Relic Hunters Zero: The Fun Never Ends
In late August, a free top-down shooter called Relic Hunters Zero dropped on Steam. It got next to no media attention, but received almost universally positive reviews from users, and for good reason. Relic Hunters Zero has a lot going for it, from snappy visuals to satisfying gunplay, with one major caveat – it’s not finished, and probably never will be.
Relic Hunters Zero could be described as a passion project, though the image of the starving artist that term conjures is severely at odds with the game's exuberant energy. Two members of Behold Studios, the developer behind low-key hits Chroma Squad and Knights of Pen and Paper, came together under the name Rogue Snail to create the game in their free time. One might expect that a free, open-source game made just for the hell of it would be sort of a shallow affair, but Relic Hunters Zero has a level of polish that belies its DIY origins. Rogue Snail is adding to the game at a remarkable pace, with the largest update arriving at the beginning of October. There’s still a lot to be done, putting the game in a sort of unofficial Early Access state, but as it stands, Relic Hunters Zero is as fulfilling as it is challenging.
The latest addition to the game was the Endless Mode update, which added – you guessed it – an option to face a never-ending succession of increasingly tough stages. This is the real game, the developers have been saying all along, and after spending some time with it, their vision for Relic Hunters seems much clearer. What originally comprised Relic Hunters was perfectly satisfying in its own right (a short, hectic shooter that provided a quickly escalating challenge), but Endless Mode has a whole different quality that I didn’t even know I was missing from the campaign.
Where Adventure Mode sends players through a series of linked rooms to an inevitable final boss, Endless Mode is a sprawling maze where each new level provides an unpredictable wave of enemies to overcome. Players have to be ready for anything, from hordes of pouncing, sharp-toothed fuzzballs to squadrons of shielded duck soldiers wielding rocket launchers – did I mention that the main enemy force consists of space ducks? Just go with it.
Endless Mode demands a different kind of strategy from the base game, forcing players to come prepared for any obstacle while still playing to their own strong points and the benefits of whichever avatar they’ve chosen. Some characters excel at melee combat and little else, while others are weapons experts or pack their own unique gear. One even lets players carry a keytar that fires musical notes through walls. Again, it’s more fun to just run with the goofy premise than try to figure out where the idea came from.
Relic Hunters doesn’t have a huge amount of depth or an engaging story, but there’s no reason it has to. What it has is incredibly addictive gameplay, a steep and technically insurmountable difficulty curve, and a scrappy charm that radiates from its characters and sound design. It keeps the action moving by using a small selection of weapons, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages, instead of slowing the player down by introducing complex stats and dozens of different load out choices. The community has been clamoring for online multiplayer since day one, which is probably the most noticeable feature still missing. Still, it features local multiplayer, making it a pretty great party game.
It’s hard to fault Relic Hunters even for its shortcomings. For one thing, the game is free, but aside from that, it’s clearly made with love by a couple people who just wanted to give something cool to their fans and enjoy making it. And if you absolutely hate something or other about it, it’s open source, so there’s always the option of learning how to change it yourself. The hands-on punk aesthetic of the game meshes well with the developers’ own design choices, making Relic Hunters a shining example of what indie development can be.
Relic Hunters Zero could be described as a passion project, though the image of the starving artist that term conjures is severely at odds with the game's exuberant energy. Two members of Behold Studios, the developer behind low-key hits Chroma Squad and Knights of Pen and Paper, came together under the name Rogue Snail to create the game in their free time. One might expect that a free, open-source game made just for the hell of it would be sort of a shallow affair, but Relic Hunters Zero has a level of polish that belies its DIY origins. Rogue Snail is adding to the game at a remarkable pace, with the largest update arriving at the beginning of October. There’s still a lot to be done, putting the game in a sort of unofficial Early Access state, but as it stands, Relic Hunters Zero is as fulfilling as it is challenging.
The latest addition to the game was the Endless Mode update, which added – you guessed it – an option to face a never-ending succession of increasingly tough stages. This is the real game, the developers have been saying all along, and after spending some time with it, their vision for Relic Hunters seems much clearer. What originally comprised Relic Hunters was perfectly satisfying in its own right (a short, hectic shooter that provided a quickly escalating challenge), but Endless Mode has a whole different quality that I didn’t even know I was missing from the campaign.
Where Adventure Mode sends players through a series of linked rooms to an inevitable final boss, Endless Mode is a sprawling maze where each new level provides an unpredictable wave of enemies to overcome. Players have to be ready for anything, from hordes of pouncing, sharp-toothed fuzzballs to squadrons of shielded duck soldiers wielding rocket launchers – did I mention that the main enemy force consists of space ducks? Just go with it.
Endless Mode demands a different kind of strategy from the base game, forcing players to come prepared for any obstacle while still playing to their own strong points and the benefits of whichever avatar they’ve chosen. Some characters excel at melee combat and little else, while others are weapons experts or pack their own unique gear. One even lets players carry a keytar that fires musical notes through walls. Again, it’s more fun to just run with the goofy premise than try to figure out where the idea came from.
Relic Hunters doesn’t have a huge amount of depth or an engaging story, but there’s no reason it has to. What it has is incredibly addictive gameplay, a steep and technically insurmountable difficulty curve, and a scrappy charm that radiates from its characters and sound design. It keeps the action moving by using a small selection of weapons, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages, instead of slowing the player down by introducing complex stats and dozens of different load out choices. The community has been clamoring for online multiplayer since day one, which is probably the most noticeable feature still missing. Still, it features local multiplayer, making it a pretty great party game.
It’s hard to fault Relic Hunters even for its shortcomings. For one thing, the game is free, but aside from that, it’s clearly made with love by a couple people who just wanted to give something cool to their fans and enjoy making it. And if you absolutely hate something or other about it, it’s open source, so there’s always the option of learning how to change it yourself. The hands-on punk aesthetic of the game meshes well with the developers’ own design choices, making Relic Hunters a shining example of what indie development can be.