I’ve probably written this before on this very site, but when someone asks me what my favorite video game is, my standard answer is half-life 2. So any game trying to capture half-life 2The excellent blend of exploration, action, puzzle-solving, and emptiness in caught my attention. And if this game is successful and Also includes its own gravity cannon, well I’m over the moon about that. happiness for me and others half-life Fans, the newly released indie shooter He doesn’t stop is one of those games.
released last week He doesn’t stop is a first-person shooter this is a self-proclaimed throwback to the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was the era of the “linear-but-not-stuck-in-the-hallway-shooter”. stuff like half-life 2, glorioleand Distant scream. The kind of shooters where you only have one way through each level and each play area, but the areas are bigger than demise‘s Corridors are interesting to explore and often full of environmental puzzles. And while He doesn’t stop pulls off a lot of these shooters, it’s the most similar to all of them half-life 2and not by accident.
Within the first 20 minutes of He doesn’t stop, you gain an arm resembling a gravity gun and are forced to battle space cops who emit a loud blast of static and electronic screeches when killed. And like Gordon Freeman, the main star of Valve half-life series, your main character never speaks on their long, uninterrupted journey from point A to point B. If you have played half-life 2 or its subsequent episodes, all of which should sound fairly familiar. But if it’s not broke…
The single developer who made He doesn’t stop clearly understands what made half-life 2 and his contemporaries work. For example, an early section includes a train, an abandoned bridge, and not much more than the sound of a distant crow. Although the level is capped, it works, mainly because the time when you’re moving forward and when you’re pushing sideways to let the train fly by is made more intense by all the space cops shooting at you. Of course, just like in half-life 2, you can also take a big box and use it to block some of the balls. Or hurl it at the bastard shooting at you and knock him completely off the bridge.
Another level features limited ammo and lots of small objects to hurl at zombie-like enemies. Or you can use bigger ones to create obstacles to slow them down while you figure out how to escape. You always have options in He doesn’t stop.
What sets this indie shooter apart is how it routinely nails the flow and pace a half-life Game, even if some parts feel less polished than Valve’s classic shooter. This is most noticeable in some small areas, like stairs, where you’re cutting through walls or stairs. Other times I encountered performance issues or empty spaces that felt unfinished. And characters are not voiced; instead they do Banjo Kazooie “chirping” thing. None of that made it difficult to enjoy He doesn’t stop, it just reminded me of the size of the game and its limited resources. It was also a reminder of how passionate this game seems to be.
When He doesn’t stop works and nails this Half Life 2Feel like it’s one of my favorite games I’ve played this year. Everyone who loved half-life 2 or alyx or one of the episodes should at least check out the free demo of the game.
I didn’t even mention this game Also contains a full, alternate open-world campaign. So if you’re tired of reliving the past, you’ll get a whole different mode that plays more like a modern, large-scale shooter than it did recently Distant scream games. What value!
He doesn’t stop is available on Steam and Itch.io for PC. There’s also a free demo available to play now if you want to try before you buy.
