When I see "Streum On Studio," I am always reminded of their first game, E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy. That game is janky as hell but was a really fun experience. So when they released Deathwing, my friend and I were hyped because it looked so cool. It turns out that while it's janky, some fun can still be had. Then they released Necromunda, which should have the simplest gameplay of all those games (run-and-gun boomer shooter), but somehow they managed to make it the JANKIEST. Ok, good parts first. If there is something that is consistent with these guys (aside from jank), it’s that their art department always knocks it out of the park. The backgrounds, character design, weapons, and the trains (OMG the train) are just beautifully well done and scrappy, exactly how a Hive City should look. Every level looks great, and there's a good variety of places to explore. If you're a fan of Warhammer 40K, this aspect will not disappoint. I also appreciate that the developers chose Hive City as the setting; it brings to life a location that is seldom explored in Warhammer 40K. Hopefully, the next 40K games will also explore other places, not just the usual cities and battlefields. The sound is passable, the voice acting is good (can have a lot more of variation, though), and the story can be summed up as "I don't care." Movement feels snappy, and you can perform a lot of acrobatics (double jump, wall run, sliding, etc.), which all feel very responsive. Shooting the guns feels satisfying, with a sizable choice of armaments, so the game has a solid foundation. I don’t really have any issues with the shooting mechanics, except for what accompanies them, more on that later. With all of that out of the way, let’s talk about why this game has an identity crisis. The overall shooting and movement suggest that it's a fast-paced boomer shooter, but then the weapons have "types" like in a looter shooter. I'm talking about something similar to Borderlands, where an assault rifle can have effects (burning, toxic, etc.) and rarity that affects its damage and buffs. This, in turn, results in a variety of enemies that have "weaknesses" to certain types of weapons. Some enemies, despite having the same model, feel bullet-spongey because you need to use the "right" type of weapon. This adds a layer of complexity to the fast-paced shooting that doesn’t match the pacing they’re going for. There are also other problems, such as it being hard to differentiate enemies when everything looks so green and brown, the limited variety of enemies, shield guys still shooting even after you yank their shields off, and your dog and their dog, etc. They should have just committed to one type of shooter instead of creating this jumbled mess. On top of all this is the jankiness of the game, which ranges from minorly annoying to "how do they even fked this up". My favorite part is the process of removing a weapon from your inventory slot without selling it. It's freaking easy! Let me list the steps for you: Find the weapon vendor because, for some reason, there's no inventory function. On the vendor menu, click the list of the weapon type you want to remove. Buy the cheapest weapon of that type. Place that weapon in the slot of the weapon you want to unequip to exchange it. Now sell the cheapest weapon so your inventory slot is empty. Done! Very easy; 10/10, please reevaluate your life. There's still a lot more I could list, but the experience feels like you're driving a car with the driver's seat not on the left or right, but in the center. Yes, you can still drive it. Yes, you'll get used to it. But yes, it sure is painful as heck. So, do I recommend this game? Actually... yes, because despite all the pain, it is a somewhat fun game, and there aren’t many Warhammer 40K games available right now. But again, please only buy if: It's on sale (I got it for around ~$6). You are highly tolerant of jank. You have a semblance of interest in Warhammer 40K. You've exhausted your options for shooters and want to try something different. Whew, that's a lot of jank that I wrote! ---- List of Janks that I found - The "Press Enter" on the Title Menu is unclickable - Animation is overall stiff, on gameplay and on cutscene - Audio mixing on a lot of cutscene feels weird, especially the explosion sound (most of it sounds like a wet fart even though the explosion is in front of the charater) - When you are trying to talk to NPC, you'll need to wait for them to return to default state before the talk prompt is shown - Dialogue choice can only be chosen by hovering the mouse, you cannot use arrow button - Side missions does not have BGM Music - Side missions has infinitely spawning enemies because no reason - When you die, you actually have 3 loading screen. One when you Inject the Med-skull (forget the name) you got a mini loading terminal animation, and then you get the loading where you and your dog are walking, then the loading where it loads the level (This actually grates the hell out of me) - Might as well rename the dog as Janktiff with all that bug and janks on that poor canine. Even the act of calling the dog is jank as hell
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