First Look: Steam Marines

Steam Marines is possibly one of the hardest games within the indie genre to complete. Where other developers have focused on rich story telling or creating unbelievably big worlds to explore, Steam Marines refuses to follow the trend and sets the bar for unsurpassable within the gaming field, with big marines and unbeatable foes.

Stranded on a ship with control over four hulking marines, it’s easy to think this game will be a walk in the park. With every move made your strategy must be cagey but bold and it is essential to be three moves ahead while very aware that death is a constant threat. That’s all a bit much to take in when expecting a simple 2D, old school, space-action game, but it’s essential for survival.

Setting off with the intention of regaining control of the ship, the goal is simple: clear each room, on every level of the ship until whatever has killed the inhabitants is gone. Developer Worthless Bums have made sure the odds are against you with very intelligent and ruthless robots. They strike brutally, giving no room for error, where you have a very limited number of moves and even less resources.

Enemies are crafty and will surprise attack, coming from corners and through walls. Fear is created by a play with perception, making the reduced line of sight an obstacle to be aware of and checked constantly for the slightest change. My carelessness was quickly made apparent when I ran out of moves in a turn but hadn’t spotted a robot in the corner; needless to say it quickly made mincemeat of my team.

The dark surroundings of the ship are a tense environment where you will feel secluded and almost trapped. Everything within the game is steampunk-themed, with even the marines in big, bulky armour, designed with optic lensed masks and weirdly shaped guns. One by one your men will perish in the mental surroundings with, finally, the biggest blow of all being dealt; permanent death.

It’s the idea of perma-death that keeps players on their toes. The game is constantly auto saving and auto deletes when your final marine dies. Relentlessly, the four marines are thrown back to the beginning and have to make their way through the ship again. With the simplest mistake an entire days worth of careful planning can be ruined because you didn’t keep an entrance covered by a marine.

While the marines have to make their way through each level time after time, the setting is randomly generated. Worthless Bums have made an excellent decision in making sure that no part of the ship can be mastered, as it will never be the same. Although players are trying to help one another online, strategy guides are worthless where only tactics can be shared.

Although it’s clear the developers have put lots of time into creating unique gameplay and surroundings, its graphics fall a tad short. Looks-wise Steam Marines lacks in any punch and this is where the developers could use some improvement. Broken down walls, for example, look especially horrible with only a grey rubble ground tile being used to represent rubble on the floor. This lack of detail does no justice to the excellent surroundings and characters met each time around.

This shouldn’t deter anyone from having a look at the title though as the game is still in alpha and is regularly updated. Worthless Bums are making a truly unique title, where it gives the impression of a simple action game, but turns ideas on their head with very deep tactics and tense exploration. Although you may restart, each adventure into the spaceship will never be the same and only one thing is for certain; death comes to all who enter.