HotPocketHPE's writings

End of Starchild

(Hyper difficulty, all endings) A game I respect more than I enjoyed; specifically, utmost respect paired with moderate enjoyment. Clearly the result of a focused vision with a formidable force of craft brought to bear.

I have a bunch of gripes with the combat which I will try to explain without sounding like an inveterate Doom purist. Infinite ammo base weapons are a dangerous design space, and though the self-damage bouncing arrow drawback is inspired, it's not enough to stop the classic sniping/circle strafe from afar to save ammo. The ability to freelook (not defaulted but enabled with a held button? strange splitting of the difference) amplifies this while also defusing many traps. This isn't a dealbreaker, if one is trying to play quickly (i.e. for score) it's whatever, but for basic survival it's still an annoyingly powerful tactic.

The character of the enemy design seems to have shifted further towards the "twitchy" style (emphasis on speedkill and low TTK for enemy+player) seen in most modern classic FPS, which is a shame to me since 1. this style is already extremely represented and is tired to me 2. Time Tripper was pushing towards an interesting synthesis of classic Doom horde/slaughter dynamics with shmup style authored bullet patterns, so it's disappointing not to see that developed. The park battle in the final level feels like it should be this big "oh shit" moment, but it basically amounts to circle strafing and a speedkill on the not-Archvile. Where are the 20 Draugr rooms? Not to overstate things, though; there are still some respectable globs of bullets (update seems to have helped on this front), some nice enemy designs (bullet-spamming wizard, teleporting wizard, and not-Pain Elemental are favs), items feel scrappy but powerful, and generally it's a good execution of the style.

I have to bitch about the last boss for a second, this might be a skill issue but I found it to be an RNG nightmare. Having multiple bullet emitters that can independently move and fire offscreen + can camp the platform you need to sit on and nearly point-blank you is crazy, which then whiplashes hard when the main body shoots some basic pattern and you get free damage. Certainly not the first time someone sought the forbidden arts of FPS bosses, and again, maybe it's just a skill issue, but it left me feeling a bit sour by the end.

Absolutely phenomenal visual and sound work. Intricate detailing, but strong aesthetic direction prevents it from falling into the garish overload typical of GZDoom works or melting into the sea of color-coordinated Sunlust worshippers. Pacing or rhythm is a delicate, slippery, yet deeply powerful quality, and the Void Stranger style structure setting the emotional rhythm to secret hunting mostly plays to the game's strengths (especially Map 6 with its many locations, soundscapes, mood of melancholy). Map 4 is the only level that really nails the combat rhythm for me, and I love the congregation "fakeout".

The story is very light on text and feels a bit thin/scattered so it didn't hit much for me on a visceral level, but I have much respect for the tone-forward method here. Some more connecting meat might be warranted; the SONATA subgame is honestly a better execution of the same idea.

Misc notes:

I listed a lot of negatives here but this is for sure worth playing, and it meets my new criteria of 1. the gameplay lasts for at least one playthrough and 2. the game is about something, so I can't complain too much. We would be lucky to get more games like this!