When most people think of survival-horror games, their imaginations wander to typical horror scenarios involving monsters, zombies, or females with a side shave haircut. Most gamers don’t associate war with horror. In real life, war is the scariest experience a man can have.
Almost every historical war game is usually a shooter or in some cases, a strategy game. It makes a lot of sense since being an infantryman synergizes with the gameplay of shooters and strategy gameplay is like being a commander or general. Sometimes some war shooters implement some horror-like elements like Metal Gear Solid 4 or Spec Ops: The Line, but gameplay was always rooted in a traditional action experience that made players feel awesome.
If war truly is hell, then which war was the scariest? Vietnam was a sweaty and demoralizing war. Modern wars are frightful displays of terrifying weaponry and idealogy. World War II was the war to end all wars. What about The Great War? Are the trenches of the Western Front where the devil resides? Can a World War I setting work in a survival horror game? Find out in our Conscript review!
CONSCRIPT
Developer: Jordan Mochi, Catchweight Studio
Publisher: Team17
Platforms: Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: July 23, 2024
Price: $19.99
It turns out World War I really was a harrowing and white-knuckle living nightmare for everyone involved. In most horror games, some players get spooked and jump at deformed creatures or yelp at the sight of a haunted, spazzing animatronic or a little ghost girl with long hair covering her face. Conscript shows us that even a German wearing a stahlhelme and gasmask can become one of the scariest things ever.
Conscript is set in 1916 during the battle of Verdun. The trenches scar the land and become the barracks and Battlestations for the French who hold the line against Boche hordes who come with shovels, knives, rifles, and sometimes mustard gas. It doesn’t take long before players are sneaking their way through trenches, picking up weapons from dead soldiers, and splattering their brains across the sheet metal.
Everything began with the protagonist and his brother being stationed at the same camp in Verdun. The story begins in media res, countless battles have already been fought and there is no sign of it stopping as the situation becomes more dire and desperate. The hero’s brother goes missing after a raid and the mystery unfurls into a nightmarish quest making Conscript one of the most novel survival-horror games in history.
Like any good horror game, Conscript tells a straightforward story in a very stylistic way. The surface-level objective of saving your brother is told efficiently, but beneath it shows that not everything is as it seems. There are details peppered throughout that seem insignificant the first time you play, but take new meaning and become ominous foreshadowing.
The tone and atmosphere is top-notch. Conscript goes for a mix of pixel art and rugged-looking prerendered-style backgrounds. Some elements might be 3D, but the visual style is so cohesive that everything blends seamlessly. The graphics are intentionally chunky, which makes the grit feel harsher, the blood more visceral, and the fog as thick as Ryza’s thighs.
Not all the backgrounds make sense when you first look at them. Some areas were drawn in a way that made it hard to understand the perspective and spatial awareness or doors and passages blended into the background too well which made them easy to miss. This would lead to a long stretch of aimless wandering where the destination was not clear.
The isometric perspective combined with the trench setting is a stroke of genius. The metroidvania-like structure is ideal for a winding, hostile maze with interconnected areas and locked doors. Some doors only need a key, but many require players to figure out a combination lock.
While scrounging around a bunker for clues to crack a code for a door or container might be Conscript’s most relaxing moments, the constant threat of danger pervades the atmosphere. The muffled sounds of war above ground are a constant reminder that the hero is not at peace, even when doing a block-pushing puzzle.
Resource management is crucial for survival horror, and Conscript emphasizes this by focusing on the protagonist and the environment. Healing items and ammo are obvious, but collecting wire or other accouterments in the limited inventory space is crucial since new foes will spawn in the trenches if players don’t take the time to patch up the breaches.
Some Resident Evil 4-isms manage to make their way into the game by having a friendly merchant who will trade supplies and inventory upgrades for cigarettes (Conscript‘s currency). Upgrading guns does cost something other than a few smokes. Weapon parts are very hard to come by, which makes upgrading demand a commitment.
Gunplay is like a mix of classic Resident Evil shooting where the character is stationary, one button raises the weapon, and another shoots/swings/throws. The main difference is the mechanics are like a twin-stick shooter but accuracy increases as the reticule narrows.
For melee weapons, power increases as the reticule shrinks which can lead to substantial charge time. This can make battles feel very tense and personal since every foe is a major threat and has the same capabilities as the player.
Since both player and foe need substantial charge-up time to fire guns or to run up to bash them with a shovel or stab with a knife, combat is weighty and drawn out.
Avoiding combat entirely is preferable since there is a stealth mechanic where players can easily see if they’re detected. It almost feels like the old overhead POV Metal Gear Solid games where gamers could run around unaware of threats once they understand the mechanics.
If you do get into a fight with some Germans, players will have to manage their stamina bar like in a soulslike since dashing and dodge-rolling depletes energy fast. Most of the time it’s better to lean in on stealth entirely since the combat is deliberately stacked against the player if there is more than one sentry.
The core game in Conscript is surprisingly lengthy for an indie horror game, lasting about 10 hours. Since cutscenes are sparse to nonexistent. There are only a few scripted sequences that can be cleverly bypassed if you know what you are doing. This enhances the replay factor since there are multiple ways to approach some scenarios.
Conscript is an utterly laser-focused survival horror game that subliminally guides players on where to go and what to do while still leaving things open-ended. Its setting and premise are very novel for its genre and it doesn’t bog players down with a pretentious plot. It offers just enough to give players something to emotionally latch onto.
The developer understands what makes an enjoyable survival horror game and he made one that is very respectful of The Great War, while also showing just how terrifying the experience could be. It feels very authentic and the deftly executed story and atmosphere kept me drawn in every moment.
CONSCRIPT was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch using a code provided by Team17. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. CONSCRIPT is now available for PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
