Huntdown: Overtime - Review
Ok now this is a sequel to Huntdown, that I already had in my library but barely played before. I guess I have to start with the sequel! Huntdown overtime puts you in the shoes or some kind of super bionic cop, who’s been resurrected to fight crime and kill bad guys.
Any resemblance to Robocop or other 80s movies is NOT a coincidence, the game is constantly making references to 80s era.
Sublime
I don’t really like the abuse of pixel art but this is a game that actually uses a lot of small pixels instead of making it ugly and cheap. The recipe is pure roguelite: when you start it’s almost impossible to clear the first level as you need to get money or upgrade points, die, come back to the cave where you started (they bring you back to life everytime, Robocop would be proud), and spend money and upgrade points to improve your stats, or your weapons.
The gameplay is tight. Only a few buttons are needed: one for your gun (or rifle, or uzi, whatever you are given at the beginning of the level randomly), and one for the close-up attacks could be a bat, brass knuckles, etc). You can also jump and slide. Jumps include double jumps, which are essential to reach some platforms. As you start a level, you are given a choice between two paths, with different properties and a different boss at the end of the sub-level. Finish that sub-level and next you will be offered new branching options as you progress. Fairly typical.
Once in game, you start in preparation mode: two places let you spend some points to upgrade or add bionics to your body, to make you stronger in one way or another. Another shop taken care of by an old (chatty) lady, let you purchase some more stuff, usually to upgrade your guns and items, or ensure you can keep some of the money you lose when you are KO’ed in a level.
After that, you are given you first two weapons, and the hunt is on. Levels are randomly generated so you never really see the same elements in the same order, but the theme and the feel is quite similar from one run to the next. In simple terms, it feels like some kind of random patchwork of sequences/elements that are necessary in that level, and that keep changing order every single time. I’m not really bothered by the randomness, but it does feel a little generic. It’s very hard to recreate human-like design when generating stuff with a seed, while we may be getting closer thanks to LLMs and stuff like that. Another issue is that it makes the levels feel sparse: you got 3 enemies on you, and then you walk for another 20 seconds to reach a set of bad guys to take care of.
In each level, the only strategy is to kill everyone that comes in your way. No need to think too much - but you will be overwhelmed once in a while, either by a large numbef of enemies coming at once, or annoying ones that are pure bullet sponges and require a long salvo of bullets to stop them.
You can take cover next to crates or behind cars in order to avoid getting hit. Enemies tend to take cover just behind explosive barrels (lol, seriously!). Once in a while you character will make comments about the last kill you just did, and that reminds me a lot of Duke Nukem back in the 90s!
The art is good, very good, at least for the animations and the different elements on screen. The backgrounds, that are stiched together randomly, feel a little less interesting. I really like the fact that as you move around, there are some items you can grab and throw, like TVs, tires, or phones.
You don’t die after one hit, you have a good health bar, but it’s fairly easy to get killed if you let larger enemies come too close. when your health is dangerously low, you can use stimpoacks (shoulder button) to recover some of your health and keep fighting a bit longer.
Bosses are much harder than the regular enemies. First, they are bullet sponges, and second, they usually have very powerful weapons, move fast, and make your life miserable.
In the great tradition of 80s platformers, even boss has a flaw and you need to find it and exploit it quickly. I have to confess I have so far been able to progress past the first world (not the small sub-levels, rather the whole thing), as I eventually get killed by a boss sonner or later. It can be done, it’s often having a lot of discipline and not making too many mistakes.
Lastly, I did not mention the music, but it’s good, exciting, and has good 80s vibes as well.
Early Access
Huntdown Overtime is still in Early Access, and there are only two “worlds” right now. Apparently quite a few commenters on Steam managed to go through the whole content of the game so far and are waiting for more. The game works perfectly and just fine on the Steam Deck, as if it was made for it. Even though I hardly manage to make huge progress form one try to the next, I get some more money and more upgrade points to spend, and I guess this should increase my changes to make it sooner or later.
That’s the good think about roguelites: losing is part of the game, and the whole point is to progress with upgrades to be able to finish the game. So, I keep coming back at it. A run is not too long (at least for me!) and I can be done in 10 or 15 mins. Ideal for a little game to launch on a break.
There is however no way to skip the levels you have already beat. Every time you die, you start from scratch again. This is fine so far, but I am gauging this may become somewhat repetitive in the long run when you do the first level 300 times.
In its current state, despite some of my criticism, it’s still a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing it shape for 1.0 down the road.
You can buy it on Steam right now.
Note: we were provided a key from the publisher for this review.