Developers: 10 Chambers Collective KB, 10 Chambers
Publishers: 10 Chambers Collective KB, After Impact AB, 10 Chambers
Platform: PC (Steam)
Tested On: PC (Steam)
GTFO – Preview
At first glance GTFO might seem like a straightforward horror co-op first-person shooter, but there is more under the surface. Geared towards a highly cooperative gameplay for up to 4 players, GTFO brings a tactical experience with surprising levels of depth. We were lucky enough to try its current run, and here you can find our first impression(s).
As far as story goes, GTFO doesn’t have much of one. Inside the game, it is let on that players control a group of prisoners sent to different missions by a mysterious entity, which is dubbed “the Warden” by the Steam page and promotional videos. Besides this, the game contains barely any lore, other than a few snippets upon starting each mission.
On the other hand, GTFO’s graphics are incredibly high quality, with enormous attention to detail everywhere. While there is not the biggest enemy variety ever seen, the game still manages to make most of them somewhat different by randomizing their features. There’s also quite a bit of atmospheric tension in the game, brought along by the ominous production style and gameplay quirks.
Similarly, the game’s sound design also has quite a big deal of attention to detail, from the grunts coming off the monsters to the players’ breathing. Throughout any level, the prisoners controlled will also drop voiced lines from time to time, with a decent variety of voices. The featured soundtrack is also good, although it is not that often that it can be heard due to straight-up silent moments or gunfire noise.
Despite what could generally be expected from an FPS, GTFO’s gameplay has quite a bit more depth than other games in the genre. Instead of simply focusing on running and gunning with some stealth, the game relies on the latter along with a heavy dose of teamwork to fight against the crushing difficulty. While the objectives remain simple, going into an area and retrieving some items, the journey to reach them isn’t quite like that.
Before the game starts, players are prompted to select a loadout in the lobby, being able to choose from different weapons and utility tools. These weapons and tools fit different archetypes, allowing players to gear up and cover certain roles such as sniper, sentry, etc. It is important for a team to be balanced in order to have a chance to win, 4 snipers will never be effective against encroaching hordes.
Once the actual game starts, players will be prompted by the in-game dialogue to not “awaken the sleepers” as the game refers to the enemies. More often than not it will be a more sound strategy to smash the enemy’s weak points with quieter melee weapons than to start shooting and provoking the horde. Once the latter happens, GTFO turns into a frantic battle for dear life, as groups of enemies swarm the player squad.
Enemies also fit a few types which, while unofficial, explain their abilities. These types can be summed up as “runners”, “shooters” and “giants”. The first madly dash towards players in order to attack, while the second fire projectiles at long range. Giants are more special though, belonging to either of the two other types and having the particularity of their size. This size basically entails a lot more health and damage, with “runner giants” being able to demolish players in a hit or two.
In order to survive, madly shooting around will not suffice, since enemies will barely take damage. Instead, the previously mentioned weak points should be targeted, where actual damage can be dealt, although shooting the rest of their bodies will stagger them allowing for a chance to escape.
Assuming players actually manage to stealth throughout the rooms, the danger is not over. Upon reaching a certain point of the level they will find certain doors locked behind an alarm. Once this alarm goes off, enemies will be attracted to the location, where players will have to fend them off while deactivating the alarm. These areas require special careful setups, which is where the utility tools especially shine, allowing players to set up mines, slowing foam or sentry turrets.
GTFO doesn’t force its players to madly go around every room searching for the objective, offering instead a tool to find it. Each area inside a level features a terminal, where through commands players can locate any item in the current game. The basic command will only pinpoint the area, while others will be more precise at the cost of requiring players to be in the same area as the item. Through these terminals, players may find any items needed to survive such as ammo or medkits.
The game also features a matchmaking mode for those unable to get a group of friends together, though it is in a very alpha state and mostly maintained through the game’s Discord server. While playing with strangers is not optimal for a game with such a heavy focus on teamwork, it makes it viable for more people to play it.
All that said, GTFO does have a glaring flaw, this being the absolute lack of a single-player experience. With levels not diminishing in difficulty for parties smaller than four, it usually becomes impossible to beat, although this is quite clearly expressed on the game’s Steam page.
Conclusion
Overall GTFO is quite a good game with plenty to offer. While games can be quite long, only to end up in failure, the experience with friends is still more than entertaining. This, combined with the method through which the devs are putting out new levels and removing the old ones every once in a while, keeps the game fresh. That said, its selling price of $/€34,99 or £29.99 might be quite steep for most, taking into account the current Early Access state.
Personal Opinion
“Playing with a pair of friends I found GTFO to be quite enjoyable, despite knowing our doom was imminent. With only three players the game is already hellishly difficult, but still quite fun. Every time we managed to progress towards an objective it felt like an accomplishment, instead of just numbers going up. There was an issue though, after a while losing at the same pair of levels GTFO can become a tad repetitive despite the randomized spawns. All levels besides the first two are locked behind the completion of the previous, effectively forcing players to finish those in order to try out anything new.”
GTFO - Preview,
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