Developer: Greg Sergeant
Publisher: Flying Interactive
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Still Not Dead – Review
Want to go back in time when it comes to gameplay and graphics in games? Still Not Dead, a roguelike FPS created by Greg Sergeant takes you back in time where there weren’t any high resolution graphics and where you just have to point and shoot without taking height in account to hit your opponents. Still Not Dead combines the graphics and simple playstyle of games like Doom with open stages and different weapons, all while being chased by death itself.
Story
There’s no story to be found in Still Not Dead. This game is totally based on surviving through levels filled with undead creatures by performing the minimum amount of kills stated in each level. As you progress, the amount of kills will increase while the time before death will appear becomes shorter. When you’ve reached that amount of kills, you can progress by entering the stairs to the next level. The ultimate goal is to complete the last level without dying.
Graphics
The graphics of Still Not Dead are comparable with games of the time when the first Doom game came out. You could count the pixels in all those games but the systems available for the consumers couldn’t handle much more so it was the standard. The graphics in Still Not dead are the same but it’s a whole different time now with all the PCs handling 4K resolutions. There are a lot of different enemies that all have their unique looks and they all fit the game. From zombies to floating skeleton heads, they all look good for this style of graphics. The famous death is formed by a huge skeleton’s head that’s burning with red and black flames.
Sound
The sound in Still Not Dead is typical for this style of retro games. It also gives a retro feeling while playing the game and this totally fits the game. The style of the music also fits the theme of the game, namely killing creatures raised from the dead. When death starts hunting you, the music changes and gives you a more tense feeling that belongs to being chased by death. The music itself is a mix of some drums with some spooky synthwaves.
Gameplay
Still Not Dead is a retro roguelike first person shooter. In Still Not Dead you need to make your way through stages filled with dangerous enemies that will begin to attack you when you’re spotted. The game is a bit short in gameplay because the only thing you can do is trying to survive through six stages filled with all sorts of enemies from hell and the goal is always the same, so there’s not much variation to the gameplay.
When you spawn in the stage you’ll get a target for making an amount of kills to unlock the stairs to the next level. You’ll have a short amount of time to reach the required kill-count before death starts chasing you. If you haven’t killed enough creatures, you’ll have to perform the remaining kills while death is chasing you. If you’ve reached the goal, you need to get the hell out of there and make your way to one of the stairs in each level. When you reach the stairs, you’ll enter the next level. When you’ve completed a full run of six levels, you’ll unlock skulls. These skulls will increase the next run’s difficulty. This will increase the challenge the game offers you. If you’ve completed a run, you’ve basically cleared it, but if you’re a high score chaser, you can go on to improve your own score.
When you start the game and you are entering the first stage, you’ll get a few options to choose a perk that will boost a specific attribute in the game, these are called blessings. This can differ from higher running speed to getting additional health when picking up food when having max HP. You can also choose to gamble and by doing this, you’ll receive an amount of cash for getting a random blessing of the three options given. When you’ve cleared a level with a blessing, the next level has to be completed with a curse like a faster spawning death, adding another death that will also chase you at half the speed of the normal death. There are many different blessings and curses that will give you a bit of different experience each level but will mostly only make it harder or easier to clear each level. Most blessings and curses will be in effect until the end of the whole run, but some will only last for one round, this is also included in the blessing’s name.
Each level is not only filled with the deadly creatures from hell. On the ground you can find free food that will heal you. There also new weapons and ammo spread around the map that appear on the ground for you to pick them up. Unfortunately, they aren’t free to pick up because you’ll need to pay for them with cash. Buying these can be a pain in the ass because you’ll need to press the designated key a lot to finally activate the command to buy them. Cash can be found by drops from your victims and piles of money can also be found on the ground. The weapons, ammo and food are marked on the minimap and money has to be spotted on the ground by yourself. The stairs to the next level will be marked with a red color and when you’ve reached the necessary amount of kills, they will turn green.
Conclusion
Still Not Dead is a retro roguelike FPS that can give you a fun trip down memory lane, as the game relies on old school mechanics and graphics. The basic controls fit the simple style of the game. This game can get boring after a while because there’s not much variation but trying to get to the end of the last level can push you to keep playing to finally manage to get through. If you have enough cash, you can make the levels easier by buying better weapons. If you like to go back in the past with this retro shooter and you just want to make a killing spree, then this will suit your needs perfectly. But if you are looking for a game with more content and game modes, you’re better of not buying this retro title.
Still Not Dead - Review,
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