Viscerafest

Bad Viscerafest is not. It’s a niche kind of deal: one that targets a narrow audience of retro shooter veterans looking for something different, challenging, and unapologetically weird. If you’re willing to embrace its quirks and stomach its many flaws, there’s a satisfying experience buried under all the noise. For most, however, irritation will outweigh the fun. This is an arena shooter-flavoured FPS with heart, but also a whole lot of headaches.

Viscerafest could easily appeal to boomer shooter fans who want a high-speed challenge that demands mastery of specific gameplay. However, the game’s obtuse design choices with gunplay, ammo management, enemy design, traversal, and level layout might leave most players feeling more alienated than the actual aliens Caroline crushes.

Viscerafest is a frantic boomer shooter set in a retro sci-fi universe painted with big pixels with a neon palette reminiscent of the vicious color schemes of the 1980s. The mercenary protagonist is a love letter to Duke Nukem, engaging in ultra-violent shooting and impossible jumps along labyrinthine levels overflowing with aliens and bosses to be riddled with bullets until they turn to pulp. The option of collecting skulls to use as currency at stores to buy cheats invites replaying maps already completed in search of secret areas or simply for revenge once you get stronger.

Viscerafest is a fast-paced and stylised retro first-person shooter set in an acid-coloured sci-fi universe. You play as Caroline, a mad and sarcastic mercenary on a mission to finance an engagement ring. The gameplay rewards speed, reflexes and aggression: no cover, healing only through enemy hearts and powerful but limited ammunition weapons. The labyrinthine levels encourage exploration, with collectables useful for unlocking power-ups. The 2D/3D aesthetics, combined with an adrenaline-pumping soundtrack, make for a unique visual and sound experience. The difficulty is high, but each encounter is pure orchestrated chaos.

In summary, Viscerafest is a carnage-fun experience and I enjoyed every second of it, though some of the in-game graphics could do with a polish, it can't be overlooked for its gameplay mechanics and absolute blast of a journey. To my surprise, the main protagonist has become one of my favourites. Retro shooter fans should definitely pick this one up!