Conscript Review on Xbox

Conscript is a pixel-art iso-metric survival horror game inspired by the classics of the genre - set in 1916 during the Great War. 

The premise is you play as a French soldier searching for his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. Search twisted trenches, navigate overrun forts, and cross no-mans-land to find him, and ensure a home goes unbroken…

The game boasts various difficulty settings, multiple endings, unlockable costumes and bonus weapons.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is a vast swath of options available for all. Button remapping, run mode and aim modes, screen shake are all available. An accessibility tab with text speed, gore, highlight colour options all exist. Even unlimited saves and checkpoints with the difficulty options push this game to be accessible as widely possible. The only thing missing for me was subtitle size, so those with limited eyesight may find this a bit difficult to read.

Gameplay

Conscript is a unique take on the classic survival horror, that ditches the usual monster infused enemies and takes on a much more human and darker approach. Set during World War 1, the horrors you will meet in this dark and disturbing story, are your fellow man from the opposing side.

The game right from the beginning throws you into said horror, with an attack on the trench you are defending. Here it gives you the basics of combat, weapons and its more strategic elements in a short but brutal fashion. Enemies soldiers can vary from individuals to groups, with the later being more dangerous and less likely you will survive.

The game is more designed around tension and atmosphere than straight out shock and horror, not saying that there aren’t those moments, but they are the exception, rather than the rule. Soldiers will stalk the corridors and arenas ready at a moments notice to attack you. And once they do spot you, they sprint full pelt at you before taking a swing with their clubs, or aiming down a rifle, before letting off a calculated shot. You can sprint passed them or hide from them, but this then doesn’t help you later on when returning to said area, so they are always in your mind should you decide to go for the latter.

Now why would you do something like that, well, just like the enemies, combat isn’t easy and a singular enemies can wipe out your health in a matter of hits. Whilst their swings and rifles shot are a bit slow, so equally is yours. Swinging your melee weapon takes a lot of stamina, and it will take more than a couple of swings to down an enemy. Moving to firearms is no better, as you needing to stop and reload manually, which is equally a slow and painful process. In essence, you quickly learn to try and lure away individuals from a pack or just straight outright run away. Even when you get better weapons, the more your progress, they never feel too overpowered and those that do, have little to no ammo, ensuring you use it wisely and sparingly.

Further into the game, dead bodies will attract rats, the bain of my existence, as they not only do some small damage, but poison you. Until you’re able to collapse their small tunnels, they’ll enjoy the pile or corpses you left behind and continue to keep respawning. Your best bet is to kill them with a gun then take out their tunnels with a grenade.

Weapons can also be upgraded using gun parts, to pack more of a punch at vendors hidden around the maps. Vendors also provide you trade items with Cigarettes being the currency, which will often be found in boxes or barrels scattered about the levels. Your storage box is here, identical to that to a typical resident evil genre, and just like that genre, your personal storage, the satchel, has limited slots. Though from the beginning you can purchase a more storage for your satchel, should you find enough currency.

No survival horror game is complete without its locked door and puzzles, and thankfully, they are equally plentiful here. However, they were never overtly complicated and often gave you pretty big hints to where to go or what to look for. For example, one locked door required you to match up the correct symbols with a guide hanging on the wall, and in the surrounding rooms was statues or items that looked like said symbols.

I played this game at WASD, so I was very much looking forward to expanding on my short journey I had there. And I can happily say, I’m glad I have, as what is here is very much a unique and enjoyable experience, from a single developer who I can see going on to do some even better things.

Graphics

Having a Survival horror game in a pixel-art form with an iso-metric view is something rare. In fact, the closest similar type of game to this, would be Signalis, which I would heartly recommend. Combine this to being set in World War 1, and you have something I don’t think many people will have played before.

The game has a vast selection of atmospheric areas that showcase of that unique art style to its fullest. From heavily shelled bunkers, bodied ridden trenches, unground tunnels and beautiful cottages, each area delights as well as horrifies. Darkness as well as subtle light, oozes heightened tension and despair at every corner, pushing you to go back when you know you need to move forward. Character models is what truly blew me away though, as they are so smooth in their movement, it fells like someone has used body capture to get every motion perfect.

This also plays well into the story, as the graphical fidelity works to the advantage in its telling of an ordinary soldier stuck in something truly horrendous. As you make your way around, you will see fellow soldiers loosing their minds, suffering from PTSD that hits somehow harder than other titles set in this time period. Finding family pictures from the dead NPC you just killed, hits a lot more than I’d expect and its this level of passion showing war from all sides, and the hell of what it is about that marks this above others set in its time period.

From propaganda posters, to chess games never completed to letters that will never reach their loved ones the story showcases the worst of humanity, but also allows a little light of hope. The plot is built into chapters that also weave in the past and present, creating a stark contrast between the peaceful countryside and the darkness of that war relishes in. Its this attention to details as you make your way through the game, that will play on your mind when the final chapter hits.

Lighting also is equally well suited with vast areas hidden from your view, but can be increased say with the use of a torch. Your view is always restricted in the darker areas, which only adds to the tension, combine this with the ever threat of a enemy and it does ramp up your nerves. Subtle things like a restricted google like view when putting on a gas mask, takes on its own risk and rewards status, know in doing so your safe from the gas but hindered in seeing enemies lurking close by..

From what I could tell there was no tearing or frame skips and everything was smooth as butter. Loading times aren’t too bad either but things can always be improved.

Sound

The game has no voice work, with the story and interactions preferred to told by subtitles, which suits the games unnerving feel. The sound work is just amazing, and the noise of bullets flying overhead, explosions, cries from fellow soldiers, as well as your own breath and heartbeat pounding away is truly memorable. 

The music equally excels as it blends those sounds of explosions, screams and death cries with an deeply unpleasant and disturbing score by the composer Sonny Igusti. The combination of both emotional music beats, total silence and the characters own body sounds, heighten every corner of this world.

In terms of recommendation, a good quality headset will give you the best experience for the horrors that await you.

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 Conscript is a "Must Own’’.

The games take on Survival horror, being set in world war 1 is an inspired choice and it doesn’t shy away from the more gruesome aspects, portraying the terror of what our grandfathers may have actually gone through.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £21.99 or approx. $22 and depending on skill and patience would give you well over 10+ hours worth of gameplay. Combine this with multiple endings, unlockable costumes, challenges and bonus weapons, and you can add another 10+ to the mix.

The fact that this game has been developed by one person over seven years, astounds me. This sort of polish, detail and enjoyment that you’d think would come from a much larger studio. The man-made horrors beyond our comprehension are on full display here, and one worth your time experiencing.