Developer: Sobaka Studio
Publisher: ESDigital Games
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
REMEDIUM – Preview
There’s nothing quite as amazing as a knight wielding a shotgun and throwing grenades. REMEDIUM is not the first game by Sobaka Studio and their previous titles have gotten quite good reviews. It’s clear there’s a passion for the craft, with REMEDIUM being their first attempt at a twin-stick shooter. Even though it’s a brand new genre for the developer, the universe explored in this game could be familiar to you. Sobaka Studio dabbled in it before with Remedium: Sentinels. REMEDIUM is still in Early Access but we took a look at it to see how well it plays so far and what we hope to see improved.
REMEDIUM takes place in a post-apocalyptic medieval fantasy setting. A diary from the protagonist catches you up on the lore at the start of the game. As you play, new entries get added with not only the plot but also a bestiary to keep track of the different monsters you encounter. You can also find interesting info on worldbuilding in there as well. The story itself concerns a plague that broke out and the alchemists who tried to cure it. Obviously, that went terribly wrong and people now live in isolated shelters behind walls to keep safe from the sickness and the mutated monsters that roam the earth. The player character got infected with the plague while out gathering resources, meaning their only hope is to venture into the Abandoned City where the plague started to find a cure or die trying.
The game utilizes the typical top-down perspective we’ve come to expect from this genre. It means you always have a good oversight of the environment, which is a necessity when the waves of enemies become quite large and hectic. The game is non-linear and allows you to fast travel across the map. The places you explore are diverse and look visually attractive, with a dark fantasy atmosphere. The monster designs also are fun, with different enemies that roam specific parts of the city. A small downside is that as of right now, there is only one boss design in the game. This model is sadly just recolored for different boss fights. We’re hoping that will change in the future. With the exception of some textures loading slowly – something that the devs are no doubt working on – the graphics here are definitely up to standards.
REMEDIUM has a good soundtrack that fits the game’s tense and sometimes oppressive atmosphere. It’s really you against the hordes in the Abandoned City, and the music reflects that. We would have liked some more different tracks because the music doesn’t change when you travel to different places, but that’s a minor complaint. The game has optional voice acting in case you don’t like reading the journals yourself, though it’s recommended you leave that option off. The voice acting itself was passable.
REMEDIUM is a twin-stick shooter with some slight RPG elements to it as you have a highly customizable arsenal of weapons. You start the game off at the gates of the Abandoned City with only your grenades and a normal shotgun called the Repeater. You also have a dash that needs a few moments to recharge, which you can use to get out of a tight spot. You can heal with laudanum which automatically recharges your health over time. You can also find armor on the map for extra protection. As you continue through the city, you’ll find upgrades for your character and weapons, plus entirely new firearms to experiment with. You can change your load out and their upgrades freely at workbenches, so it’s easy to experiment with different setups.
This becomes very handy considering your character is infected with the plague. Once in a while, you will get to suffer from a different set of symptoms. These symptoms will affect your stats or give you some other kind of disadvantage to overcome; like status effects. Staying clever and changing your weapons can give you the edge you need. Overall, this is a good tactic to keep players on their toes and make the game less boring. Since you’re always fighting hoards of enemies with a limited variety in gameplay, the changing symptoms keep REMEDIUM from being repetitive.
The game has different difficulty settings with the hardest one also being the recommended one. It’s pretty harsh and checkpoints can be pretty rare. The game is a lot of fun though and we found that dying often didn’t annoy us as much as it did in similar titles. Enemies do respawn upon death though. This keeps things challenging. With the content promised in the future, REMEDIUM is shaping up to be a diverse and entertaining addition to the twin-stick shooter genre.
Conclusion
Despite some bugs and oversights that the devs are working on, REMEDIUM pretty much runs like a complete game. It’s a great time to play and fans of the genre have a lot to look forward to as the game continues to grow. Between the interesting plot and dark post-apocalyptic setting that offers a unique spin on a pandemic, it manages to set itself apart from the other titles trying to fill the same niche.
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