Living through the terrors of war in Conscript | Review

About fire in the trenches

When we think of survival horror games, we always come to mind something supernatural, something related to monsters, ghosts, or even post-apocalyptic scenarios, as these are the most recurring themes for the genre and with great titles like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alien Isolation, but this predictability is not something we see here.

The story and theme of Conscript revolves around the first world war, something very feasible and realistic, because the first war really happened, and the game did not enhance with things beyond reality to make the narrative more interesting, because it is not necessary at all, as we are talking about a theme very rich in content.

And during the gameplay you face a young soldier who is on the battlefield serving alongside his brother, more specifically in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun, something very interesting because, you control a normal guy, in a real situation, where the game manages to convey a sense of fear, not because of the supernatural, but because the fears there are real fears that someone once felt in their own skin.

The sounds of rifle bullets, the artillery falling all the time, the enemies that constantly invade your trenches and force combat both at a distance and up close, the allied and enemy soldiers who begin to panic during combat, the shouts of furious soldiers and also of the wounded soldiers faithfully create the hellish environment of war.

And right from the start you already feel the taste of all this, the prologue throws you directly into the heat of battle: shots echo in the distance, explosions block passages and enemies advance in groups of two or three. For a top-down survival horror game, everything seemed quite chaotic in terms of gameplay and slow and methodical combat that we expect. Fortunately, things calm down a bit once you see the title screen and the main game begins.

Fighting in chaos

Something that may not be so attractive to some is a point that I already touched on in this review, we usually play survival horrors in search of something scary, and you really won't have that here, the horror part of the game is not like the jumpscares of Alien Isolation or the zombies chasing you in Resident Evil, the scary thing here is the war itself, your dead war companions around you, the panic, the chaos, the feeling that you really could die at any moment and not even see where what killed you came from.

The combat in the game is a bit different, I admit that I initially struggled a bit until I got the hang of it, but that's more of an error on the part that is between the keyboard and the chair, the game itself has this combat mechanic where you must charge the attack so that melee is stronger and the ranged attack is more precise, something I wasn't very used to, but it didn't take me long to get the hang of it.

In addition to the melee weapons and the ranged firearms, we have some others that we can use in combat, such as grenades, both incendiary and explosive, and also some mounted machine guns that are scattered throughout the map areas and allow you to use them to eliminate the waves of enemies that invade the trenches from time to time.

The save system is very important, because eventually you end up dying, and this system is very reminiscent of the older Resident Evil games, in fact this is just one of the details that are very similar, the game was inspired a lot by the franchise, with the chests scattered throughout the game where you can store and retrieve items, a save system that depends on collected items, which limits the number of times you can save.

We also have the item merchant, which is indeed very similar, a guy with little to say and who besides selling and buying items also upgrades your weapons, and of course he is always in the safe zone where you save and store items, and also has that blue light of a very similar or even identical tone to the one that accompanies the merchant from Resident Evil 4, it's really nice to see the affection that the creator has for the saga and how he paid homage to and was inspired by his own game.

Simple yet beautiful

Conscript is a great example that ultra-realistic graphics for war-themed games are not the only option, in terms of presentation, the pixel art visuals do a good job of conveying small details and atmosphere; the character design, in particular, is exquisite, and I loved seeing the custom reload animations and the subtle vapor emanating from their mouths.

The loading animations at the beginning are killers, I died a few times while doing this animation that seemed eternal, but as you evolve the weapons, the animations become much faster, and even changing the speed, the animations remain very suitable, they do not cause any strangeness or abnormality.

The pixel art of the game in general is fantastic, extremely detailed in various points, I was impressed by how he managed to make a soldier in a state of shock and panic so well, even without being able to see his facial expressions I could feel the terror that character felt, and this also extends to the game's scenes, which are also in pixel art and all completely impeccable.

The map design is very consistent with the moment, the trenches in wars were true mazes, and here it is no different, outside there are several "rat paths" and inside the tunnels the atmosphere is of something dirty, humid and very dark, with a few exceptions where it is still dark, but there is still some lighting because it is supposed to be some installation that theoretically would still be in use.

The game's sounds are also very well done, both the sounds of the weapons, the noise of the explosions and artillery attacks, and even the shouts and sounds emitted by the soldiers themselves, all very well placed and are one of the main factors responsible for creating the atmosphere of chaos that the game tries to convey at times.

For all this, I believe that even though Conscript is not a scary game as is common sense for survival horrors, it is still a sensational game and certainly deserves a chance to be played, for its differentiated theme for the genre and immersive story, it is certainly recommended for everyone who likes games of the genre, but also for the average gamer, who enjoys a story that can hold you and a different game to break the routine.