The latest game to land on my hard drive is WarSphere, a roguelite top-down shooter where you play as a heavily armed death sphere on a rolling rampage of destruction. That might sound like Tarantino made a sci-fi roguelike, so let’s check out the official description so I don’t misrepresent anything.
What is WarSphere all about, then?
You take the role of an NC3 AI-Chip that emulates the neural correlates of consciousness, an artificial brain, operating a highly effective Armed Spherical Robotic System, aka a WarSphere. An entity called ‘Mother’ overrides your purpose and sends you on a journey of destruction, the meaning of which will only unravel at your final destination.
The first thing that struck me was the game’s sense of irony. Almost immediately you’re splatting little people all over the place, and this escalating violence is dismissed almost nonchalantly. People, tanks, mechas – you’ve got to smash anything that crosses your path, basically. When they describe you as “a spherical death robot” – the devs aren’t joking.
WarSphere plays from a strictly top-down perspective. Your movement is nice and fluid, but you’re also required to move with speed and accuracy. There is a definite learning curve, and those with good mechanical skills will likely find a welcome challenge in these procedurally generated maps and dungeons.
Of course, there is much more to the game than copious amounts of destruction, including an upgrade system and a twist on the roguelike formula that lets you keep successful builds if you complete a run.
Content Update Klaxon: Based on this latest round of player feedback, the developer has moved quickly to add a brand new game mode for people to enjoy: Exploration. This is a more forgiving experience, where you don’t lose your gear upon death, however, the story side of things is “deactivated”.
On top of that, the game now has controller support, which makes sense given the added accessibility of the new Exploration mode.
Why is WarSphere free?
Next up on my list of things to tell you about is the payment structure. I think it’s interesting because developer Last Tuesday Games is releasing a good chunk of the game completely free. I’ve not played through to the end (a skill deficit, no doubt) but the presser paints the picture of a complete gaming experience out of the proverbial box.
There are additional chapters and difficulty modes for players to unlock via a DLC purchase, so there is more to see and do if you want to support the developer. You can download the game over on Steam, although you’ll have to chip in a little to get the following content:
The DLC ‘The Worthy Branch’ will unlock 4 new game modes, featuring 3 additional acts and worlds and additional endings. In these 3 acts, 35 new enemy types will be introduced.
I think it’s most admirable that the developer has given up so much of their game in order to make sure that as many people as possible play. I’m also a bit sad that they’ve had to take this route. I think this speaks to a larger problem we have with indie game discovery, when a developer has to be this generous with their work in order to build an audience. Anyway, I’ve said my piece, hit the link above and get downloading if you fancy rolling around as a spherical death robot.
