I have relatively little experience with roguelike games. Aside from Hades and its sequel, it wasn’t a very popular genre in the Andersson family. Still, it’s always fun to challenge yourself and try something new. When I got home on Wednesday, I installed Redacted on my Xbox and have been working my way through Striking Distance Studios’ new title ever since. Has the studio managed to catch up with Hades or Dead Cells? I guess we’ll have to find out.
Redacted is set in the same world as The Callisto Protocol, more specifically in prison, where the protagonist of the latter title must survive a massive biochemical outbreak that has caused the prisoners to go crazy and mutate. Now the same premise applies, but here you take on the role of one of the security guards who must now use his entire arsenal to leave the planet alive. But aside from the same premise and a similar starting point, the gameplay experiences differ significantly, offering two completely different adventures. So you don’t need to have experience with either game to appreciate the content. On the one hand, The Callisto Protocol presents itself as a horror game, but it seems that Striking Distance Studios has completely abandoned the approach of the aforementioned title to create something new with this roguelike.
Fans of the genre will immediately recognize Redacted’s premise. Like Hades, for example, the game is about getting from point A to point B. Along the way, you will encounter various challenges in the form of various enemies and bosses that will continually make your life more difficult. You will die many times over as you become stronger and stronger with every attempt. The design itself is also strongly reminiscent of Hades. So if you like Supergiant’s adventures through the underworld, there’s a good chance you’ll also like Redacted.
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But I’m honest. The first hour, or rather the first few hours of the adventure, didn’t seem like fun at all. I felt very overwhelmed by all the components, all the currencies, the systems and even the controls themselves, which were very different from the more traditional controls of the genre. I’ve died many times and that in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But at the same time, I felt like there was an incredible amount of stuff being thrown at me at once and I didn’t have a chance to learn and get used to all the different features. In short, the climbs were huge, but at the same time you were expected to run as fast as you could without passing out from exhaustion. A perfect example of what I mean can be obtained just by looking at the screen. There’s an incredible amount of information, but the game never really explains or clarifies what it’s used for or how it’s collected. Much of this is left to you to find the answers yourself, which unfortunately isn’t that easy in the various menus and is a recurring theme throughout the experience.
But luckily things get better later. Even though the beginning is a really merciless, hard fight, you soon get into the game fluently. For example, even if the game controls are different, I can understand that they decided to go their own way. Ultimately, the controls feel as natural as any other game in the genre, and the more you develop your skills, the better the gaming experience becomes. Of course, some things leave something to be desired. For example, there’s no indication of how much cooldown you have on your dodge, which I think is one of the genre’s greatest features. It would have helped if the game had provided some information about when you can use the feature, as now you have to rely solely on your own intuition or your ability to press a button until something happens.
Striking Distance Studios has put great effort into providing the player with the conditions to make each round unique. You have a wide arsenal of different weapons at your disposal and the game encourages you not to limit yourself to a few favorites, but rather rewards you for trying new things. For someone who tends to get hung up on certain weapons and playstyles, it was refreshing to feel motivated to try new approaches with each run.
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Unlike The Callisto Protocol, which offers a more realistic picture graphically, Redacted has opted for a completely different stylistic path. I can certainly see some similarities between the two when it comes to the environments, but while the previous title relied on a dark and gloomy atmosphere, Redacted feels more colorful, cartoonish and comic-like. The feeling that the game wants to convey is an incredible contrast to the developer’s previous title, but at the same time there was never any talk of continuing with the same theme, even if the game was set in the same world. In addition, a rocking soundtrack was chosen that also fits the theme. Most of the time I like the choice of direction, but sometimes I feel like I would have liked more variety in the color choices and overall setting. But in itself it doesn’t stand out compared to similar titles in the genre.
However, I wish there had been a deeper plot to draw on, or at least a clearer why. I think I was spoiled by my previous experience with Hades, where there was a clear thread from start to finish as to why you kept coming back. There was also a consistent sense of progression, which I personally find very important for these types of games. Here I would have wished that the developer had made more effort to give the experience that certain extra something, because in the end it unfortunately leads to nothing. But here, too, I’m based on my own preferences.
To sum up my experience you can say that it was both good and average. The boring beginning set the bar low, and then I slowly realized it could still be fun. Overall I had fun, but I also missed that “something more” while playing. Is it revolutionary for the genre? Unfortunately no. Redacted definitely manages to entertain, but doesn’t reach the level of Hades or Dead Cells. Still, it’s not a bad game and I think many will appreciate the developer’s new direction. But for me personally, my body was craving something more.
