Roll up, roll up, it’s everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic game show: Meet Your Creator! Do we have a treat on today’s show? First off, here’s everyone’s favorite no-name player — you — taking on one of the most destructive and unforgiving challenges we’ve seen. Can our contestants overcome this latest challenge? We’ve seen them rise from the ranks of all the normal outposts, graduate from the dangerous ranks, and now they’re ready to take on the barbarians.
You know what that means: more traps, more guards, and a higher chance of dying! As we kick off the latest round of Meet, there’s everything to play, and always will. your. maker!
That’s what goes through my head every time I fire up Meet Your Maker, Behavior Interactive’s latest multiplayer experiment. Fueled by the success of Dead By Daylight and the timeless, loyal band of horror mutants that have kept it alive for the past seven years, the Canadian developer decided to go a little further…off-piste…because it was too much Got – expected follow-up. It’s also available through PlayStation Plus Essential on the first day of May 2023. The premise (as you might have guessed from that flashy intro) is a hyper-competitive spin-off challenge, all of which are devised by other players.
Think of Takeshi Castle in the Warhammer 40K universe. Ninja Warrior by Mad Max. This is Black Mirror’s knockout. It kind of puts you in the mindset of meeting your creator. Each of your expeditions to some other hideous sadist’s lair gives you access to materials that let you assemble and improve your own base. So, when you attack someone, they attack you too. It’s something that reminds me of the crap nuclear base in Metal Gear Solid 5 (except without any of the insane island charm).
It’s a core conceit, and for anyone who likes to head to head against the challenge of combat in Dark Souls or other games, dying over and over until that eureka moment pops up and helps you break through is a very compelling core idea. In order to build a challenge and upload it to the server, you’ll need to beat it yourself–so there’s no scary, unfinished trap level (in theory) here. The levels are of rich quality; some players are essentially minigame developers themselves, maximizing their toolbox of guards, traps, weapons, suits, and hardware like a young John Romero, and making Bleshinski’s funky locket puzzle.
Others… well, you can tell people are getting it for free. Some outposts are minimal effort, apparently crafted by kids who finish their homework five minutes before class–these cynical little bastards are collecting free PS Plus downloads for trophies. It’s a bit of a Meet Your Maker problem: each level is a wild swing of quality, from batshit genius to full diceroll of bullshit griefer.
Sometimes, you can load up to a level and think you’re on vacation: there’s a nice little atrium with wide open spaces – none of those deadly claustrophobic tormenting Warrens here – that pretty much escorts you to its treasure, where several A hired thug half – wholeheartedly protecting their boss’s booty. Other times, once you’re in, you want to get out: a rusty metal pipe leads you deep, with spikes waiting above, below, to the left, and to the right. A secret window above the target may appear, but the reward for trying James Bond is a hidden spike on the foot.
It reminds me of procedurally generated levels in roguelites; sometimes, a machine algorithm chooses the best combination of tiles and tools, and you feel like you’re playing a masterpiece of a hand-curated experience. But, on the next screen, there’s nothing but an empty hallway, and for some reason, an incompetent thug is shooting at the wall. Meet Your Maker is just that, but more extreme.
So, is it worth downloading? Yes. Because I’ve never actually played anything like it. The game (ostensibly punishing and brutal, with its sandblasted, rusty punk aesthetic) is surprisingly forgiving, letting you try again when you’ve tried in vain to collect as many materials as possible. But here’s the question: after 42 tries, do you care enough to beat xXSniperWolfXx’s Raid Encounter? Do you have time to continue digging into rando’s levels and invest in them?
meet your creator is asshole mario maker – If this sounds appealing to you, you should hop on your PS4/5 and download it now.