Hrot Review (Luna O' Blue)
After finally being done with exploring the SiN franchise and writing a guide for each game in the series, I wanted to play something that wouldn’t take several weeks of my life, and the choice fell on HROT. I am a fan of the first Quake and its gloomy and dark atmosphere, so seeing a similar game but in a different setting was very intriguing. Thus, without further ado, let’s discuss the game!
Story and Atmosphere. The plot is basically non-existent and is written on the Steam page. An unspecified disaster happens in Czechoslovakia in 1986 and causes civil unrest; you leave the shelter under a metro station with a pistol and a sickle to free your homeland from the communist oppression. The game is almost entirely about atmosphere: the design, the palette, the level and enemy names, the posters and inscriptions – everything screams how much thought and detail was put into the game. If you are a historian, like detailed games with lots of references or simply enjoy political satires – you will definitely love HROT.
Music. Just as with Quake I, you probably won’t even notice there was any music during the first playthrough. Most of the soundtrack is monotonous industrial dark ambient accompanied by your own steps and sounds of the local environment. There are more energetic dark techno tracks but they only kick in during big fights and boss battles. HROT soundtrack is likely not something you will remember and add to your playlist but it plays an important role in building the atmosphere.
Gameplay. It is good but… could be better. There is a good number of enemies, some are exclusive to particular episodes or levels; bosses are quite different too and you will likely remember them. Enemy placements and combinations are also done quite well and encourage you to swap guns and use tactical approach. The weapons are quite diverse and most of them remain useful throughout the entire game. Level design is mostly fine. Most of the maps are loosely based on real life locations which works great for the atmosphere but makes the game mostly consist of narrow corridors and small halls – there rarely will be a large open space where you can start a bloodbath. In addition, because the game has four types of keys and frequent backtracking, there are times when you are lost and have to run around the entire level looking for the key or switch you’ve missed.
Nonetheless, even though HROT has good design choices, the gunplay itself seems a bit lacking: while shooting itself is fun, guns’ sounds and animations seem quite primitive; the enemies do have pain frames and seem to react to your shots, yet the animations also seem basic. Maybe it was an intendended decision to make the design more similar to Quake I, yet then I would also make all animations having only key frames with no interpolation – that would fit HROT atmosphere perfectly.
Finally, my biggest complaint to the game is that there is no deep complexity in the gameplay. First things first, unlike most of the modern games which use licensed engines made by other companies, HROT is running on its own proprietary engine fully developed by the game’s author. While it is an impressive accomplishment for a programming scene, it, unfortunately, leads to problems and drawbacks for the end user. Comparing HROT to Quake once more, Quake movement and shooting were easy to learn and hard to master: bunny hopping and rocket jumping – there is nothing like that in HROT. In the end, after you learn the behavior of enemies and the approximate damage your weapons deal, there is nothing much left to master. Because most of the enemies’ projectiles are quite fast, it’s always better to keep them mid-range and either hit the entire pack with long range weapons and grenades or double barreling the stray ones into their faces. For the narrow corridors, its almost always fast peeking, grenades behind the corner, or just waiting for the enemy to walk to you from the corner themselves.
Last but not least, the game is not very optimized for the Very Hard difficulty. Even though I am not the best hardcore gamer with 100% shot accuracy, there were enough times when I was left completely out of ammo and had to sickle quite buffy enemies to proceed. I can understand when it happens in the pistol-start mode – it’s a challenge that tests your shooting skills and knowledge of the map. Yet, when I come stuffed with ammo from the previous level, collect all the ammo on the current level, and then barely manage to finish it without the sickle – that really feels more like a poor balance. Apart from the 3-episode campaign, there is also an endless mode with 4 arenas and a Bombermod minigame. These are fun to try but, as I always say, I would rather have a full-fledged map editor. Though, considering the game runs on its own engine, I bet the modding and mapping options are quite limited.
Conclusion. HROT is a very atmospheric game which pays homage to the old classics. While it has some drawbacks, it is still a quite a unique experience. It took me about 10 hours to finish the game on max difficulty with all kills and secrets, so I assume a casual run will take about 5-8 hours. If you like boomer shooters or atmospheric games with attention to details – you will definitely enjoy HROT. However, if you are looking for something with a well-crafted story or deep complex gameplay loop – you probably better look for something else.