Nightmare Reaper Review on Xbox
Nightmare Reaper is a retro-inspired FPS with looter shooter and rogue-lite elements, that breaches the wall between classic and modern gameplay.
The premise is that a you are a young lady who is in a sort of insane asylum, and that various psychiatrists have been investigating you specifically. The only way to figure out the root of why you’re here is by investigating your nightmares, and blowing the demons in them, to pieces with awesome weaponry.
The game boasts about 90 designed and procedurally generated levels, over 80 different types of weapons containing attributes randomized from over 30 enchantment types, a 2.5D pixel art style, a skill-tree based on Gameboy advance mini-games and a unique plot to keep you engaged.
Accessibility
With regards to accessibility, there is a plethora of options to tweak and adapt the way you play this game from cursor colour, weapon sway colour pre-sets, hit notification and item flash. You can even turn off mini-games should these be too much. There is no ability to re-map your controller layout yet, and this by far maybe the biggest issue for those with mobility issues, but I have been reliably informed this is coming in future patches.
Gameplay
Retro FPS are having a big resurgence at the moment, which is a god send for those like myself who have gotten abit bored with the modern day shooter. After just coming out off the amazing Boltgun review, I was intrigued what Developer take on the genre would be like. What caught my eye was the looter shooter with rogue-lite elements tag, and if they can indeed pull of such a task with a 90’s retro aesthetic.
You start off waking up in a hospital room with the sounds of other patients screams ringing in your ears. This is effectively your safehouse / hub world outside of the nightmares you will soon explore. This starts off with just your room being explorable, but as you progress, more and more of the asylum unlocks allowing you to access new areas and new zones which will help you progress stats wise, whilst at the same time providing you valuable information on why you are there.
Small details are drip-fed to the player after each level is completed in the form of doctors notes, which builds up a bigger picture about your characters upbringing, about her terrible life and what led her to the state she is in. I wont spoil it, but it did keep me captivated in finding out what led her to this. After exploring your surrounding area, you then decide to take a nap and the real work of exploring your nightmares. Begins..
From the moment you enter, your attacked by hellish demons, monsters and zombies. Killing these will drops coins, ammo and potentially new weapons, with combo kills increasing the amount of coins you receive. You only start off with two slot item to begin with, so management of your inventory on the quiet side is essential when choosing the right weapon. These weapons are often found with assigned levels and attributes like alternative fire modes and specific buff stats.
These level grades are based on the tried and tested grades of common, uncommon, rare and legendary, with the higher grades coming with more stats and attributes. Working out the best one to use is all about trial and error, as finding something you want to keep will come in to play later. Drops are random and the itemization system will be easily understandable by most roguelike or RPG vets.
Once you reach the end, you get a score screen right out of Doom, with it stating kills, hidden treasures found, loot picked up and completion stat. Its is at this point another unique aspect takes place and the game prompts you to select the one weapon from the previous level that you’d like to keep.
The rest are then sold there and then and you are left with your chosen weapon for the next round. This was a great idea and forces you to read carefully the stats of each weapon, so you can get the very best starting point on the next level. Speaking of stats, during the level you may encounter a doctor who will give you some potential upgrades /stat alterations to one weapon. These can be costly but sometimes worth every penny, so keeping an eye for him Is essential.
However the majority of character skills and upgrades and abilities can be done anytime, in the heat of battle or at your Hub, with the games three main skill trees, which are a collection of Gameboy advance mini-games cartridges. Here you load up a cartridge and move around its hub world to find a stat, buff or ability you wish to purchase using specific currency, then play a mini game to get it.
There are three Gameboy advance mini-games cartridges to unlock, each housing tributes to gaming classic genre. The first set of skills is tied to a platforming game that is pretty much the first overworld map from Super Mario Bros. 3 and unlocks basic skills.
The second set is tied to animal battling game similar to Pokémon and unlocks more skills, but also adds modifier pills, like less damage.
The third is tied to a 2d Side scrolling shooter very much in the vein of R-Type and offers new abilities like kicking exploding barrels, ledge climbing and even having a pet with you that can have its own small set of skills.
