Top-down roguelike Doom with crafting. That was T3P’s Teleglitch pitch in a nutshell, though it’s fair to say that there’s much more to it than just that.
For a start, Teleglitch is tough. Really, really tough. For some, it will be too hard to enjoy, but this game has been made for those seeking a sterner challenge.
Every run starts the same, with the player character leaving their hiding place, forced out of the door because of a shortage of food. You’ve been hiding because of an incident that befell the science base, and you’re stranded on a distant planet called Medusa 1-C with no help on the way.
A teleportation experiment has gone horribly wrong, and now the base is overrun with mutants and beasties; our former colleagues are zombies hoping to chomp our brains and fill us with bullets. We’ve got to get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do…
Keeping it simple
From the title screen to everything beyond, the whole game has a thoughtful low-fi presentation. There are no frills anywhere. Every ounce of fat has been carved off. Teleglitch is as lean as it is mean. The spartan visuals add to the atmosphere generated by the purposeful lack of soundtrack. The absence of music sharpens the edge of the sound effects, and it maintains a haunting emptiness throughout. There’s no groove to fall into, no beat to push you along, just a barren wreckage to navigate and a series of emerging scenarios to contemplate.
The first thing you find on your journey is a can, which is one of many ingredients needed for crafting. It’s a simple system: pressing “C” allows you to see what items in your inventory can be combined; a click creates the new item. Find enough cans, and you’re able to turn them into plates; when you have two plates, they can be transformed into a piece of armour.
Armour is very helpful in absorbing the blows that will undoubtedly find you, and essential if you want to progress through later levels. As you struggle on, there are more items that can be combined to create better gear and more powerful weapons. Building better equipment is a must if you want to survive. Early opponents can be dodged and stabbed, but adversaries encountered later on will require more firepower.
On your journey through the procedurally-generated station, there are multiple terminals that offer up nuggets of story, explaining the situation and giving context to the scenario. Some terminals also reveal points of interest on the map, and others are switches that open giant blast doors. The most welcome things you’ll encounter are chests and crates full of equipment, although grabbing the contents can be tricky if you’re being pursued by an angry mob of mutants.
Escaping Medusa 1-C
The start of each game is the same; you leave a small area via a corridor rammed with tables and debris. Push through this, and through another room, and you’re into the business part of your escape attempt. It’s here that you start encountering the first wave of mutated enemies.
All you’re armed with is the aforementioned pistol and blade, and conserving ammo is so important if you’re going to survive beyond the first two or three levels. Shivving enemies is one way to save bullets, but it’s also risky. Finding little nooks to hide in so you can swipe from a safe distance also helps, but these can only be found in some of the secret areas waiting to be discovered in the game.
There are other ways of disposing of enemies beyond just shooting them in the face. The fallout of the failed experiment has left tears in reality dotted across the levels, and if you can tempt your enemies into “the void”, they disappear forever, though judge it wrong and brush into it yourself, and so do you. This is an appealing means of enemy disposal because it requires no ammo usage, but it’s a high-risk game to play.
Thanks to randomisation, each of the levels is unique, although all of them feel vaguely similar after a while. The aim of the game is to get across the base and ultimately escape. However, due to the intense difficulty of the game, players will spend a lot of time running into brick walls (or should that be mutants) during the first few levels. Much of my time was spent playing these missions. Once you’ve reached level five, you can then start the game on level three after your next death, and so long-term progression is achieved by reaching various footholds.
The enemies that you face quickly escalate in difficulty, and it’s not long before the seemingly dangerous mutants from the first few levels seem like puppies in comparison to the more hardy opponents that later levels yield. Mindless zombies that charge in numbers soon make way for armed guards and more dangerous opponents. At one moment you can be feeling confident, a near-full health bar, medical supplies, and plenty of explosives and ammo in reserve, then the next moment you can be, simply put, dead-er than a dodo.
For those seeking a tougher challenge, Teleglitch is certainly worth your attention. Mastery of the game’s systems is a necessity in order to progress. It’ll take time to learn how it works, and longer still before you’re able to exploit situations and navigate your way through in relative safety. The roguelike approach ensures a semi-repetitive experience, but the proc-gen maps alleviate any boredom. The Die More Edition contains more levels than the original release, improved enemy AI, and more items to discover on the way.
It’s a game that’ll appeal to the old-school; those among you who revel in a dastardly challenge and who don’t mind seeing the load screen again and again. It’s brutal, uncompromising, and overflowing with death. If the thought of all that doesn’t send you running, the asking price means this one’s worth the price of admission.
Teleglitch: Die More Edition is out now on Steam for PC (Lin, Mac, Win) and has been since 2013, which is when an older version of this review was first published.
