Diluvian Demo

Although Doom revolutionized and basically invented the first-person shooter genre, modern shooters stray quite far from those concepts. Gamers are not satisfied with mindless shooting anymore, unless it is done under the right circumstances. Realistic gameplay mechanics are the main attraction nowadays, which is why franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty are at the top of every list.

Diluvian expresses no concern for realism or any other modern mechanics, since it aims to be similar to the original Doom rather than any new releases. Hence, you can expect a lot of action and many monsters to eviscerate, yet the game seems to be a bit more serious than that. The gameplay is pretty unique as well, given the fact that you have to watch out for things like scars and scratches.

As far as the story is concerned, you play the role of a man who wakes up on what appears to be a huge ship made out of living tissue and stone. The obvious goal is to escape, but much more stuff comes to light along the way, such as the fact that you are a knight and there are others like you. It may not be award-winning material, but it’s definitely interesting, and at least very different from everything else.

Although you pick up a variety of weapons as you manage to advance through the levels, you should know that they are not all suited to kill every type of enemy. In fact, most enemies require a combination of attacks in order to be destroyed, which means that you might need to shoot them a couple of times before finishing the job with your sword. These kind of mechanics make the game more dynamic, which is a good thing if you are up for a challenge.

Your character’s death is not handled as you might expect either. Instead of dying and respawning at a previous checkpoint, the ship itself can bring you back, but it requires a sacrifice. Thus, each death makes you weaker, but at least you have a pretty good reason to stay alive at any cost.

Although there are optimization issues and a few bugs to watch out for at the moment, Diluvian is certainly something gamers need to keep an eye on, because it has the potential to turn into something incredible. However, the mechanics need to be polished more, and it would be nice to see more of the story intertwined with the gameplay.