Section 13 [Review]

Section 13 is a top-down, co-op zombie shooter where players control a team of four Agents, even though this is a 3-player game. Odd to give 4 characters but make it 3 players, Lots of games have been doing this lately. The playable characters are Red, Boy Scout, Beaker, and Scalpel, who are fighting to uncover the deep-seated secrets of Section 13, while also resolving their own personal mysteries. Gameplay involves collecting data on the rampant paranormal entities and while the agents trying to figure out why and how they are connected to this entire event.

While the game was a blast in local co-op, the online multiplayer experience was entirely unworkable. My friends were consistently unable to move upon joining, as if their controllers weren't registered. We attempted various hosts, but the outcome was always the same: online play was impossible, which is a significant drawback given it's the general preference for most players. I was genuinely impressed by the depth of the lore and the high quality of the voice acting. Players can uncover more of the lore or find helpful upgrades for their run simply through general exploration. The game's difficulty felt manageable.

Section 13 is loosely structured as a rougelike. However, after playing many true rougelikes (which, along with soulslikes, dominate the current market), this game didn't fully commit to the genre; it felt like the developers were just testing the waters. A major technical issue is the game's instability on Xbox; it frequently crashed back to the dashboard without saving data. The Xbox version definitely requires a significant amount of polish and work.

A re-evaluation of the game, including an updated score, will be provided in the near future once further updates are released and the Online Multiplayer issues have been resolved.