Redeemer

Redeemer for PC is an action game resembling a combination of Diablo and Mortal Kombat. The core of this top-down view hack'n'slash game is made up of bloody encounters with a lot of enemies – the player uses firearms, environmental objects, and a set of melee combat techniques. The game was created by Sobaka Studio from Russia, which is a team comprised of five gamemakers. Gambitious Digital Entertainment published Redeemer; the game gained the approval of the players on Steam Greenlight.

Plot

The player assumes the role of Vasily – a very tall, former mercenary, who has been hiding from those that were once his employers. Over 20 years before the events depicted in the game, Vasily worked for one of the largest military-industrial corporations. Officially, he was part of the security team back then, but in reality, the corporation was sending him on dangerous assignments – the objectives of those were often as much against the law as it is virtually possible. Vasily used to infiltrate the enemies of the corporation, torture people, extort information from them and also eliminate the inconvenient ones.

At one point, Vasily's employers decided that he had become redundant. Having barely made it out alive, as his former companions tried to murder him, the betrayed mercenary decided to isolate himself from the world. Remaining hidden in a peaceful mountain monastery, Vasily entered the path of spiritual transformation. He hoped to reach harmony and regain the peace of the soul through work and prayer, but this goal turned out to be very hard to achieve, as he was being haunted by the memories of the atrocities he had commited in his former life. The ruthless corporation was searching for Vasily, and when its spies discovered his whereabouts, soldiers were sent to the monastery to perform an assault.

Now, Vasily is forced to return to bloodspilling, though this time in the fight against the corporation's forces. What gives him hope is the thought that this final battle he needs to participate in, can be his true chance to achieve redemption.

Mechanics

Redeemer for PC is a typical representative of the hack'n'slash genre. Looking at the action from top-down perspective, the player explores subsequent locations and eliminates a lot of enemies on their way. The player has an entire set of means for dealing with the opposition here. Thanks to his almost super-human strength and the training the corporation once provided Vasily with, he can kill enemy soldiers with bare hands. However, one can use different melee weapons (axes, hammers, military knives, etc.), as well as certain environmental objects (for example, Vasily can lift up heavy barrels and throw them at his foes). When it comes to more basic ranged weapons, Redeemer offers a set of modern-day firearms - above all, shotguns and automatic rifles. The firearms can be obtained from the enemies, which does not always require fighting, as the protagonist can make use of special attacks from behind, which allow the player to eliminate a surprised enemy with a single strike.

Game modes

Redeemer offers two singleplayer modes – the story mode acquaints the player with the grim story of the protagonist, and the Arena Mode brings an opportunity to put one's skills to a test or simply to work on them. In this latter mode, only constant fighting matters, as the player has to slay as many of the incessantly pouring in soldiers as they can.

Technical aspects

Redeemer for PC utilizes the Unreal Engine 4 – a technology developed by Epic Games. Employing a modern-day game engine here made it possible for the creators to deliver atmospheric visuals. In dark undergrounds, flickering lights of the torches create an appropriate tone; on the other hand, sunrays are reflected on the surfaces of wet stones. The game's physical effects are also worth mentioning – for instance, when an enemy gets thrown off, they can crush through bridge barriers and fall.

Although Redeemer is evidently a brutal game, it represents the kind of brutality one can see in comic books – gallons of blood on the screen constitute the only visual effect related to the level of brutality present here: the player will not see any guts ripped out or limbs chopped off.

Last updated on 20 June 2023