I really wish we could get more of this kind of game. Full writing here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/iv1632/review/1012646/

I was on a fence should I give Rekkr 3 or 4 stars. I don't feel it really captures the viking feel. Many of the levels don't feel the part at all and also most of the enemies and weapons neither. For my taste this game uses too much of enemies spawning behind you from thin air or monster closets and some of the levels are a bit too maze like. Music is mostly fitting. And sprite work and level design is pretty fine. But yeah in the end it packs a lot of content for the price. Gameplay is solid modern gzdoom gameplay and there is enough challenge. While I think there are better Doom total conversions out there like Wolfenstein - Blade of Agony, Ashes 2063(especially episode 2) or Adventures of Square, or if you want more medieval gameplay then check out Arthurian Legends. I still think this is solid game and worth playing through if you like the genre. If you are not big fan of the genre, then you could reduce a star from my rating.

After being unable to launch the game after buying it on Steam, decided to see if this version would work instead. And yes it did, flawlessly. Rekkr is a First Person Shooting in a Medieval Dark Fantasy world in the same vein as Heretic or Hexen. This is a GZDoom engine based game so it uses a modernized classic Doom engine. Feels smooth, responsive with tons of options available to customize how you please, except for jumping seems to be disabled for some reason. The game itself has it's own unique take on this sub-genre with it's own unique weapons and enemy variety. It is quite brutal and unforgiving so expect a really tough time if you play on the top two difficulty settings. Ammo is very scarce and enemies with often kill you in less than three hits. The levels are large and very well designed to give you a sense of exploration in a semi-nonlinear way. Overall: definitely a recommendation as games in this sub-genre are hard to come by and this is a well done one for sure.