No crying or vigil, here, if you slip up, it's a PIT! In DeathSprint 66, released on September 12, 2024 and with 100% translation in Pt-Br, you will get to know a game that is not here to play around and, honestly, the developers couldn't care less if you are a beginner or an experienced racer, if you slip up, you die!

Developed by Sumo Digital and published by Secret Mode, DS 66 caused a stir on its debut, with many players joining and marathon gaming non-stop trying to reach the top of the rankings right at its launch. So, many points were raised about the gameplay of the Thursday newcomer, both negative and positive. However, it is worth mentioning that in times of 'pay to win', the developers did a good job, creating a game that doesn't care about your outfit, but your skill (the studio promised no microtransactions or game pass).

The main focus here was clearly on gameplay, as well as extraordinary graphics on ultra, but unfortunately, it presents some little issues that I will comment on shortly. So, overall, the mission of racing games is to bring diversity, and here it was no different, the developers sought to innovate in a race performed by clones instead of cars, with different tracks and modes.

Basically, we are in the year 2066 when the Bachman Media Network returns with a desire to dominate the world of entertainment with its brutal cyber race, where challengers will race as Clone Jockeys, with a huge supply of clones to race as much as they want.
 

'Run for fame. Die for glory.'

The motto of DeathSprint 66 says it all, we are here to reach the top, without much story or plot to follow, here only the best will compete for the top spot, eliminating all who stand in their way. Truly, a racing game doesn't necessarily need a story to follow, and here the choice was precisely that, what matters is competing with your opponents.

I mean, in the start menu we can already see the path to follow, we can find a player vs player mode (called 'showtime', this is where the fun happens), another player vs machine (‘episodes’), character customization, a tutorial mode (which may be important) and, finally, a ranking. Yes, even at the beginning, with many players not really understanding how to play, there is already a fight to reach the top.
 

Briefly passing through, the modes will vary, with one where we race against the clock, another where we can have 5 lives, if we exceed this number of deaths we are eliminated, among others. Thus, the search for variation was achieved, but the big question is whether it had an effect.

Personally, I felt at the beginning a difficulty with the controls (which I will explain better in the next topic), however, by moderately adapting to the gameplay style and starting to die less (yes, less, because not dying is close to impossible), DS 66 became a bit addictive, playing for hours against other players or trying to complete the missions against the machine. The problem is that, after a while, this became tiring and not very stimulating due to other points of the game, such as the controls.
 

Talking about gameplay itself, we will have to jump, dodge a series of lethal objects scattered on the track, as well as deadly abilities of other players, run and still try to eliminate our enemies. Furious Charge (my favorite) and Pursuing Drone are two abilities, for example, with a strong impact on the 'battle track', with both striking sound and graphic effects that can send shivers when we notice them right behind our character, so using the abilities intelligently can be the key to good positions. Speed, in the end, is the most essential and will receive an available ability with a certain amount of energy, the so-called Surge, which can be activated at the player's will.

Are the controls difficult or just poorly structured?

As it is a new release, it is normal to have some issues, so I wonder if this was really the developers' intention. However, sometimes feeling a huge difficulty with control is normal, even after hours of gameplay, having mastered everything in the player vs machine mode or completed all the tutorials, it's as if our clone is carrying the weights of Rock Lee when turning, totally stiff in some parts of the track. In addition, sometimes, despite coming back to life invulnerable, I revive only to die again, making it very difficult to achieve good positions in the race.

The fact that the game is difficult to master really happens, but what I mean is that in some paths it seems like your clone obeys you better compared to other moments. Over time, I realized that perhaps this is not only related to the game controls themselves, but also to the graphic optimization.
 

A spectacle in itself, but with problems...

The graphics of DeathSprint 66 are certainly one of its strongest points, the art is beautiful, a cyberpunk nature with tracks that very much resemble this crowded technological environment full of neon lighting, futuristic in cities that seem completely abandoned. In addition, the characters are created in great detail, with outfits that refer to the fact that they are runners with a single goal, to win in a race that has no hint of ethical concept, it's kill or be killed.

Similarly, the visual and sound effects of the abilities, jumps, dodges, and skids are equally legendary, it is very satisfying to run while observing these details, which for me was the great charm of the game, also featuring a soundtrack and narration in the middle of the match, bringing a good competitive atmosphere.

However, my major concern was with the optimization of these points, many times the graphics seemed poorly optimized and weighed down the gameplay, with sudden fps drops and crashes in a game that perhaps should not demand so much. So, I started to associate that maybe the controls and commands were also not optimized, for now, since, once again, being a new release, DS 66 has much to be explored and improved.

DeathSprint 66 is available for Microsoft Windows.

We thank the PR team of Secret Mode who provided DeathSprint 66 and made the creation of this content possible.