Developer: Das Humankapital
Publisher: Das Humankapital
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus – Review
Games that are made purely to shock like Hatred, often fizzle out into nothingness as there is not a real structure or actual decent gameplay to the idea that the game is based around. Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus comes off as just a ‘shocking’ game and if you don’t look into it, you’ll be hard pressed to see beyond the veneer of disgust. Sometimes games are made in such a fashion that the developers just shy away from being too over the top and try to go for a cynical comedy approach, which often falls short. Not this game however, strap yourself in and enjoy the game that didn’t pull any punches when it comes to graphical revulsion.
Story
Here’s another post apocalyptic Earth story. This is basically the writers given a blank slate to work with. It’s literally the easiest way to start a story as you’ll be able to form the world to your own liking. In this case maybe even the disliking of your peers. The story is straightforward as humanity got fucked because Earth is unviable. It’s even been so long that the history books are unclear on what exactly made it all go down the can. One thing is certain: whatever wasteland you, the -and this is stretching the term- protagonist inhabit, it certainly looks beyond salvation. You are the ‘Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus’. This translates to being a mutated humanoid with a taste for flesh, be it human or of some other sorts. As long as it’s fresh and uncooked, you’ll gobble it down. The freshest of food can be found by killing the living. You’re there to finish off whatever is left on Earth.
Graphics
Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus has a vile aesthetic. It’s not difficult to know what is gross about the game. Everywhere you look it’s all barren and made up of either dust or fleshy growths. Even parts of the floors you walk upon are made out of -what can only be seen as- flesh.
There’s the protagonist himself who is basically a giant disgusting creature, with his gaping maw filled with irregular teeth, his eyes that are way too far from each other, his disgusting apron and last but not least his way of defeating his enemies by peeing or vomiting on them and even excreting his bowels on them. Over the top repugnant graphics are abundant in this game. The level design on the other hand is interesting. Not one level has just ‘one vibe’ to it, it all meshes together and they have a rather cool flow to them. Whenever you pull a lever or pee on a switch, the game will pan to where the door opened and you’ll know where to go next.
Sound
The soundtrack of the game is actually quite decent. There are several metal tracks that are different from each other, depending on what stage you are currently playing. You could call it cliché that the music choice is metal and metal fans could even be triggered by the choice of audio, but the game is all about screwing political correctness in the ass. It doesn’t just flip you the finger, first it walks your dog, lets it take a dump, then shoots the dog, runs their middlefinger through the blood and the shit and then rubs it in your face. That description might seem overkill, but after a couple of levels of this game you might see just how close it is to the truth.
What’s gore without the right sound effects to accompany them? Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus is no slouch when it comes to that either. Whether it’s the different farting noises when you use your poop jump, the noises the enemies make when you hit them, be it the underwhelmed moans or warcries of the veterans of battle. The guns? They sound as lethal as they are, like they are shredding through the enemies like they are toilet paper.
Gameplay
Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus is a 2D platform shooter in which you play as a very hungry mutant and it’s up to you to shoot your way through the enemies and gorge on their flesh. The controls are straightforward. The W,A,S,D keys move you around while the cursor is your crosshairs and is the direction you are looking at. Peeing is your main form of attack and this is done by holding down the left mouse button. Sliding into enemies is an option, this is done by moving in a direction and holding down while in motion. These aren’t the only ways of downing enemies. When you scour the levels you’ll come across mutations that’ll change you in creative ways. Some will give you the multiple jump mutation, while others give you the rather funny and also quite powerful ‘poop jump’. Which does as it says, everytime you jump, poop squirts out of your backside and whoever or whatever stands, hangs, glides or walks underneath this ‘chocolate rain’ is toast. The backside isn’t the only orifice where things come out of, apart from that hole and the peehole, you can also vomit violently. This takes skill because everytime you get hit you lose health and if you eat flesh it gets stored, but whenever your health is depleted the stored flesh gets used to revitalize yourself and thus depleting your flesh meter.
The enemies in early levels are easy to take down but as you progress things become more heated as the enemies move in erratic ways and have attacks of their own. With more difficult enemies comes death and the game sends you back to a previously unlocked checkpoint. With that comes the respawning of enemies and some checkpoints are set up in such a manner that they’ll swarm you and kill you sending you in a deathloop that’s hard to break out of.
Every level you start, you start off completely unmutated, so that means that your poop jumps, your quickened metabolism, your multiple jumps don’t carry over between levels. This means you’ll have to look around the levels to regain them and rain havoc upon the lands and your enemies. It might sound cheap, but it’s quite clear it’s done for balancing reasons as the poop jump combined with the multiple jump perk is ludicrously overpowered. It allows you to hover over your enemies raining down brown death. There are even guns in this game, not only your regular six bullet guns, but also grenade launchers, shotguns and even a gun that shoots exploding chainsaws. So there’s no shortage of creative deathmaking.
The levels are intricate, but not so intricate that you’ll be lost without a map, so none are provided.
Don’t worry about lengthy tutorials as the game is quite easy to pick up and rather addictive. With a length of about seven hours long you really have quite some game to sink your teeth into.
Conclusion
Over the top violent, gory and disgusting in every shape way and form is what Das Humankapital went for and they pulled it off. Although the game might look like just an easy cashgrab and plain gimmicky. However, it’s a quite nicely worked out game that’s worth looking into if you are looking for a decent amount of content in your platformer/shooters. You even get to shit on people, so it’s perfect for when you have a bad day to boot.
Atomic Butcher: Homo Metabolicus - Review,
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