As the gap between indie games and AAA releases gets smaller, plenty of small development teams are seeing their work being backed by large publishers and released on official platforms. The latest example of this isScathe, afirst-person shooter with an emphasis on difficulty, speed, and bullet hell mechanics.
Scatheis developed in the UK by Damage State, a team made up of only three ex-AAA game developers. However, it manages to showcase impressive graphics and tight gameplay in a recent trailer, with a playable demo soon to be released for PC users.
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A spooky and dimly lit backdrop is the setting forScathe, complimenting the demonic horrors that await brave players. The developers explain that players will take control of Scathe, “Enforcer of the legions of Hell… and [they] must prove your worth by navigating a deviously crafted maze, entangled with demonic evil at every twist and turn.” A combination of platforming, quick thinking, and memorization will be required to dodge the seamless patterns of bullets being fired towards players while using their weaponry to eliminate waves of demons. Thanks to the trailer’s reveal of “big guns and even bigger demons,” it offers slick gameplay mechanics forlevelling up weaponry like inDeep Rock Galactic.
Bullet hell games are rarely combined with other genres, butScathemanages to combine the two in a complimentary manner that suits an alternative playstyle similar to on-rail arcade shooters. The adaptive gameplay style is balanced out with heavy artillery that encourages players to explore further, with a range of shotguns, assault rifles, blades, and crossbows that all come with secondary fire attachments. Around the labyrinth’s hellscape different paths can be taken on each new run to discover more secrets, collectibles, and so forth. Gamers will also be able to create custom mazes as well as taking on endless waves of enemies to hone their skills.
Scathewill also include adrop-in/drop-out cooperative modethat allows for up to three friends to join the fight at any time. This comes with an interesting trade-off of shared lives to keep squads and strangers alert as the challenges get bigger. With such a precise combination of genres and mechanics, a lot of fans are eager to play the finished product and test their mettle against the devilishly difficult mazes within.
Interested players can already wishlist the game on Steam, and have access to a playable demo at the Steam Next Fest from February 21-28.
Scatheis confirmed for a 2022 release for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
