Are you reading this, muszkatuł gallstroke;kowi? Up yours, you spike-obsessed, wall-faking, bomb-dropping insult. I’ll meet you. I’ll meet you. Oh sorry everyone! This article started life as an expletive-filled Xbox Live message. Some context: I’ve been playing Meet Your Maker, a post-apocalyptic, asymmetrical multiplayer FPS from Dead by Daylight developer Behavior Interactive, in which you build trap-filled bases using materials taken from other bases, or freezing bodies are collected. Those who come to raid your loved ones.
You’re doing all of this in a bacta tank on behalf of a giant, frantic jellybaby, who yells at you incessantly to collect genetic material, or “genomet”, so that she can build a new and better civilization out of the sand. It’s like Mad Max via Warhammer 40,000. But any and all conspiracies are soon forgotten in the face of the smoldering, untold rivalry of the player community. Despite the title, you don’t really encounter base-builders — or as they’re known here, custodians — in Meet Your Maker, but do know them by their deeds.
The base-building in Meet Your Maker is as smooth as the average base is terrible. You place unlockable, upgradeable blocks, ramps and hazards in first person, reloading the map periodically to test results. While some map templates have certain criteria, such as a minimum number of AI guards, the only broad requirement is that each base needs a clear, walkable path from the perimeter to the genmat extractor in the center.
While you’re raiding other bases, the path is indicated by the creeping Harvester Ghoul – a sort of FedEx box on legs that constantly spins in and out, directing you to the heart and thereby Prepares for any number of unpleasant surprises. You can destroy traps to chop off parts of them, but the game wisely limits your initial offensive options to a sword and a rare two-shot railgun. The latter’s bolt arc, which makes aiming complicated enough that you can’t rush your way through every encounter. More importantly, you’ll need to retrieve your bolts from each destroyed trap or slain guard, as there are no additional ammo packs to find. Needless to say, any half-baked base designer will arrange for you to come across a grimace while your gun is refilled.
Even at this early stage in the life of the game, these dark materials have given rise to a wide and spectacular range of architecture – how much you want to tone down the atmosphere by vaulting the roof, slightly fanning out the windows, or hiding a fiery A perfect example of what can be improved is the blade-wielding gorilla behind a corner. Over the course of five hours, I’ve scrambled over stylish lava bridges and wandered through Escher-esque, deceptively passable mazes of ramps and dead ends, only to find one, the fake floor expertly designed to invade to the point of extreme confusion. posted to capture. , I’ve survived a terrifying run of spike strips, only to eat a face of superheated pistons at the summit. And I have created a kind of nemesis in the shape of Muszkatuł Gallstroke; Kovi.
They’re the architects of Rockford, which sounds like an English suburb where landlords make their own no-falling signs by hand, but are actually a giant, clockwork pyramid worth of things that go boom-stab-splat , not necessarily that order in it. Indiana Jones is going to have a really bad day here. I am currently on my 15th attempt.
While I have general concerns about the longevity of a game that relies on its players for content, I am thrilled with Meet Your Maker. Coming into it, I had an early feeling that it’s been years since I’ve played anything that’s largely devoted to trap. They used to be all the rage during the early days of 3D console gaming — there was Core Design’s Tomb Raider, of course, but there were Asylum Studios’ Deathtrap Dungeon, FDI’s intergalactic oddity ODT, and From Software’s King’s Field, to cherry-pick. Some .
Today’s 3D games still have traps, but they’re rarely the crux of the experience and, except in latter-day masterpieces, they don’t easily spell game-overs. Getting poisoned or wounded while investigating an average 2023 dungeon is more of a nuisance than a quirk. For example, there’s some tripwire-heavy sideroom in the recent Dead Island 2, but it’s never as heart-stopping as feeling the ground shift beneath you in the classic Tomb Raider. The trap-maker’s art survives mostly in the hands of modding and UGC communities, such as the architects of Minecraft Adventure maps.
I have a hastily pet theory about this: games are supposed to be fair, however difficult, whereas the whole point of a trap is not, so games that focus on traps have always had their fashion. (albeit probably C4-rigged) Glass roof. Today especially, there’s so much emphasis on smooth progression and balance, and so much potential for players that they’re just asking for trouble to clear some of the obstacles in their 3D shooter. In building a game where making traps is not only the focus, but a vital means of obtaining materials to progress, Behavior Interactive is taking the bull by the horns. Developer’s biggest challenge is cultivating a community that forms the right base Kind Unfair, ones that are intriguing and, even when your failure count enters the double digits, admirably designed, instead of being a procession of invader-agriculture killers.
I can only wish them the best of luck, because one thing Meet Your Maker reveals is a genuine talent for building truly awesome traps – and as much as I want Muszkatuł Galstrokowi’s head on a plate, I have to admit it. That Rockford is full of horrible examples. There are traps that protect traps that protect traps. There are feats of misdirection involving a flawless glass block, and some seriously rude experiments with ramp and cluster bomblets. I’m still working up the courage and patience to build a proper outpost for myself, but I already have a lot of inspiration. Maybe I’ll call my first map Falkord.
Manage cookie settings