I was not expecting Sulfur to kick my ass as thoroughly as it has done over the last couple of weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting an easy ride – this is a roguelike shooter, after all – but I still wasn’t prepared for the challenge that Perfect Random has presented me.
Yet after the last couple of weeks of diving in and out of this bleak first-person shooter, I’ve become enthralled by its oblique challenge. I’ve wanted to sit down and start writing this for a couple of days now, but every time I opened up a document I instead drifted back into the game, with the hope of seeing new and interesting things down in the caves where the first portion of Sulfur is set.
What is Sulfur all about, then?
The story in Sulfur is drip fed to the player, but in a nutshell, you’re a holy man who keeps returning from the dead to wreak vengeance on those who wronged you. How do you die? Well that’s up to you, but every time you bite a proverbial bullet, you’ll start back again in the same freshly dug grave outside the same rickety old church.
There are people in and around the church to talk to, who sell you basic gear, and who are there to keep the starting area feeling more responsive and alive. Once you’ve done your business with the local denizens, it’s time to jump into the pit outside the church and head into a cave full of goblins and do your thing…
Once you’ve reached the caves – and beyond – you’ll engage in deadly battles, explore and scavenge, and even save some gear for later by using a mystical extraction artefact in your possession (something I routinely forgot to do). The aim of the game is to explore further, scavenge more, then become more powerful and better equipped until you’re eventually able to lay waste to all those before you.
Doom-like combat with a colourful twist
In every new game you start off with the same pistol, but it won’t get you all that far and you’ll want to upgrade your gun asap. There are tons of options for you, however, the more advanced weaponry is not at all forthcoming and it took a number of hours before I started to see the good gear start drop more frequently.
In my opinion, I think Sulfur holds back some of its most interesting guns for too long, and as a shooter, having more variety would, for me, make the opening hours of the game more enjoyable. Now, if I were to put this complaint to Perfect Random I think they would push back because this underpowered start is part of an intentional loop, however, after getting to play with a few of the game’s more interesting guns, I can’t help but think that I could have had more fun and fewer frustrating deaths during the first five or six hours.
Other than that, I have no major complaints. The combat feels weighty, the guns are all nicely differentiated, and there are some truly unique weapon designs for players to discover.
I did note that the enemy AI isn’t always super nuanced and sometimes it can feel like all the action takes place in the doorways and corridors leading up to each room. Of course, the rooms themselves would facilitate more interesting encounters, as would AI that used the environments better during combat. There’s time to tweak these things, though.
Your starting pistol is complemented by a second weapon. On top of that, you also begin each new run with a samurai sword, which you can whip out whenever an enemy gets too close. When you start slashing away, the initially cute visuals, which look like they’ve been pulled from a cartoon, start to look more grizzled, with your enemies opened up and bleeding out on the floor, bones exposed.
When you put all of these options together, you’ve got yourself a potentially interesting build. Any new weapons and armour can be complemented with grenades and explosives, as well as items for cooking and healing. I was constantly finding random stat-boosting shoes and hats all over the place, and this constant sense of discovery and evolution helped pull me into the experience.
Is it worth getting Sulfur in Early Access?
The big question mark hanging over any Early Access game is whether it’s worth getting on board now, or whether it’s better to wait for the developer to finish cooking.
In this instance, I think you can pull the trigger now with a good degree of confidence as there is already a decent slice of game here. Having said that, I wouldn’t blame you for waiting either, as based on Sulfur’s roadmap, there’s still LOADS more to come in the months ahead.
Those who get going sooner than that will find themselves in possession of a truly enigmatic first-person shooter with oodles of personality. There is so much interesting stuff going on here, and it’s all delivered via crisp, distinctive visuals and an excellent soundtrack. Yes, it’s a difficult game that takes its time to get going, but in this case I would say that the juice is well worth the squeeze.
I’m not saying that my time with Sulfur has always been smooth sailing, because after the first five or so hours I really didn’t see whatever “it” was that was making so many people excited. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, as Sulfur has got so much more to offer than its first few hours would lead you to believe. In fact, Perfect Random’s quirky little FPS is already shaping up to be one of the best roguelike shooters, and it’s not even finished yet!
Sulfur is available on PC (Win), and I played the game via a code provided by the developer and their PR buddies.
