Conscript – Review

Conscript – Despite the lack of production resources, indie games (games made by independent developers) often bring surprises to gamers, mainly due to the team making them. The game does not have to try to “follow the trend” according to market pressure to achieve a certain revenue, but is free to be creative according to your own preferences.

However, a long time has passed, even some other attractive games that were demoed at the same time such as Undying – Kingdom were released to the market last year, but it was not until 24/7 that the game This is officially “in the hands” of gamers .

Is an indie game with such a long development time enough to attract gamers? Or will it be too long and become… too bad, which is not a rare thing these days in the gaming world?

Let’s learn about the game with Vietgame.asia through the following review, everyone!

YOU WILL LIKE

“Horror” is concentrated in each level!

It must be said that the most surprising thing for the writer when he first “touched” the Conscript trial version in 2021 was that despite the “reputation” of this game being developed by Catchweight Studio , it is worth mentioning that This studio has only… one member, Jordan Mochi, who is responsible for all stages, from idea generation, script writing, graphic design, gameplay levels and almost all the game code in one place. long time up to… 7 years!

Although there are many successful examples of indie games where one person is responsible for all the steps, such as the adventure game Forgotten City or the first “next-gen” first-person shooter first introduced for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X systems such as Bright Memory: Infinite , but it cannot be denied that each person’s strength is limited.

Often, enthusiasts will start making a game with just a sudden idea, but keeping their passion alive is another matter, especially with time. With a long development period of up to 7 years, with hundreds of changes compared to the original plan, what Jordan Mochi has done with Conscript is truly amazing!

Just like Stardew Valley “borrowed” ideas from the Story of Seasons game series (which was formerly known as Harvest Moon ), Conscript was deeply influenced by the original Resident Evil games released in the 90s of the century. before but with a completely different context and expression.

If you are a hard fan of this game series, you will easily feel the similarity from the menu layout, the way to use sound effects when starting a new game, and the pixelated graphics. ) is antiquated, to the way of saving the game using save points attached to “4-dimensional space” inventory boxes that can be connected to everywhere such as “Doraemon’s magic bag”, or “purposefully” locked doors. Need you to find the key to gradually open it as the plot develops…

You will even encounter a “gun man” who sells all kinds of components in exchange for… cigarettes and helps you upgrade guns and ammunition to be more powerful, just like the mysterious salesman in the game Resident Evil. 4.

At first glance, there are too many things in common, but in reality, you will see that Conscript is not a boring stereotypical “chewing” game like Day Mare 1998 , but it is the summation of Jordan’s passion. Mochi skillfully uses the context of World War I, dark psychological elements , war atmosphere and unique gameplay design with a top-down perspective to create the game. Its very own “horror quality”.

Unlike Battlefield 1 or Verdun, which has bright tones revolving around the battles and heroes of World War I, Conscript , as its name suggests, is about an extremely ordinary French soldier. stuck in the middle of the trenches in endless battles, facing mud, blood, gun smoke, lack of ammunition, light and even potential threats from the enemy, creates a dark color, clearly reflecting the pessimistic psychology of the character as he literally struggles to survive during battles.

Right from the first level, the whole war seems to immediately collapse on you with a feeling of extreme struggle for the character as he moves through dark fortresses, with enemy soldiers always ready to jump. at you from the shadows along the trenches, while ammunition is in short supply among comrades who constantly fall amid the “rain of bombs and storm of bullets”, creating an atmosphere of oppression and tension, not heroic at all. in the style of common shooting games set in this period.

At first glance, there are too many things in common, but in reality, you will see that Conscript is not a boring stereotypical “chewing” game like Day Mare 1998

Although showing war from the perspective of a survival horror game seems unreasonable, Jordan Mochi experimented many times in the first few years to be able to combine it smoothly. between plot, gameplay and graphic elements to create a real atmosphere of fear and anxiety for players on their journey to find their brother.

Unlike the slow Zombies in the first Resident Evil versions, the enemies in Conscript are both fast and aggressive, leaving you with no way to avoid them other than having to fight head-on, giving the game a little ” atmosphere” of an action game, but also the weakness of weapons, lack of ammunition and “jump scares” that constantly force players to confront their fears to “survival”, and from there, the action part, although still requiring the player’s quick hands and eyes, still does not overwhelm the “horror” like some games encounter.

The plot is also built extremely tightly, interweaving the past and present, creating a clear contrast between the peaceful atmosphere of the French countryside and the fury that war comes, from there. , making the game screen become the main character’s never-ending nightmares.

Each level is tightly built, turning the entire game into a “chapter novel” with reasonably designed events and characters, and at the same time, the game rhythm is also accelerated accordingly. Near the end of the game screen combined with immediate action scenes and the plot is pushed to a climax, then resolved with a series of events that pressure the player’s emotions.

