Developer: Crema
Publisher: Crema
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Unknown
Rrp: £14.95 (Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam)
Released: 25th April 2017
Available on: Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 26 Hours
What do we know about ancient Egypt? The Nile was the lifeblood of their civilisation, they were very powerful, they worshipped a pantheon of gods and they built the Sphinx and the great pyramids. And if video games and movies have taught me anything all their tombs are cursed, the gods were real and they were also aliens. I have a feeling that perhaps some of those things may not be real…
Immortal Redneck is a roguelite FPS in which you play as the titular Redneck who was vacationing there and somehow ended up mummified. You are given the task of reaching the apex of three pyramids which is done by exploring the interior until you find the stairs up. However these pyramids are filled with beings that will happily attempt to kill you.
Each floor is randomly generated from a bank of pre-designed rooms. This is both a boon and a bane for this game as it means that each floor keeps a certain design consistency but by that same coin all the enemy placements and types are the same as well. Which means once you’ve seen a room it will always be the same no matter how many runs you do. Once you enter a room you can’t leave until all the enemies in it have been cleared, there are some exceptions to this rule though such as the occasional challenge room that appears asking you to reach a chest without getting hurt or within a time limit.
As you progress up the floors of the pyramid the enemies within become stronger and tougher but the rewards are also increased.
The enemies you slay can drop gold, ammo and sometimes scrolls. These scrolls are usually a boon for your run, however there are some that actively make things worse. There’s no way to tell what the scroll will give you until you collect it and they can make or break a run. It should be noted that any gold or ammo that is dropped by enemies eventually disappears.
The gold you collect can be used in either the skill tree (which is literally a tree that grows as you put gold into it) or the store once its unlocked. You can unlock the ‘favours’ of some gods as you progress along the skill tree. This allows you to play with a different starting load-out and have different active and passive abilities. However you still play as ‘The Redneck’.
Any gold you have when you try to re-enter a pyramid is taken by the gods as tribute.
Its a pretty good game with some old school charm to it, it keeps things fresh by encouraging the player to try out the gods favours which can really change the way you play. There are also daily and weekly challenges you can try to complete (which I tried but was positively awful at). I’d say give this a go if you’re hankering for a bit of run and gun action with some roguelite elements.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Ziggurat
Dead Cells
Tower of Guns
