Moribund – Preview
Follow Genre: Action
Developer: Traptics
Publisher: Traptics
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC

Moribund – Preview

Good: Wicked fun with a group of friends.
Bad: No singleplayer mode whatsoever.
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10.0
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Ever played a game with a friend and just wanted to nail their body to a wall with a harpoon gun? Well now you can, and you don’t even have to go to jail afterwards! Come check out Moribund, the post apocalyptic local multiplayer deathmatch game, currently in Steam Early Access.20160925190046_1Set after a particularly nasty apocalypse, dangerous killers and psychopaths are pitted against each other in a battle to the death. As far as the story goes, that’s about it. Oh well, it’s more about the action anyway, of which there is plenty.

The graphics are simple but effective. The character design is excellent, and whilst the backgrounds don’t quite measure up to that, they are often dark yet eerily beautiful in their own right. The level design itself is generally pretty good and the gore is the perfect level of blood and guts without trying too hard to be ultra-violent. The rag-dolls of your dead enemies are also a great touch, there isn’t anything more satisfying that nailing your friends disembodied torso to a wall.

The games soundtrack is adequate and doesn’t seem to tire, but expect it to be drowned out by your friends laughter or shouted insults a lot of the time anyway. The sound effects, whether falling icicles threatening to impale you, or spinning blades whistling past your head, are all rather excellent and leave you in no doubt of the fate that awaits if you get caught up in them. The characters all have sayings and insults that they shout with the press of a button. Some of the voice acting for this is great, some is terrible, but they are all pretty hilarious when used in the heat of battle.20160925190517_1Moribund is a multiplayer 2D action game that takes on some aspects of a platformer. Currently the game is local multiplayer only, with no singleplayer mode or bots. You and up to 3 friends must choose from 8 characters in either; free for all, or team deathmatch modes. You must destroy your opponents by any means possible, whether you use your weapons or take advantage of dangerous objects placed on each level.

All players are armed with two weapons; a gun which shoots spores, and a harpoon gun. You have unlimited ammo for both weapons but must wait for your spores to “recharge” once you have fired them all. The spore gun is unusual in that it doesn’t harm you, but repeated hits will cause large plant/fungus tendrils to appear and latch onto nearby walls and ceilings, totally immobilising the player. You can escape this confinement by frantically mashing a button for a few seconds, but you may find that by then you are too late. The spore gun is primarily used to hold a player still so that you can nail them with a harpoon.20160925190215_1The harpoon gun is your powerful and very satisfying main weapon, especially when you get that sweet long range hit. One hit will kill a player, but it takes two seconds to crank up before the shot is fired, leading to a lot of ducking and dodging and general hilarity. Scattered around the map you will also find power-ups which confer several benefits such as halving the harpoon charge time, making your harpoons explode on hit, or making your spores bounce.

As if that wasn’t already enough to cause mayhem, each of the maps are also littered with dangerous objects that you can use to take out your opponents. These range from explosive barrels to deadly pressure-plate activated turrets that spew harpoons out across the battlefield. Expect to see sharpened icicles and huge blocks of ice that just require a small nudge to be sent crashing down onto your friends below. You will also encounter huge swinging mines and wheels of spinning blades in some of the later maps, if you really want to up the ante.20160925190026_1When setting up the game you must choose from five maps, which will affect what kind of objects you are going to come across. Each of them are also rated on difficulty, so if you’re introducing new players you probably want to stick with one of the earlier types whilst they get the hang of things. Five maps might not sound like a lot, but each “map” is actually a collection of around 10 levels which you will cycle through once each round is complete. This is actually really impressive and ensures that nothing gets stale, nobody gets bored, and that each and every round of combat is a new challenge.Moribund6

Conclusion

Having more local multiplayer options is always a good thing, something which is sorely missed by the majority of big name developers these days, and Moribund comes in to remedy that. It may not have much (or anything) in the way of singleplayer gameplay, but it nevertheless has a great concept and is a hell of a lot of fun when you have friends over. And with more levels, modes and mechanics due to be added before release, Moribund is shaping up to be a brilliant party game.

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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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Moribund - Preview, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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