...Yes, I could think of a couple of things to put there, too. But what we're dealing with this time is a sidescrolling shooter for the PC currently seeking some Kickstarter money and going by the name of Dark Matter.
Developer Interwave has been quite explicit about seeing the game as a spiritual descendant of Metroid, so that gives you a taste of what you're getting here. You awake in a vast spaceship that's all but gone dark and are informed by an AI that you're pretty much the last attempt at reviving one of the crew to try to... well, your chances of achieving anything of great note in this environment don't look great, but survival would be a nice start.
It's been 70 years since the ship you're on disappeared and it's now practically dead in the water and ridden with alien parasites. You've been in cryosleep for much of that, but there seems to be something worse out there, referred to in found log entries as 'angels'.
It's got a distinct note of survival-horror, too. Light and dark play crucial roles in your survival. Certain enemies respond to light, others lie dormant in it. Not that there's much light to be found in the dying ship you're roaming the guts of. Of course, when you run into both enemy sorts you've got problems. This is one of many factors that stops this being a game in which you're well-served by shooting anything that moves.
Another gameplay aspect that contributes to the survival horror vibes is ammo scarcity. You have a pistol with an infinite supply of the stuff, but beyond that there are multiple types of ammunition to be crafted for each weapon, and there are multiple weapons to be acquired. And, while your pistol's all well and good for some of the small critters running around, it just flat-out won't work against some enemies.
This, frankly, is a bit of a pain. Because ammo is crafted out of materials you pick up as you roam the levels, it's a bit difficult to come by. Because certain aliens can only be affected by certain ammo and the ammo isn't purposefully placed somewhere for you to find, you can end up doing a lot of backtracking to scavenge more materials to craft new ammo, just to defeat a low-level enemy.
However, the upshot of that and the fact that you're highly vulnerable means that you need to put a bit of thought into the different enemy encounters you stumble across.
If you're using a mouse and keyboard set-up, movement and actions such as reload or administering a health pack are controlled by the traditional WASD keys and their neighbours.
Aiming, meanwhile, is done with the mouse. The game's Kickstarter page says, “Dark Matter's controls were designed to be instantly accessible to hardened FPS players, as well as console gamers.” As someone who largely qualifies as the latter (I usually come to the PC for puzzle-ish games) I have to say I struggled with the aiming system a little. If ammo scarcity and reload times didn't discourage a more liberal application of bullets to aliens, it would probably be fine. As it is, it's a little tricksy. That said, improving weapons balancing and refining the aiming system are both on Interwave's to-do list should they get their kickstarter funding.
As things stand, this is not for those after a fast-paced action game. Rather, those looking for something a little slower, more deliberate and a little sinister should keep an eye on Dark Matter.