Not only that, as a student with a strong passion for history, Jordan Mochi has collected a large amount of documents from this period to sketch out the most realistic game world, but also The most brutal of the war.

You will see beautiful, colorful propaganda posters encouraging young people to join the army, in contrast to a terrible war with dark, musty trenches and dry instruction boards. The harshness of the “military” contrasts with the emotional letters from soldiers, family photos, chess games that are never completed… to always remind ourselves that, even a threat to your survival, but that’s still a human being.

The humane message hidden in these small details really makes the player’s emotions more “uncomfortable”, not simply “shooting bullets” at ferocious zombies or monsters. deformed like Pyramid Head, thereby making the game’s emotions much heavier.

All the details, no matter how small or trivial, are intentionally designed, similar to what the first versions of the Resident Evil game series often showed in diaries, bulletin boards, or records. archive… to help players easily visualize the severity of what is going on around your character

This attention to small details truly amazes the writer, because it often requires an enormous amount of work in finding materials, designing items, levels, and meticulousness. arranged by a large team of game designers and screenwriters, but all of these elements were completed by just one developer!

Perhaps that’s why the game development process lasted up to 7 years, with countless adjustments and care by Jordan Mochi for his “first child”.

Additionally, like many adventure role-playing games , Conscript has quite a few different endings depending on your choices. This shows that although Jordan Mochi is quite lacking in human resources, he still tries very hard to give gamers the most in-depth storyline, while significantly increasing the replay value of his game.

The game’s audio, although not as “splendid” as the recently re-launched horror games with a “blockbuster” graphic platform like Dead Space , can still be considered quite “adequate” to represent the game. shows all the “horror” of the game to the players.

As a game “born” from a test version on the engine platform… Game Maker, Conscript ‘s dot graphics platform (Pixelate) is a measure that contributes to “reducing the load” for developers, but the way Using color tones from dark blue to black and the lighting/level layout really gives the game a dark and creepy feeling.

Especially the pre-made animated cutscenes describing the happenings are carefully cared for and diverse, bringing unexpected scares in the style of a horror game.

Although this method is somewhat classic, the effect is extremely impressive, especially with a 2D game platform that is not enough to give players the feeling of being immersed in the space of the game world, such as with regular 3D games.

Although the sound part is not Jordan Mochi’s strength, what this independent developer can do is extremely admirable.

A lot of horror sound materials are appropriately “installed” right from the game menu, to game sequences, and cutscenes to maximize their value, helping to enhance the “horror quality” of the game. The game has been featured many times, but if you are observant, you will easily realize that the way the sound and background music are used has many of the “colors” of the old Resident Evil games .

In general, if we really look closely, Conscript still has some minor limitations in both plot, gameplay and image and sound when trying to “follow in the footsteps” of the somewhat outdated Resident Evil style, but with As a game developed by just one person, you can completely ignore these problems and consider this as almost a leading game in the survival horror genre on the market today.

YOU WILL HATE

There is a slight “phase shift” phenomenon in the second half of the game!

Although there are many ideas borrowed from the Resident Evil game series that brought success to Conscript , the “sales guy” is the factor that causes the “phase shift” phenomenon towards action games in the second half of the game, causing somewhat reduces the “horror quality” maintained throughout the first half of the game.

With Resident Evil 4 , upgrading guns will help you confront increasingly stronger monsters or increasingly giant bosses that are more difficult to destroy, such as the “mushy” gun that the government provides. level can be useful when dealing with the Ganado villagers in the early game, but is almost “ineffective” when encountering the numerous Plagas in the castle in the second half of the game if you don’t upgrade them properly.

With Conscript , the historical context of World War I does not allow Jordan Mochi to “pump up” the opponent’s strength such as the ability to create new types of monsters to balance the power like with the Resident Evil game series.

Although you will also encounter a few armored opponents who are “tougher” than regular soldiers, when the guns you carry are upgraded to maximum fire speed and power, you will feel I find the action scenes become much more… “easy to breathe”.

As a result, you will feel that running around and shooting becomes more feasible than having to “wrestle” with enemies to save each bullet like in the early stages of the game, thereby leading to ” “horror” and “survival pressure” are both somewhat reduced.

However, overall, this does not affect your experience too much or negatively affect the already very good quality of the game.

Of course, there are many other minor elements that have not really been refined, but as the result of a single developer, Conscript deserves to be viewed with a more tolerant and holistic eye, so readers Writing is not mentioned here.

You will feel that running around and shooting becomes more feasible than having to fight hand-to-hand with enemies to save each bullet like in the early stages of the game