I want the action to be fast-paced, our futures bleak, and my bits, low-res and bloody. That’s why I was attracted to Beyond Sunset from the moment I saw the first trailer, but I was sorely unprepared for this chaotic cyberpunk world.
Developer Metacorp/Vaporware has put a lot of time and energy into their retro first-person shooter, Beyond Sunset, and it paid off. It was a concept inspired by DOOM, DOOM Eternal, and some key elements from Deus Ex that — a bit oddly — started as a board game. What it has become, however, is a testimony to aesthetics, determination, and skills.
There is a story here behind the super-charged retro shooter, involving a street samurai named Lucy who is suffering from some memory problems. But this takes a backseat to the action when the unskippable cutscenes aren’t playing. As is trademark to the genre, there’s an ominous mega-corp pulling strings from the shadows. Other events led to mob turf wars, the undead, mechanical menaces, and people hurling fireballs at one another. These are just the threats before we enter cyberspace, mind you.
Built with the GZDoom engine, Beyond Sunset has environment and combat as the two main pillars pushing it to the top. Before the bullets begin flying, there’s some exploration to consider and NPCS to speak with. Sunset City is impressive, large, and bleak, but with a ton of character past the blindingly bright neon. Even with the blocky aesthetic many of the visuals remain eye-catching, to the point that even back alleyways and random street corners make for solid moody environments.
The areas of this semi-open world are quite large, many with loading points, but there are very few sections that feel like they’re missing something. There are more stages than just this concrete metropolis, but it was the most interesting part for me. Various zones bring a certain feeling with them, mixing up the somewhat serious futuristic tone. But it all comes together as a dangerous rat trap where hope is suffocated.
As nice as those backgrounds are, sometimes enemies can be hard to spot against them, and cyberspace takes a bit for the eyes to adjust to. In a couple of cases, I felt my eyes cross or my vision fade for a moment. From the perspective of someone with a visual disability – and I imagine others as well – there is a ton of rotating color, flashing lights, environmental debris, clutter, and pop-up effects from the action. This can be overwhelming and hard to discern. As awesome as these vibrant “Synthpunk” aesthetics are, they can also hinder.
Combat in Beyond Sunset is incredibly pleasing. The player is attacked in multiple ways, not just by the enemies themselves, but visually with the sheer number of foes and the various barrages of damage as wave after wave ports in and the onslaught escalates. Fighting in the future requires the player to rise to the challenge and master the sword – my favorite weapon in the game – as well as multiple firearms and other abilities that may be purchased later, so that we never have to bother with the pistol again. This gets into the RPG-style elements the game utilizes and helps with strategy.
Many missions end in an arena-like structure, usually well-designed and perfect for brawls that are meant to make the player feel a little claustrophobic, as scores of what almost feels like endless enemies appear. The bad guy variation grows and becomes solid, but it is easy to get swamped and stuck in the wrong place, taking damage from all angles, unable to survive. Beyond Sunset is somewhat tough and its difficulty cannot be changed at the player’s whim. I was often beating my head against a couple of brick walls until I found the perfect pattern or a better weapon. Thankfully, the swordplay is incredibly satisfying, and figuring out when best to use your abilities is a huge help. Plus, those gory death animations kept me thirsty for victory.
Pushing the environment and shootouts along is an impressive vaporwave soundtrack by Karl Vincent. The beats are perfect for zoning out and dealing up a large amount of death, hacking, and slashing away as the sounds of gunshots and bass-filled grunts from our victims echo in the tracks. The only issue with the audio is that sometimes things are overpowering, tunes will restart at awkward times, and a few areas only have one track so it can drone on a bit.
There are no traditional objectives. the player must find their own way with a bit of direction from the story and conversations. Sure, there’s a map, but it feels practically useless and it is easy to get lost and wander around aimlessly. The city is lovely, but if all of the assailants aren’t disposed of, a casual stroll is a good way to stay constantly under fire.
Controls are a bit awkward — I was constantly dashing without meaning to. Sound also cut out at random intervals. I only experienced one full crash, and most of the bugs just made the old-school feeling the game was going for seem more authentic. I did kill a couple of enemies with shields that dropped 20 of them upon death, like a robotic piñata. I wasn’t sure if this was a gag or a glitch until I found my answer online.
The developers are active, listening, and seemingly willing to put even more work into Beyond Sunset so that it becomes a better experience for everyone. Also, they are supposedly adding a quest tracker, making some areas and challenges optional, as well as re-tooling portions of the game that have been deemed too punishing. All of that makes Beyond Sunset a game I plan on revisiting after much of this is implemented, and all of the episodes are released. Grievances aside, it’s exciting to think what developers like this will do next.
SCORE: 7.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7.5 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclaimer: This Beyond Sunset review is based on a copy provided by the publisher.
