Okay, so this is going to be a pretty big review with a lot of nitpicky things and jerking the dev off, you've been warned.

My interest was piqued in Selaco because of Civvie 11, big fan of his, and he managed to sell it pretty damn quick. I wanted to play the game before watching his review, it seemed like a solid decision. The fact that this game is running on GZDoom is amazing, some of the things it's doing are so insane to me, being able to carry items into other zones between loading screens, the amount of voxels being used, integrated mini-game/games INSIDE of Selaco, it's wild.

There are so many things to talk about, so lets break it down.

I. The Guns - Guns for every occasion, that's what this game brings to the table. It's been a while since I've seen basic weapons given a full spread of capabilities, the sheer amount of choices is staggering. A shotgun that feels like a kick to the teeth when you shove the barrel into an enemy's gut, turning them into a splatter across the room, an SMG with a taser that can be turned into a guns akimbo shootout, or a long range shock that chains on enemies. A multipurpose grenade launcher with modes for your mood, turn 'em into rockets, mines, or just go au naturale. Everything feels really well tuned, but there's a few things that can be frustrating. The shotgun's pump time is...not great, more often than not, if you try to get into people's faces the way it wants you to, you're going to eat a lot of lead on your way there, and if there is more than one enemy, you're getting double with the one second pump time. The standard rifle feels really loose with its aiming, a lot of times I would find myself dumping a full magazine at a guy in a doorway from the next room, using 20 rounds just to kill them. It doesn't feel like the medium distance weapon it's supposed to be, rather a weaker form of the SMG after a recoil upgrade. It doesn't come into its own until you get the launcher for it, allowing it to serve as an additional explosive launcher, preferable to use at longer range enemies than the rifle itself. The DMR has the shortest stick though, I really don't think there was ever a purpose for it other than dealing with snipers, and they were just too few and far between to upgrade it for. Enemies are coded to just close the distance, so using the DMR just felt like a worthless endeavor. Everything else with the guns is great, it's just nitpicks that started to grind on me towards the end of the game.

II. The Enemies - While the roster may not be much, what the devs did to account for it was give them upgrades that flow well with the game's progression. Their arsenal grows as time goes on, from simply more damage per bullet to grenades, turrets, and team leaders that bolster everything about them so long as he's alive. For most of the game, that constant growth and good choice of enemy selection help to make very engaging fights, Team leaders specifically make you choose between using the extra resources to push through the buff he gives, or take risks to isolate and eliminate him, making the rest of them standard fare. By the time you get to the end of the game, however, it'll start to feel like a slog, especially if you take the time to go through the Starlight facility.

III. The Ear Stuff - My goodness the sound design on this game is wonderful, everything is very clear and understandable, you'll never be in a situation where you don't know what is going on because of chaotic noises. Things are kept relatively simple with mechanical tools like mines, but even by sound, you know which ones are yours, and which ones are the enemy's. The weapons have some of the best sounds I've heard, it all just makes the guns, despite previous gripes, feel so good when they do the things you want them to do. Music was absolute bops, give or take one or two tracks, but that's merely from hearing them /too/ much while secret hunting in levels.

IV. The Gameplay - It feels like pure chaos one moment, and perfectly tuned the next. The game has a lot of push and pull with how things are laid out, through enemy choice, weapon availability at given segments, the player's decisions in the moment, it all just works really really smoothly. The only time I felt true pain while playing was at the Starlight complex, but the developers intended for that, it was sort of a penultimate challenge section. Easily ate up a few hours by itself.

If you like Boom Shoots, this is one of the Boomest Shoots of all Boom and Shoots.

Not a perfect game, but like Civvie said, it's as close to perfect as it can get.

P.S. if the devs are reading this, please increase Dawn's base move speed just a smidge, or reduce the cooldown on the slide, please.

Okay, so this is going to be a pretty big review with a lot of nitpicky things and jerking the dev off, you've been warned. My interest was piqued in Selaco because of Civvie 11, big fan of his, and he managed to sell it pretty damn quick. I wanted to play the game before watching his review, it seemed like a solid decision. The fact that this game is running on GZDoom is amazing, some of the things it's doing are so insane to me, being able to carry items into other zones between loading screens, the amount of voxels being used, integrated mini-game/games INSIDE of Selaco, it's wild. There are so many things to talk about, so lets break it down. I. The Guns - Guns for every occasion, that's what this game brings to the table. It's been a while since I've seen basic weapons given a full spread of capabilities, the sheer amount of choices is staggering. A shotgun that feels like a kick to the teeth when you shove the barrel into an enemy's gut, turning them into a splatter across the room, an SMG with a taser that can be turned into a guns akimbo shootout, or a long range shock that chains on enemies. A multipurpose grenade launcher with modes for your mood, turn 'em into rockets, mines, or just go au naturale. Everything feels really well tuned, but there's a few things that can be frustrating. The shotgun's pump time is...not great, more often than not, if you try to get into people's faces the way it wants you to, you're going to eat a lot of lead on your way there, and if there is more than one enemy, you're getting double with the one second pump time. The standard rifle feels really loose with its aiming, a lot of times I would find myself dumping a full magazine at a guy in a doorway from the next room, using 20 rounds just to kill them. It doesn't feel like the medium distance weapon it's supposed to be, rather a weaker form of the SMG after a recoil upgrade. It doesn't come into its own until you get the launcher for it, allowing it to serve as an additional explosive launcher, preferable to use at longer range enemies than the rifle itself. The DMR has the shortest stick though, I really don't think there was ever a purpose for it other than dealing with snipers, and they were just too few and far between to upgrade it for. Enemies are coded to just close the distance, so using the DMR just felt like a worthless endeavor. Everything else with the guns is great, it's just nitpicks that started to grind on me towards the end of the game. II. The Enemies - While the roster may not be much, what the devs did to account for it was give them upgrades that flow well with the game's progression. Their arsenal grows as time goes on, from simply more damage per bullet to grenades, turrets, and team leaders that bolster everything about them so long as he's alive. For most of the game, that constant growth and good choice of enemy selection help to make very engaging fights, Team leaders specifically make you choose between using the extra resources to push through the buff he gives, or take risks to isolate and eliminate him, making the rest of them standard fare. By the time you get to the end of the game, however, it'll start to feel like a slog, especially if you take the time to go through the Starlight facility. III. The Ear Stuff - My goodness the sound design on this game is wonderful, everything is very clear and understandable, you'll never be in a situation where you don't know what is going on because of chaotic noises. Things are kept relatively simple with mechanical tools like mines, but even by sound, you know which ones are yours, and which ones are the enemy's. The weapons have some of the best sounds I've heard, it all just makes the guns, despite previous gripes, feel so good when they do the things you want them to do. Music was absolute bops, give or take one or two tracks, but that's merely from hearing them /too/ much while secret hunting in levels. IV. The Gameplay - It feels like pure chaos one moment, and perfectly tuned the next. The game has a lot of push and pull with how things are laid out, through enemy choice, weapon availability at given segments, the player's decisions in the moment, it all just works really really smoothly. The only time I felt true pain while playing was at the Starlight complex, but the developers intended for that, it was sort of a penultimate challenge section. Easily ate up a few hours by itself. If you like Boom Shoots, this is one of the Boomest Shoots of all Boom and Shoots. Not a perfect game, but like Civvie said, it's as close to perfect as it can get. P.S. if the devs are reading this, please increase Dawn's base move speed just a smidge, or reduce the cooldown on the slide, please.