Half-Lite
HIGH The level design.
LOW In the sewers again, eh?
WTF Shouldn’t it be easier to hit enemies when aiming down the sights, not harder?
Nothing good ever happens in an underground science lab — whether it’s zombifying viruses, inter-dimensional hell portals, or just plain corporate greed run amok, these clandestine facilities inevitably court disaster. As a retro-styled first-person shooter, Kvark is the latest title to explore the consequences of subterranean scholarship.
Set in Czechoslovakia during the late ’80s, Kvark tells the tale of an energy company attempting to branch into the weapons industry. By experimenting on their employees with a mysterious substance called Anethium, the corporation manages to prove the above hypothesis. Awakening in a cell on the bottom floor of the facility in the aftermath of a disaster, the player must fight their way to the safety of the surface.
A slow, exploration-based shooter, Kvark is clearly inspired by the original Half-Life, and models much of its structure and play after that seminal 1998 release. While the similarities in theme and setting are obvious, the most interesting resonance is in the structure of the levels themselves.
Many stages are constructed in a circular manner, causing areas to often be revisited from new perspectives. This design thesis is clearly established in the opening stage — shortly after exiting their cell into the multi-level prison, players will walk through a hallway with a barred, moss-covered window near the ceiling. A room is visible through the bars with barrels and boxes piled high. Several minutes (and many winding corridors) later I noticed that same barred window — this time near the floor — and realized I was looking back into the first hallway from the other side.
This structural bookending, described as The Preacher Loop by GameCritics’ own Sparky Clarkson, defines the space by removing abstraction and reiterating its logical construction. Through recognizable landmarks and showing the same spaces from new vantage points, the player becomes keenly aware of their progress and orientation within the environment. As Sparky points out in his article, this design technique is a major factor in why Half-Life’s Black Mesa facility feels grounded and cohesive, and the effect is similar in Kvark.
Unfortunately, this thoughtful design is let down by Kvark’s inconsistent aesthetic direction. The opening two thirds of Kvark take place in anonymous industrial spaces, sewers, and tunnels. Occasionally, the player will pop into offices and labs which feature a more noteworthy brutalist aesthetic with stark, chunky concrete architecture and wood paneling. These segments offer more visual interest and complement the recursive structure with more striking spaces. However, it seemed as though every time I entered one of these areas, Kvark was quick to direct me back into the mines and tunnels, losing much of its spark in the process.
Compounding this issue are the repetitive mechanics. Armed with the typical assortment of shotguns, rifles, and machine guns, the player must battle through an army of robots, mutants, and evil scientists. While the play is functional, there’s little that sets it apart — the majority of encounters consist of enemies blindly charging after the player until they are eventually gunned down. Though there is an undeniable thrill in this and the over-the-top gore is a constant source of amusement, there are few surprises, and I quickly tired of the monotony.
To be fair, the final third of Kvark is a marked improvement, and finally delivers on the promise of the clever level design. Gone are the claustrophobic passages and burrows, when my character finally emerges on the surface.
These sections feature much wider spaces with a broader selection of enemies, and the encounters become more dynamic. Objectives are telegraphed by distant, concrete edifices barely visible through the fog. Airborne enemies pepper the player from above, their ground-based counterparts lobbing grenades as mutant rats charge out of the underbrush. In these late stages, Kvark finally comes into its own.
In the end, Kvark shows an enormous amount of promise. However, its disparate elements coalesce too late in the runtime and are ultimately overshadowed by the uninspired combat and indistinct aesthetic direction. That being said, there is a sense of momentum in the final stages of Kvark, and if the developers can focus on that quality and carry it forward, I have high hopes for their subsequent releases.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
Buy KVARK – PS – XB – Switch – PC
Disclosures: This game is developed by Latest Pass and published by Perun Creative. It is currently available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 20 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Use of Tobacco, Violence. This game is a first-person shooter where humans, zombies, rats and robots are killed with guns. The visuals are presented in a blocky, low fidelity format, and are not photo-realistic. When enemies are shot blood sprays out and stains the wall. They can be decapitated, dismembered, and will occasionally explode into chunks of gore when killed. This is all presented in an over-the-top, unrealistic fashion but is still fairly graphic. Cigarette butts can be picked up from ashtrays and smoked. Normally this lowers the players health, but a perk can be obtained that heals the player when smoking cigarettes. There is no profanity or sexual content.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. During gameplay, none of the enemy sounds are captioned or subtitled, and while there is no dialogue with the enemies, I did find that I was more susceptible to ambushes and attacks from behind when playing without sound. As such, this game is not fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.
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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