Last year saw an explosion in interest in the auto-shooter thanks to the addictive “Vampire Survivors” and becoming the next go-to genre for developers to explore. REMEDIUM: Sentinels is one such game, set in the post-apocalyptic world of “REMEDIUM” where you control a Sentinel of your choice, each one sporting their own starting weapon and base stats. After picking your defender and level, you are thrown into a fifteen-minute game of survival against endless hordes of enemies and that’s it really.
But Lewis, what is an auto-shooter?
If you’re unfamiliar with the genre, here’s a quick rundown. You start with one attack and base stats. You only use the left stick to control your character, they automatically fire their weapon with a cooldown between each attack. As you kill enemies, they drop exp and as you collect exp you level up. Each level-up offers you a choice of upgrade, these can be stat upgrades or a new weapon, after that each upgrade can be further upgraded too. By the end of the run, you should be a walking bullet hell machine, tearing through hordes and absorbing exp.
What is in store for me when I push start?
The gameplay of REMEDIUM: Sentinels boils down to entering levels with two goals at first;
1- Survive until the timer reaches fifteen minutes.
2- Find the Sentinel being held captive within the level and free them.
That’s all there is to it really, once you find the new character they’re unlocked to use on your next run but then you’re level with a goal of just surviving a somewhat slow starting level. The first couple of levels seem to have the same pattern of enemies loaded in and they just drag along it can feel like quite a slog at times just to get momentum going but then the game switches gears and pushes the lever all the way in the opposite direction and the game becomes ridiculously hard unless you got a sustainable build for the run.
How does it look?
Graphically it’s nothing to write home about, it reminds me at times of old 3D games from the PS1 era, like Nightmare Creatures. Jagged polygons and sharp corners but minus the horrible draw distance. It’s not against the game though, it’s still fine to play and adds to the gloomy setting of the world it’s set in. One complaint would be the lack of music to accompany the action of battle. The slow start is paired with a low ominous score that just lulls you into a sleepy state. For comparison, Vampire Survivors has loud, engaging music that keeps you on edge and fighting to survive.
All in all, the game is cheap and if you’re looking to scratch that auto-shooting itch on a Playstation it will do the job. Just don’t go in expecting a magnitude of unlockables with explosive starts to levels like other titles in the genre.
These words were not written by an AI, they were written by Lewis Magee.
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