Kryopolis

Introduction

Honestly, I only delved into "Kryopolis" as part of my goal to take a look at all of the entries for the 2018 Indie Game Maker Contest that were also posted to RPGMaker.net. Other wise I probably would have given this game a wide berth. After all, I really don't have any love for the horror genre and tend to avoid it when possible. As such, I'm definitely not an ideal choice for reviewing this game, but I figured I might as well offer my own two cents. After all, I did take some time out of my day to play this game.

Story

author=Darken
There isn't any story . . .

I'll admit that I find this little tidbit on the game page a bit confusing since it does seem like Darken lays the foundation for a story in the game's summary with you playing as a survivor in a post-apocalyptic wasteland looking for shelter. Of course this project being a horror game means this shelter is ultimately filled to the brim with flesh eating monsters and a giant brain that controls them. Thankfully the player does have access to an axe in order to defend themselves. Though I kind of wish Darken had gone with a one-handed hatchet instead. After all, that would have left me a lot more room to shove in a reference to Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet" in this review. After all, a one-handed hatchet and a two-handed axe while similar are not identical in terms of use. So it really wouldn't be accurate to say the main character in this game is as dependent on his axe as Brian Robeson was on his hatchet. After all, I really don't want to perpetuate the false notion that hatchets and axes are the same.

Though, I suppose this weird note near the bottom of the game's summary could be explained by the lack of a scrolling introduction to the world were entering or the utter lack of cut-scenes in this short project. As such, your really not going to run into any material during the game that will tell you what's going on. As such your free to imagine your an elite hand-to-hand specialist on a mission to save the world from monsters inhabiting an abandoned building in some nearly forgotten ghost town. A town that just happens to once included weapons that like to leave giant axe's laying about for your average person to pick up and use in case of emergency. Or you could be having a wild nightmare and can only free yourself by taking out the giant brain at the end of this short labyrinth. Or you could be a hallucinating drug addict that's murdering innocent town people with an axe you stole from a nearby fire station. I suppose the lack of concrete story does leave you a lot more room to let your imagination run wild, but I think the real reason the game lacks cut scenes is because this project is intended to be more of a proof of concept and not game in it's own right.

Gameplay

Sadly the most notable aspect of the game in this category in my opinion is just how clunky the controls for the axe are. In order to use the axe you need to hold down a button in order to put the axe in an attack position. As a byproduct of putting your axe in attack position you can't change which direction your facing. Which means dealing with multiple opponents can become a bit tricky if their coming from different directions. Especially if your used to games on this site which only require you to push a single button in order to use your weapon. As such, there's a pretty real chance your going to take a few hits while your adapting to the game's control scheme. Thankfully the need to reorient yourself during battle doesn't come up all that often. So your probably not going to die because of this issue.

Graphics & Sound

The game goes for a rather gritty, dirty, and dark look in order to build an atmosphere of fear. Add in a soundtrack that's rather bare bones and your left with a game that definitely has the right kind of feel for what's it going for.

Conclusion

While Kryopolis does have a solid atmosphere that really helps to make your spine tingle. The underlying gameplay feels rather sub par. Though I suppose some would argue the need to ready the ax in order to use it just adds to the tension. Since you can die at moment if you aren't prepared. On the other hand, I just see the addition of that button as a means of making the control scheme a bit too wonky for comfort. With that being said I'd advice taking a look at this project at your own discretion. After all, you can beat "Kryopolis" in ten minutes or less. In fact, this project is meant to be more of a tech demo for a bigger game in the future. As such, I really don't feel like assigning a rating to this project.