Conscript Review

Player(s): 1

Conscript is a survival game developed by Catchweight Studio and published by Team17. If you like Resident Evil, you need to try this game since it plays just like it and it’s quite amazing how a war game such as this can have such great atmosphere and feel like a horror game. This game will take you back to the old days of survival horror with its overall gameplay and approach. I feel fans of Signalis will find something to enjoy with this game as well.

Conscript is presented with a top-down perspective. The graphics have a pixel art look to them, similar to Signalis. The game takes place during World War I (The Great War) and you take control of a French soldier. The soldier is trying to find his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. You battle through trenches, forts and battlefields along the way.

From the get go, this game has all the makings of an old school survival horror. It is punishing, heavily atmospheric and resources are limited. One thing that survival horrors leave out nowadays is the ability to search a lot of areas to get a text description, but this game even has that in check. Starting out, you get to choose your difficulty and you get to choose if you want unlimited or limited saves during your progression. Just like in old survival horror games, the saves are manual, although there are checkpoints.

If you’ve played Resident Evil 1, you’ll know exactly what to expect with this game. You’re limited with the inventory that you can carry and you’ll have to store items in an item crate in a save room. Most resources are found in the environment. You’ll find some resources on enemies once defeated. Your main enemy are soldiers with different armor and weapon types. The game encourages stealth kills and hiding from your enemies. Enemies often take many hits in order to kill during combat.

The overall combat in the game takes some getting used to. You aim with the LT button and strike/shoot with the RT button. While aiming, a target cursor will appear that shows you the distance of your attack. While aiming, you can turn your character with the right thumbstick. With guns, you don’t get to see the full distance that the bullet will travel. It seems that enemies that are in the target cursor will take more damage when hit – I’m not really sure of this. When battling more than one enemy, the combat system makes the battles really tough. Factor in that you have to manually reload some weapons (such as the starting rifle) per shot and you got yourself some tough battles when facing off against multiple enemies. When you need to reload or during a battle with melee weapons, I often had to run around a bunch and dodge enemy attacks (there is a dodge button) until I could reload or ready up my next attack. From the beginning many battles in the game devolve into this type of situation. Battles did get better once I got more powerful weapons though.

You can sneak up behind enemies and hit them with melee for an instant knockout. There are also hiding places where you can hide in an alcove and pull a curtain back to make it so enemies can’t see you. Just like an old school survival horror, fighting is not encouraged. Besides finding ammo and healing items, you can combine items to make your own. The game also has a shop where you trade in cigarettes to buy items. Weapons can be upgraded with the use of certain materials as well.

The game is quite hard. You have to plan out kills carefully. If you rush in and try to do battle with every enemy without even the slightest hint of strategy, you will run out of resources. You can set traps for enemies and you gain items such as fire bombs to take out more than one enemy at a time. The game has a heavy emphasis on scavenging for items just like older survival horrors. Resource management plays a big factor as well. There will come times to where you can’t carry items because your inventory is full. Thankfully, you can upgrade your inventory eventually though.

The game is full of puzzles and areas that are closed off to you until you get a certain item. Find keys, and other items or solve puzzles and you’ll be able to pass through certain areas that were previously inaccessible. The overall area design is very well done. There is a lot of environmental variety. The game uses sound and lighting to its advantage to create a great horror atmosphere. Even though this isn’t a horror game, it’s amazing how much creepy atmosphere we have here. There are many dark areas where the only light you have is a small circle of the current area around your character. The game’s overall sound is so very perfect for setting the mood.

This game also has a fair share of unlockables. Once you beat the game, you are definitely not finished. It has unlockables weapons, multiple endings, unlockable outfits and extra difficulties to experience on your next playthrough. While it’s not your traditional horror game, Conscript is easily the closest you can get to an old school survival horror without having zombies or some other creatures in it. The horrors of war are definitely felt in this game. There is such a sense of hopelessness and loss throughout the game. The notes in the game help to add to that feeling. If you like horror games, you need to experience this game. It’s definitely a game that has classic survival horror fans in mind.

The Good:
+ Nails the overall survival feel of classic survival horror games
+ Overall atmosphere is so very good
+ Quite a lot to do (long game)

The Bad:
- The overall combat makes battles overly difficult at times