Another Early Access boomer shooter has graced us. Truth be told, it’s been a while since one of these really impressed me. I love these kinds of games, but “oh, it looks and plays a lot like the original Quake” doesn’t often leave much room for surprises. Enter Coven. It kind of has the same sort of look and feel as Dusk and Quake, true. Extremely pixelated textures, a disturbing aesthetic, and copious amounts of gibs will do that. But this one goes further. For some, it might even go too far. Only the first episode is included, but it’s incredibly clear to me that this is one of the best of its ilk we’ve seen in some time.
Coven opens with a very brief set up. The player is being burned at the stake as a witch, so the introduction is spent waiting as we burn to death. But then we’re reanimated and set out on a quest for revenge as we chase after the evil priest that framed us for his misdeeds. It’s a simple but highly effective premise. Naturally, we’ve come back to the land of the living with some magic abilities. The player character can dash in any direction, use magic, and is some sort of unspeakable ghoul that heals herself by consuming the organs of the recently deceased. It’s messed up.
As you’re an undead creature, I suppose this doesn’t really count as a game where you play as some sort of terrifying cannibal. But there are times where it’s clear where the protagonist still has her own mind, so it’s murky. Regardless of this, it’s certain that Coven is really gross. Your melee weapon is an axe and enemies have damage zones all over their bodies. Do enough damage to one area and it will be severed. Or it’ll explode. For instance, your axe may cut a foe’s head clean off or smash it open. Doing the latter will immediately lead to the enemy’s brains being consumed, which heals you.
Enemies do a lot of damage and are quite dangerous, but you can heal for 15 health once you beat most of them. This is done by eating their organs. There are three organs you can consume, in the head, torso, and legs. Doing this leaves bones and blood behind. It’s nasty business, to be sure, but I’ve never seen a game do this before. I’ll always take creative ideas in my boomer shooters, though, thank you very much. Your axe swings can be charged to one-shot most regular enemies, which will usually cut them in half down the middle, both at the waist or right between the eyes. However, there’s a trade-off here, as that will mean you can’t heal by eating any organs, as their corpses gets totally destroyed.
Charged axe swings use up 10 mana, but you’ll also get spells that use mana too. Spells include the ability to shoot mana shards, stun foes, or set them on fire. They can be upgraded and you can get new spell permutations too. There are also guns, of course, including a pistol, shotgun (both single and double-barrelled,) a crossbow, machine gun, etc. Taking a surprising nod from Bioshock, you hold your gun in one hand and cast spells with the other. It’s pretty great, but mana is less common than ammo, plus spells are pretty expensive, so I don’t often find myself making as much use of the magic. Enemies die much more quickly to headshots, often leading to heads popping in a sickening way.
Coven‘s levels are very well-designed, although they’re extremely dark and the lantern you use to light the way currently doesn’t give enough light (the dev is apparently fixing this, though!) They’re the typical “hunt for keys, unlock doors, and then interact with an object to exit the level” variety, which is as great as ever. I do wish there was a map, but the level design is also clear enough that you don’t really need one. The game feel is well put together and gameplay is snappy and weighty in all the right ways. Enemies are quite aggressive and the game feels nicely challenging. However, it currently uses save points instead of quick saves, which are supposed to be coming in down the line. The Vsync implementation is also broken for me, as the setting here didn’t remove tearing, but just limited it to a specific part of my screen.
Some work does need to be done, but considering how it’s just entered Early Access, Coven is a remarkably good game that has massively impressed me. It just has this feeling of pervasive evil all throughout it. Any boomer shooter fans that wants something similar to Dusk but with lots of its own permutations and its own unique brand of evil will probably be just as blown away as I was. Considering the low price tag and how there’s already enough content to justify said price, Coven is not only worth it, but is shaping up to be a must-play for anyone that likes these kinds of games.
Here’s our previous feature:
Slay the Princess – The Pristine Cut – Is it worth it? |
