Viscerafest Impressions
Viscerafest is a blazing-fast boomer shooter.
Viscerafest. Acid Man Games / Fire Plant Games / Fulqrum Publishing
Fulqrum Publishing has launched the full 1.0 version of Acid Man Games’ and Fire Plant Games’ Viscerafest. The update adds a new third chapter with eight new levels, nearly a dozen new enemy types, new boss fights, and new mechanics. I haven’t yet played through the whole game, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far.
You play as Caroline, a violent mercenary who wants to marry the love of her life. The problem is, she’s broke and can’t afford a ring. Naturally, she will earn it by doing what she does best: murdering. Dangerous warlock Cromune has a huge bounty on his head, so she goes hunting, ready to kill his entire army if she needs to.
The game is an old-school styled shooter where the key to success is moving fast. Things will kill you quickly, so if you don’t dart around, bunny-hopping and dashing to reduce damage, you’ll be forced to start from your last save point. You combine melee attacks with gunplay to take down enemies, juggling limited resources. The maze-like levels are full of danger around every corner that you navigate as you find keys and switches to unlock doors.
Viscerafest. Acid Man Games / Fire Plant Games / Fulqrum Publishing
The 3D graphics are dressed in chunky, pixelated textures. I appreciate the look, but the textures are a bit too simple and lack variety, so it makes every room and hallway in the blocky levels look the same. The problem is worse here than in classic shooters like Doom and Doom II, which felt like they had more visual variety. Like those classics, enemies and objects that populate the levels are 2D sprites.
Viscerafest. Acid Man Games / Fire Plant Games / Fulqrum Publishing
Viscerafest’s difficulty is high, and I could imagine some players getting frustrated. It’s a better game than Exophobia, another chunky retro FPS, but it suffers from similar problems. I’d recommend it for fans of stripped-down boomer shooters.
Viscerafest is available now on Steam.
Played on: Steam Deck
