I'm almost dead. Health is basically zero. I need help. So I walk past a demonic dog and enter a dark, ominous bathroom. I quickly knock on the lone cubicle inside. It creaks open, I hear… something inside and then a single soda can rolls out. However, instead of drinking it, I play and knock again. And once again I roll a lemonade. Rather than risk my luck, I return to the aforementioned bad dog and give him one of my lemonades. It chugs along, and in return I can reload my weapons faster.
Then it's back to the action of running for my life out of a pixelated burning apartment while fighting cultists with a revolver, melee items and my foot. It's all very strange, but it's also fun and I keep coming back to play more Awfuleven if I keep dying.
In recent years we have seen the rise of the boomer shooter subgenre of FPS games. Something like Cult, twilight and fashion policeAnd 40K Bolters everyone looks older Protect from the 90s, but often use new technologies and decades of game design to create shooters that feel retro but fresh. The latest of these boomer shooters to catch my attention with its fast-paced, rogue-like action is Awfulnow available on Steam.
In Awfulplay as someone trapped in a building that is burning floor after floor. Like any good character from a '90s first-person shooter, you're always running, which is helpful in this case since the fire will quickly kill you if you stay longer. Every floor of the building is full of cultists, evil spirits and soda machines. These machines will heal you when you need it, or you can use the soda to upgrade your character between floors.
And you'll need these upgrades because each floor gets more difficult and brings with it new enemies with better weapons. And when you drink all your soda, you can always play in the bathroom and hope that evil monster in there gives you a soda and doesn't scare you and kill you right where you're standing. Like I said, it's a strange experience.
But Awful The strange setup isn't the reason I keep coming back to the game death after death. Instead, it's the game's crisp, responsive and retro-inspired FPS combat. Guns are loud. Enemies pop when you get the perfect headshot. And one mistake can end a perfect run. On the other hand, if you use all the tools Awful When equipped with slides, kicks, and melee weapons, you can often improvise to get out of a bad situation.
Awful reminds me of last year Furyfootbut with better combat and a crisper, more boomer shooter-inspired aesthetic. The soundtrack is also a blast. Oh, and if you click the reload button while your weapon has full ammo, your character will throw it into the area. 10 out of 10. I love it!
For just $10 and under 400MB, Awful is a perfect, bite-sized FPS to start the new year with, just don't risk too much on the toilet. Trust me.
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