I love getting discounted bundles of games over at HumbleBundle.com. When I got their most recent Bandai Namco Bundle, I thought I was paying $6 for Enslaved, Ace Combat, and Ridge Racer, but it turns out the game that I was really getting a deal on was DeadCore by 5 Bits Games. This game didn’t even show up on my radar when it launched last October, so I had to go to the DeadCore’s Steam page to find out more about it. It turns out it is a First Person Platformer/Shooter. So kind of like Valve’s Portal, but nothing like Portal.
Portal is all about tweaking the physics of things and creating the titular portals, in DeadCore you are running and jumping at precise moments to try and climb higher and higher up a tower. You use your gun to flip switches and temporarily turn off turrets and robots on your way up the tower. I usually hate platformers, but the game’s flow, constantly daring you to go a little bit higher, is perfect.
DeadCore’s creators it seems share my love of Tron. With the game’s art highlighted by clean neon lines. This game will not push your graphics hardware, but it still manages to look great. For a world that is apparently only populated by your character, you never are lacking things to look at. Though you will be too busy perfecting your path through the next obstacle to care. The music is also wonderful. Again they seem to really be pushing the Tron vibe with their cool synth tunes. DeadCore might be worth the purchase just for the music.
You still have a little time to pick this game up for very little money through HumbleBundle.com, but even if you missed out on that deal DeadCore is worth the full price of admission. I just wish I had heard about it sooner. DeadCore is now among my favorite platformers, and I hope I have convinced you to give it a try.
