Viscerafest Review

Viscerafest is a (god, I hate genres) “sci-fi fantasy single-player arena FPS with minor collectathon elements” developed in collaboration by Acid Man Games and Fire Plant Games and published by Fulqrum Publishing. It’s always good to see another boomer shooter making it to market, and I’m always up for wading knee deep in death and destruction, so let’s see if it's worth a try.

Murder time, fun time!

It’s the year 3796 and you play as Caroline: your normal, everyday psychotic human(?) mercenary. Her life is okay. Sure, there might be eldritch beings and aliens running around, but she’s happy and planning to marry her boyfriend. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have enough money for a ring, but a bounty for the head of some twat warlock (her words, not mine) named Cromune might be what she needs. It won’t be an easy target to bag, considering he has the backing of an army, but that shouldn’t be much trouble for her. What’s a couple of soldiers to Death incarnate?

For a game I expected not to have much in terms of story, it’s surprisingly detailed. There’s a bunch of lore on the world and backstories of characters, with hand-drawn cutscenes doing more than just being excuses for level transitions. It can be funny and drop some badass (if cheesy) moments and lines, but it also isn’t afraid to creep you out at times, too. There are levels that are more focused on atmosphere and story than running and gunning. That’s not to say they’re easy, but they do break up the pacing; there’s only so much death and destruction you can stand before it becomes exhausting.

Rip and tear.

Most of all, I have to give props to the voice acting, especially for our bloodthirsty (and cannibalistic) protagonist. I could definitely tell the voice actress playing Caroline was having quite the time, quipping and making references while you kill anything in your way. Her lines don't repeat all too often, so she's never boring to listen to.

But enough about that, let’s get into the gameplay. If you’ve played any version of DOOM, you should find yourself in familiar territory; you’ll be running around, gunning down anything in your path with a variety of weapons, grabbing key cards to unlock doors, all in order to get to the end of the level. There will also be tons of secrets to discover per stage, so taking the time to explore will reward you with supplies, early access to new weapons, and maybe even an easter egg or two. These areas might throw you a few curveballs to keep things from getting stale, but that’s your main gameplay loop.

Stay still, and you're dead in seconds.

There are quite a few differences. Bunnyhopping is an actual mechanic that not only makes you go faster: it halves any damage taken; great for speedrunning and dealing with hitscan weapons. You can also dash for a few invincibility frames, which is necessary for some fights. However, no matter how good you are at those techniques, you will get hit eventually, so you’ll need to replenish your health and armour. Health is dropped by gibbed enemies while armour is gained by punching them while they’re still alive, encouraging aggression in your fights and getting up close and personal whenever you can. Also, you should punch dead bodies if they’re still intact. It’s a good system with positive reinforcement of the most fun way to play the game, constantly on the move and getting into your foe’s face before shooting it off, but this is tempered by… everything else.

Enemies do not play around. While there are some (like innocent, assholish scientists) that only exist to feed your health and armour, it’s the much more dangerous ones that you need to prioritise. There will be guys with shields, foes that explode or send out their brains after death, become invisible and leave exploding decoys, shoot grenades, and just a whole lot of things you’ll need to manage at once. It’s nice to have a good variety of aliens/demons to face, making no encounter the same and giving every weapon a role to play, but some set-ups are more like meat grinders in their favour rather than challenges to test you. That’s also not accounting for all the environmental hazards you’ll need to watch out for.

...Huh.

Resources are surprisingly scarce, too. Your guns chew through ammo like it's nothing (your basic pistol takes 10 ammo), health and armour are rarely obtained as pick-ups, and dying sends you back to your last save, and they are limited by Save Beacons (there is an autosave for bosses, but no using Save Beacons). You’re incredibly agile, but if you aren't focusing on the game 100%, you'll die in seconds. I ended up dying over 80 times before beating the first chapter (which consisted of several levels). This is not helped by the fact that I played on a controller with a modern control scheme, and let me tell you,; that is a mistake unless you like awkwardly positioning your hands to simultaneously bunnyhop, aim, and shoot all at once. I recommend using either the default control scheme or keyboard and mouse. When it hits its stride, like when you’re dodging bullets and uppercutting crowds, it’s really great. When it fumbles, like when you’re basically running on fumes and spite while dying two dozen times, it fumbles hard.

This might be due to the difficulty I chose, where I picked Lacerated (Hard) because it said it was for “those pretty familiar with the Retro Shooter subgenre”. I did consider myself one, but it also brought up a warning saying that it was the equivalent of Ultraviolence from DOOM. Apparently, I forgot how hard Ultraviolence was because I foolishly continued with that difficulty. Should I mention there are three more difficulties that are even harder? However, you aren’t screwed if you find yourself in a death loop. You can change your difficulty at any time, though you will need to restart the level if you do. If you really need them, there are assist options you can turn for things like a damage buffer, more Save Beacons, and more invincibility frames after a dash. They can be godsends and make the game less frustrating, and there’s no punishment for turning the difficulty down, so don’t think less of yourself.

VISCERA. HOT. VISCERA. HOT.

Once you’ve completed a chapter, you’ll be sent back to the hub where you can head over to the next set of levels or replay previous ones, spend the skulls you pick up on modifiers and cheats, check out the bestiary and lore, or simply relax and enjoy the atmosphere. After going through a gauntlet of tough levels, it’s nice to slow down for a bit and look at what you’ve unlocked throughout your slaughter before you dive into the next bloodbath. You’re going to be doing this for 23 levels, so it’s a relief to have breaks in between high-octane action.

Now, I didn’t run into any glitches in my playthrough. The game ran perfectly at a consistent 144 FPS (which I can’t tell the difference from 60 FPS), and load times were quick, no matter what was being loaded. As for any other issues I’d like addressed, well, I’d like a tutorial on power-ups because I have no idea what they do and I can’t seem to navigate the lore menu with a controller.

Fun fact: her hair is nerve endings.

Viscerafest is a good game at its core, but be warned: it is not for newer players. Its fast-paced, brutal action will excite any veteran of the boomer shooter genre, but if your skills aren’t up to snuff, you might find yourself drowning in a pool of your own blood.