Developers Salt N Pixel and publisher VoxPop Games had the opportunity to release their first fully microfunded game. They chose to make a vampire-slayer arcade horror game called Outer Terror. While it might be seen as a target audience, I just might fall into that audience being a huge retro arcade and “B-Horror” fan. Let’s see how they delivered…

Story

In Outer Terror there are five different chapters each coming with its own story and characters that are tied to it. Each story is told in the form of a visual novel and is played out through short character interactions in between the survival mayhem. The overall theme of each of the chapters feels pretty consistant in that they are all seemingly apocolyptic and set into it’s own horror universe.

The five chapters are The Gray Death, which to me felt like it was a mixture of the cult classic horror movieThe Blob and Dawn of the Dead or really any zombie horror film. The First thing I thought of from seeing the larger enemies was the movie Black Friday (which to me is a good thing). Kill Switch, a post-tech-apocolypse very reminicant of Skynet from Terminator. Where a money hungry tech company keeps making more and more smart technology and the appliances strike back and take your seemingly only way of survival an EMP and you have to get it back. My favorite chapter Other Side, an circus escapee ends up in an unlikely pairing with a country man and it is found that the Kija the escapee’s sister had her soul traded for a coin. Kaja and her new partner take the journey into the desert where they wish to trade back but first they must fight their way through mazes and the heat of the desert all while fighting otherworldly beings.

Each of the chapters is based around two characters which in some chapters are tied together better than others. In the chapter Incedent Report the characters are tied together because of an SCP experiment. One of the characters is the SCP and he is being transported, and the other character is supposed to be his guide. The final chapter Frost Bite ties their characters together by bringing Paul to the Tundras where he is searching for the Fountain of Youth and Ahnah is holding him with threats because his search for infinite youth has triggered a horde of vampires.

Gameplay

If you love arcade style vampire survival shooters, this is your game. It’s your classic pixel survival shooter, you dodge enemies while you fire your weapons and try to clear yourself a path to survival. You can either play in auto mode where it will fire your main weapon at the closest enemy to you or you can play in precision mode where it fires in the direction you are moving towards. As you gun down enemies you gain experience for in level upgrades like new guns or melee weapons, or you can pick up money to spend at the home screen where your upgrades are more permanent like max health or unlocking new weapons to be added to the level rotation.

There are ten different characters to choose from, two characters per each of the five chapters. Each character comes with their own special ability and special weapon upgrades. Each of the ten characters has their own starting weapon that other survivors can get as level upgrades as well and each has their own special ability that is unique to them. Each of the pairs of characters have abilities that are supposed to help them suveerly in their levels but I don’t see why you couldn’t complete objectives in other levels with each of the charcters.

In each chapter there are objectives for you to play through, there is short interactions with Non-player characters for story building but other than that the objectives don’t seem to give much reward other than maybe an experience boost. While you are exploring the map and surviving or completing the objectives there is a timer counting up on the top of your screen. The timer will count as long as you are not in a safe zone, be warey of the time on the screen because once it reaches a certain time the Big Bad Boss will come in a wreek havoc no matter where or how prepared you are for it.

Audio and Visual

From the start when I loaded up this game the sound track was great, it had me giddy and smiling like a little kid. It fires up right away just as if you put a quarter into an arcade machine and it is a retro metal riff from the past. The sounds in game are the same thing they’re also reminiscent of old school arcade, from the gun shots to when you take damage. It really does well giving you the arcade experience it was meant to.

Visually it does exactly what its meant to, its meant to be retro. If you’re coming into this expecting 4k graphics you’re in the wrong neighborhood. It has a cool affect where it sits somewhere between 3D and 2D kind of like a 2.5D where it is flat pixelated textures but buildings, monsters, and people including your character stand up almost looking like game pieces on a tabletop game. The enemy design for each level is well made, each enemy looks like it belongs in the level doesn’t seem thrown together and they all have unique design features to make it fresh in each level.

The story telling aspects of the game are very recognizeable to all horror fans. From the chapter select screen it instantly stands out as being heavily influenced by the old EC comic books. The story even plays out in the form of a visual novel which is pleasing to the eye especially with these graphics.

Replayability

It’s an arcade style game, I feel that’s all I should need to say. But each of the levels has a timer to trigger the big bad boss so it doesn’t change much on the play time. But you can challenge yourself on kill counts or really try to focus on doing the missions. I also think that it is a good game to just invite your friend over and brainlessly shoot things while laughing and eating snacks and drinking a cold beverage.

What It Could Have Done Better

I think to really give the full “quarter in the machine” arcade vibe it is after, there needs to be a true arcade mode. Maybe a mode where you pick a level, as well as a character, and go for the highest kill count or score you possibly can. The arcade experience is ruined by having it cut off as soon as you beat the final boss, it should play the scene where you beat the Big Bad and then it should put you back into it and let you keep surviving until you couldn’t possibly go any longer.

Maybe some time down the line some extra content to increase the game time would be nice too. Adding new levels and characters would definitely be a good start to making the game longer.

Verdict

I do think that Outer Terror brings good things to the table. I can’t help but smile ear to ear from the retro soundtrack and the hugely horror-inspired graphics. I’m a sucker for the comic book theme to the chapters because I really loved theTales from the Crypt comics when I was younger. I also think that it would be a really fun game to play with friends, even though there is an end to each chapter. All in all, for its low price I do think it’s worth picking up IF you’re deep into all things horror and arcade.

Outer Terror is available now for PC via VoxPop Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store. Whatever you do, remember, “DON’T DIE!”