Rework The Dead: Evil

I love playing games along my friends via livestream sessions. Last night, after we got bored with the typical RM rpg picks, Nessy and EE suggested to try this one out. My first reaction was... woah I've never played/seen a sphere game before! but I didn't really read the summary or even check out the screenshots...
I certainly had no idea what to expect.

Upon loading the game, I started to get an idea what this would be all about.
First of all the title screen gave me a total flashback from my childhood in the 90s with gory pixel games. It totally had that feel, and even the art style was straight out of that era. Once again, since I didn't even glance over the screenshots presented here, I had no idea what kind of game this would be upon clicking new game,so once I saw that gritty sideview char and a fun shooting system, I knew this game would be totally right up my alley.

When it came to the game itself, I was impressed, first of all by all the custom assets that went into it. Some may argue that the game graphics are really raw and could use some fine tuning, but to to them I say, they are completely functional for the game. sprites are fluid, and have a ton of frames. Music was another selling point for sure. From the typical fast paced techno tracks, to atmospheric creepy stuff straight out of Resident evil, which brings me to my next point!

The atmosphere achieved through visual and musical change. I think whoever directed that aspect did a great job, leading to certain situations, or taking us by surprise with certain other situations.

Gameplay here is really fast paced, and even difficult at times.
It has a really arcadeish feel, once again, almost like a mirror from many side scrolling plataformers from the 90s.

And since I brought the word plataformer into play, I must say I am impressed witht he physics of the game as well. Running jumps actually felt like they had momentum, gravity was just right, acceleration was just great, bouncing grenades lended a hand to strategy, and even pushing explosive barrels was really fun. we kept thinking the main character had really weak legs given how he would get hurt from some really pitiful jumps though!

Overall, my only beef with this game was the mouse control at the menu screen. It keeps going out of focus for some weird reason, though I'm not sure if the devs are to blame for this one, as it is something really really minor.

They say this game isn't meant to be a deep plot experience, but honestly I do feel all the atmosphere does help to give a sense of depth to it. Me and the guys totally felt the game was getting more and more surreal upon the main character discovered was infected, and even theorized he was just hallucinating at that point, given all the "dream" elements which make up the last few levels. Fighting the dino again, finding a sword in the middle of nowhere, climbing up a fantasy tower, facing up a great evil? honestly that felt like some sort of dream the MC had. A resolution he wished for. Unfortunately we're not sure if we got the true ending, as I ran out of time before I fully depledted the last boss's HP, but regardless, it was a fun ride, and this game is a little gem that def deserves more attention. Props to the dev team behind this!

I'm giving this game a 5/5 because it is definitely, a sidescrolling shooter done right.