For me, these where a joy to play and where a great distraction to the main event of killing should it become tiresome, with the added benefit of it directly improving your character and weapons when you decide to go back in. Currency for these different trees are not the same with the first being picked up by general coins from enemy deaths, Topaz for completing Pokémon-like battles and Jade for an arena mode where you survive wave based enemies. It is possible to disable having to deal with these skill tree encounters by disabling them in the options.
Levels are a mixture of designed and procedurally generates levels, meaning things change every time you die. Not that you actually die, you wake up at the hospital and have to restart the level again. The level layouts are unique with each new playthrough, however what stays the same is the hitting switches, finding keys for doors, or locating suspicious walls with cracks in them to kick through and find hidden loot.
The procedural element does do a great job at generating unique levels, however there are some sections that occasionally recycle, like a lift to a higher room, or particular trap section. Regardless, I never felt like I couldn’t work out next where to go, or how to get there thanks to the mini map often pointing out doors to areas that need to be explored. They are also not too large either, with most coming in about 10-15mins play time to get through.
The gunplay is waist-deep in pixelated gibs and guts, a selection of dry humour blended in ultra-violence that does exactly what it was supposed to do, keep you entertained. It wants to make the player fight, by pushing the player towards the enemy to keep them in the action for longer, with the reward of doing so, replacing lost ammo and health. With so many enemies, it is easy to be hit, so constantly moving, weaving, and even wall climbing to help to take down foes is paramount. At no point did I feel bored or not engaged in this and is a true joy to play.
Graphics
The games visuals are superb and are a blend of 2D sprites alongside 3D environments, which hold a good steady framerate. The 2D enemies pivot around to look at the player, and when looked from above appear as paper-thin pixels, exactly how they would look in the 90’s. But, there is also modernised effects here, such as volumetric shadows and lighting, which can make the game look amazing.
The environment itself almost has an Minecraft look to it with its basic pixelated palate, which I suspect is more to do with the procedural generation tile generation, than maybe an aesthetic choice. Regardless, the environmental theme changes after each chapter which comprises of three levels, shifting from mines, towns, forests to hospital wards and cities and even space, all helping keep the freshness of the environment dynamic.
The game has 80+ weapons to seize, all which have modifier possibilities, like ice blast on an axe or health steal using lightening from a book, in the games bid to keep things looking fresh. The effects from these can be almost too much and can often be just a sea of vibrant colour, when battles get hectic. Combine this with the wacky weapons like a mop that cleans up the blood and by doing so rewards you with more coins, or Hellraiser cubes that capture enemies and then can summon them to fight for the player later, and you be hard pressed to take your eyes away from the screen.
Sound
The game is partly voiced, and the voice actor does a superb job with the limited voicework available in reading out the notes that tell the tale of our protagonist’s fate. But its the Soundtrack by the great Andrew Hulshult, which perfectly applies a set of metal tracks with thundering and head-banging riffs to the battles, that really keep your blood pumping. But would you expect anything else from the person who did the scores for Dusk, Quake Champions and Doom Eternal?
Environmental sound is also excellent, with the highlight being your safe zone. Whilst this maybe a safe zone, it will never feel actually safe, as weird occurrences will happen, shadows appear and disappear, lights shatter and things break as you go near them. Combine this with screams, foot steps and clawing against the walls, you truly have a sense of the madness of an asylum ringing through your ears. Guns sound lethal when fired, and even more so when coupled with the impacts the devastating sound makes, when It hits its target.
My recommendation here, is a good quality headset to rock out to the score and bathe in the sounds of gibs going everywhere.
Verdict
This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Nightmare Reaper is a "Must Own’’.
The games Fast, dynamic, and intense combat, combined with its creative selection of weapons and novel upgrade system shines a bright pixelated light above those of the genre, with only a few meeting its intense gaze. Feardemic have hit it out of the park and I want more of what they are selling.
The game is currently priced on Xbox at £24.99 or approx. $30 and depending on skill and patience would give you about 35+ hours worth of gameplay. With the procedural generation in terms or gameplay, plus the mods, game+ and even speed runs options, you can easily double the time.
This is a superb game, and its clear to see this is a wonderful labour of love with a lot of character that goes beyond the sum of its parts. This is a fantastic retro-inspired but modern FPS hybrid that has found a place not only in my collection, but my heart.