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Betrayer (Video Game)
Developed by Blackpowder Games
Distributed on Steam
Not classified by ESRB
Betrayer is yet another horror game that will probably get a pass from many people on concept alone. A first-person stealth-shooter, Betrayer tells the story of an unnamed protagonist who washes ashore the beaches of colonial Virginia. The player will encounter various spirits over the course of the game, whose untimely deaths serve as both quests and backstory to help flesh out the world. The time period is relatively untouched in gaming, so the chance to deal out some black powder death and tomahawk haircuts is appealingly unique.
The visuals are also unique, sporting a grayscale palette for both the light and the dark worlds. Players switch between the two by ringing a bell, with the main difference being that the dark world is… well darker, and the player can talk to spirits. There are certain quests or objectives that can only be completed in one or the other, so expect frequent switching between the two. The only color in the world comes from the ghastly reds on enemies armor, and the bright red dress of the game’s mysterious sole living NPC. The woman in the red dress serves as a main quest giver, and it is around her that the story unfolds and revolves.
Players start out with a hatchet and bow, but after a few kills will likely acquire most of what the game has to offer. Musket, crossbows, and pistols round out your main arsenal, with powder kegs and tomahawks serving as consumable extras. Health does not automatically regenerate, so players must conserve water skins that return you to full life and can only be refilled at certain checkpoints. Since theres a finite amount of damage you can take each time you venture out, the game promotes a stealthy approach. Taking a few enemies out with your bow before they can notice you is more likely to lead to success than just blasting in with your musket.
So if at this point you are sold on concept alone, please read the rest as a warning. I was very excited for Betrayer when it came out. I thought the visuals were gorgeous, and the time period unique enough to warrant my $15. While I did not hate the game, I will say that I never beat it, and never intend to. I do not have some kind of visceral distaste for the game. I just found it far too tedious to complete and not compelling enough to overcome that tedium.
I got to about the 80% point before looking at the passageway to the next zone, taking a deep breath, and just throwing my hands up, so I feel like I’m pretty well qualified to talk about the game despite not knowing how it ends. The main reason that Betrayer is tedious is because of the light/dark world mechanic. The game doesn’t have any waypoints for quests, so finding where to go is done by pressing the listen key and trying to figure out where the breeze is directing you. It’s a fine concept, but having to explore the same area twice while listening to the spirits of the wind guide me to the next clue about what happened to the lost ghost boy wears on my nerves. Combat is not quick, as enemies take multiple hits to kill and muskets multiple seconds to reload. Now I do not mind games with slower and more thoughtful combat, but when it becomes a frequent roadblock in your running around and listening to the wind endeavors, the combat goes from a monotonous challenge to a downright annoyance.
The areas are large enough that exploring them even once becomes a task. There are a handful of zones in the game, and each must be thoroughly traveled twice to get all of the content. Even then, some quests are resolved unintuitively. I would never have guessed I had to find a randomly spawning wraith and kill it before it disappeared to get the game’s only shovel. If not for the internet, I would have gone the whole time just assuming I had yet to acquire it as a quest reward.
What’s even more annoying is how a game supposedly about stealth sometimes just says “no stealth for you this time!” I am not talking about forced combat sections, though there are a couple of those in the game. What I mean is that enemy helmets have a random chance to deflect arrows. Arrows can only kill unsuspecting enemies in one hit if it is a headshot, so if you shoot the arrow and it just clangs off you either have to reload a checkpoint or pull out the musket and hope for the best. Arrows aren’t effective as a mid-combat weapon, so if you don’t have a good gun then sometimes the lord of random chance just tells you to start over. New and more powerful weapons can be bought with money, but they are all just stronger versions of a previous weapon. Higher level bows have a lower chance of deflection, and better guns have more damage and faster reloads. Pretty standard stuff, and not a lot of variety.
So like I said earlier, its not that Betrayer is bad, it’s just boring. A lot of good ideas stretched way too thin across a game that just couldn’t support it. A lot of ideas, not a lot of execution. At $20, the game isn’t going to be worth the price for most, but seeing as how it’s only $8 right now, it might be worth checking out. See if the idea interests you, then buy accordingly.
2 1/2 out of 5
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
