INDUSTRY analysis: An “alternative” shooter

From the hand of the developer Bleakmill and the editor Heads Up Games bring us INDUSTRY. A very special narrative shooter that was developed by only three people and is the developer’s original game. Do you want to know how his debut went? Well, keep reading to get into this most interesting alternate reality.

history and science fiction

INDUSTRY He has one of his strengths in his story, since he manages to hook us from the start. Its temporary location is in 1989 in a divided Germany, more precisely in East Berlin. On the same afternoon as the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young woman named nora she wakes up to a very disturbing call from a colleague on the ATLAS project. This is when the game begins and we see how the protagonist rushes to the workplace to see what has happened. From there and revealing as little as possible, we’ll dive into a parallel dimension/alternate reality to find your missing colleague.

This concept is not new in science fiction and is present in many genre novels, but applied to a video game, we do not have many examples. The starting point immediately connects with the player and we will want to move forward to find out more about the story. Its clearest reference is a saga as mythical as BioShock even if we are far from the triple A saga with much more budget than this very personal work.

INDUSTRY, an adventure shooter with accents of terror

The genre of this game is watered down somewhat. The adventure parts are more of the game than the shooting parts. Without a doubt, the The interesting story we mentioned and the solving of small puzzles, mixed with shooting sections is a very interesting cocktail. Added to this is a terror component in some dimly lit areas. In these, the music and strange sounds associated with the only light of our flashlight will give us goosebumps.

The investigation and puzzle parts lead us to manage an inventory and use objects on other objects, or on parts of the board, to keep moving forward. Sometimes we will have to locate a specific object to be able to overcome a certain obstacle, in the purest graphic adventure style. Despite this, no one expects point-and-click, nor of course the difficulty of a game of this genre.

A fairly serious flaw in the game is that the mechanics of grabbing and pointing objects that can be interacted with fails.. We encountered a shiny object, which is clearly something you can pick up, but the game doesn’t mark it. After approaching it in a different way and hitting the pickup button, we managed to add it to our inventory with some difficulty. Also, to solve one of the puzzles, he didn’t mark the object as a possible interaction and it was the one to interact with to finish solving it. Fortunately, and thanks to the fact that it was something very logical, we were able to solve the problem.

These small issues, along with others we’ll name later, show that the game needs a few more tweaks.

Compliant graphics

It is true that it is impossible to compare this game with other new generation. Obviously, he would be the loser. But you always have to take into account that this game was made by three people, it is an indie game. If we take that into account, the game is more than compliant.

Although I knowu resolution reaches 4K, the game is only in the Xbox Series version and not on Xbox One although it does not reach 60 FPS. We don’t know the reason for it not being released in One, since the Xbox One X seems to be able to move that satisfying 30 FPS or so.. Of course, you can see small drops by turning the camera in some places. The scenarios are rich, with many details and manage to “hide” the simplicity of the title. The most positive aspect of INDUSTRY comes in the processing of lighting. The shadows and the incidence of light on the various surfaces are amazing for an indie style title with so few resources.

music and sound

The music helps to configure this feeling of reality that is strange and foreign to the known world. For its creation, synthesizers were useda very outdated type of music popularized by the recently deceased composer Vangelis several decades ago. It is very appropriate to the title and it shows that it has been worked on.

The FX are more modest, despite this we do not find any major errors, except that the protagonist does not make any sound when falling from a certain height, which is somewhat strange, since at high altitudes he does do. The voices do their job and the dubbing work, in English yes, is quite well done. Of course, we will count the subtitles in Spanish.

Improved game

INDUSTRY It offers two difficulty modes. We have the normal level with automatic game saving and a higher level: fanatic, which allows saving only on typewriters located on the map in time. Aside from the previously mentioned issue of object interaction and tagging, the game has some easily fixable control issues. The console port has been taken directly from the PC and sometimes gives us clues that mislead us, such as pressing the E key or the L key (¿¿??). We recommend reassigning functions and buttons before you start playing, so it’s clear which button each action is on. We say this because the edit/identify controls menu is very confusing, as well as the default assignment.

Some mechanics have become a bit stale, like that to run you have to hold down the joystick button. Currently, as you all know, just press and move the joystick in the direction of travel.

By saving these bugs, the game is easy and simple to manage. We will have up to four weapons and its duration is estimated at 4-5 hours. It also uses the Quick Resume, which is always appreciated.

INDUSTRY FINDINGS

The game has a very independent background. However, comparisons with other games would result in a very unfavorable review at this time. INDUSTRY It’s a fun game, with a solid story and good graphics and sound, without being outstanding. Despite this, it is weighed down by a few flaws in the interaction mechanics and others that suggest that the console port was passed almost as is from the PC.

Even with these problems, the mix of genres and its interesting plot make it recommendable as well as enjoyable, always knowing its limits.

Recall that, as we said at the beginning, the game is the first work of the studio and was developed by only three people. Of course, with more means, this study points to good paths and we will have to watch their next titles.

At Xbox Area, we bring this and other titles to you, to help you with your purchases.