Waking up in a hospital is never a good sign. Even worse when that hospital is on a space station currently under siege by terrorists.
Such is a day in the life of Dawn, a futuristic super-cop and the protagonist of Selaco.
Having recently released its first chapter into Early Access, Selaco is a first-person shooter with a retro bent. This debut title from developer/publisher Altered Orbit Studios not only pays homage to its forebears with its many references and easter eggs, but literally finds its foundations in the past. Running on a souped-up version of the same tech that powered the 1993 Doom, the space station Selaco is a beautiful anachronism.
Two-dimensional, sprite-based enemies charge out of dense clouds of smoke. Colorful, low-res textures paint the lush, polygonal environments just before erupting into storms of dust and debris. The streets, shopping malls and labs of Selaco render bloody testimony to Dawn’s passage. What was once a quaint office party is now an inferno. Dismembered corpses and neon pink viscera litter the halls — shattered glass, stray keyboards and paper are everywhere. The physicality of Selaco is palpable, and its combat brings this to the fore.
Given Selaco’s pedigree, my first inclination was speed. As I charged into fracas after fracas, Selaco’s formidable foes repeatedly shut me down. I was forced to reevaluate. I’ve never been a quick study, and I guess the early tutorial messages emphasizing the importance of cover weren’t strong enough indicators of the combat’s tactical nature.
Despite my stubbornness, the cadence finally clicked. I fell into a comfortable rhythm of harrying my opponents from afar and, when the moment was right, slide-dashing across the floor, shotgun in hand, disintegrating anyone unfortunate enough to still be alive. The developers have cited John Woo’s Hard Boiled as a reference point, and as I dive from cover to cover, desperately fumbling that last shell into the chamber as the world explodes around me, it’s hard not to feel like Chow Yun-fat.
However, a lack of enemy variety holds Selaco back. Many of the fights feature the same basic soldiers, palette swapped with slightly different abilities. There are some notable exceptions in the middle portions, and geographic diversity in the battlefields helps, but a more eclectic group of villains in future updates would be welcome.
Between the intense melees, I found breathing room in the more thoughtful exploration. A far cry from the wall-bumping, shot in the dark tactics of yesteryear, uncovering Selaco’s secrets requires critical thinking and careful observation. In one example, I came across a locked room housing a suit of armor. I could see a vent on the wall, but no clear entrance. By tracing a line through the walls in my mind, I could intuit where the entrance should be based on the geometry. Sure enough, I found the shaft’s source tucked away in a high corner of the adjacent room and claimed my prize. A testament to its design, the station Selaco is built in Euclidian space, and these simple moments establish a sense of logic and reality.
From battles in bookstores and burger joints, to lonely treks across rainy plazas, each space feels distinct and has a sense of purpose beyond the player. Some areas can become overly complex however, and at times I was left unsure of where to head next. While I was rarely stuck for long, this particular holdover from the ’90s felt unintentional.
Every corridor is bathed in the neon lights of advertisements and holograms, computer monitors glow in the background, a magazine with Dawn’s face on the cover sits on a coffee table. The pixelated blend of vivid colors and cartoony characters provides a refreshing counterpoint to the destructive violence.
More than just a visual treat, each of these elements contributes to Selaco’s history and context. For instance, several hours in I came across a playable arcade machine that effectively demonstrated the reason behind humanity’s exodus from Earth, a fact only hinted at up to this point. Elegant storytelling at its best.
On the flip side, there is an over-reliance on emails to disseminate information, and the familiar act of combing through walls of text for a four-digit code distracts from Selaco’s vibrant world. Furthermore, I never felt like I had a clear sense of what my overall objectives were. My HUD always spelled out what to do next, but if the why behind these bullet points was ever communicated, I must have missed it. With the current build only featuring Selaco’s first chapter, I hope to see the developers allow more room for their world to speak for itself.
Worthy of a special callout is Selaco’s emphasis on accessibility. With difficulty options ranging from so hard you shouldn’t even try, to an exploration mode for those more interested in just absorbing the sights, any interested players should be able to find their Goldilocks moment. On top of this there is an entire submenu dedicated specifically to accessibility with multiple subtitle options and visual tweaks. For an independently developed title in Early Access, Selaco is a perfect demonstration that inclusivity is a matter of priorities, not resources.
Neither imitative nor innovative, Selaco is content to simply mix the old with the new. In so doing, the developers execute their vision with a level of polish that belies its humble origins. With two thirds of its content yet to be released, Selaco could very well shape up to be a serious contender in the increasingly crowded indie shooter sphere. The developers proudly wear their inspirations on their sleeves but are not beholden to them. In an early moment, I came across a wall covered in children’s drawings. Upon closer inspection, I noticed some familiar faces among the cartoon caricatures — staring back at me were the protagonists of Deus Ex, Doom and Quake. This gleeful reinterpretation of classic characters serves as a thesis statement for Selaco, and a warm welcome for an old veteran of the genre.
— Ryan Nalley
Following this introduction, Ryan dove headlong into the 16 and 64-bit eras, culminating in the year 2000 with a fateful visit to the local game shop.On the recommendation of a saintly store clerk, Ryan picked up a copy of Deus Ex and, shortly thereafter, embarked on the vain quest to find a game that tops it.
This journey has led Ryan to GameCritics where he attempts to articulate why he still finds this medium so compelling.When not playing or writing about games, Ryan can be found watching competition reality television with his wife, their dog, and three cats.
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