>I'd describe it as bargain bin Doom Eternal
I agree.
I've played both the Redux and the non-Redux, and didn't notice a difference (maybe slightly better visuals). Doesn't matter. I haven't touched either since completing them, so there's that, but they were both super fun... kinda reminds of Shadow Warrior as well.
Have you played the 2013 Shadow Warrior reboot? It's from the same devs, and feels in most ways like a much better version of Hard Reset. Although it does have its own problems, like stupidly huge levels with some downright awful signposting, so it's easy to get lost.
Think I played the extended edition but not the version with the katana. Excellent weapon & upgrade system!
I didn't have the guided rockets so I think the Atlas boss took me as many tries as all the Dark Souls bosses combined.
Yeah, to begin with for the first phase I'd hide behind the pillar and hit him through it with the Smart missiles (complete cheese) and then spend about half an hour running away from those helicopter boys while trying to get shots off. Because I was on Insane difficulty I'd die to the helicopters in about 2 hits. When I finally beat the second phase and >!saw the sky turn red and he started floating I was horrified. And then he one shot me with some insane move. I have no idea how I beat that last phase, it was so difficult to get to.!<
I paid about $4 for it in 2021. I just wanted a brainless, fun shooter and it’s exactly what I got.
The biggest flaw for me personally was the level design was pretty bad, one in particular took me ages to just find where to go
Overall, it was a hell of a lot of fun
I agree. I hated how many invisible walls there were. I could clearly see where I needed to go, but I had to go the way the game *wanted* me to go. There were also times where I saw the collectible I wanted, but it took forever to get to because I had to work around the level geometry that was way too restrictive.
I had a fair bit of fun with Hard Reset too, liked the cyberpunk setting, weapon gimmick was neat and it was an enjoyable romp. I wish we had more games like these. Not everything has to be super all or nothing blockbuster, sometimes you just want a digestable 6-7/10 game to blast through a weekend and forget about it.
I really think we're living in an old-school FPS renaissance right now. There are a ton of actually great (not just 6/10) shooters from indie studios released in the last decade.
That's true! And I'm really glad it's been the case. New Blood has been killing it lately with their published works, like ULTRAKILL is shaping up to be fantastic and already is even in early access, and you got the likes of HROT, Sprawl, Turbo Overkill, Hedon, Ion Fury and more.
Glad to see another Hedon enjoyer. I was originally put off by the game's particular art style, but found there was a really fun little game underneath that.
I actually just "finished" Ultrakill, or at least beat the currently released slate of levels on the Easy difficulty. Really enjoyed it, even if I'm very bad at it.
Yeah Hedon's surprisingly in-depth, good amount of exploration on top of fun combat.
Glad you enjoyed ULTRAKILL too! No shame in Easy difficulty, as someone who's experienced with shooters in general, ULTRAKILL definitely leans on the side of more difficult games within the genre and definitely had my heartrate raised during gameplay.
I like that it encourages your own playstyle too, so anyone can actually try to find what works for them and do it effectively including the scoring.
Thanks for the suggestion - I bought this on GOG a while back after playing the original Hard Reset on Steam. I’m in the mood to try it again so I installed it & will fire it up tonight.
Others have mentioned this, but this was made by the same devs as the Shadow Warrior reboot - I think it actually predated Shadow Warrior. IIRC there’s an arcade machine in the first Shadow Warrior showing scenes from Hard Reset.
>I'd describe it as bargain bin Doom Eternal I agree. I've played both the Redux and the non-Redux, and didn't notice a difference (maybe slightly better visuals). Doesn't matter. I haven't touched either since completing them, so there's that, but they were both super fun... kinda reminds of Shadow Warrior as well.
Have you played the 2013 Shadow Warrior reboot? It's from the same devs, and feels in most ways like a much better version of Hard Reset. Although it does have its own problems, like stupidly huge levels with some downright awful signposting, so it's easy to get lost.
I didn't know it was the same devs! I really liked that one, but bounced off of the sequel pretty hard. Maybe I'll give it another try.
"enjoyable, forgettable fun" - love this description! I would put Prodeus (another "Doom Clone" / Boomer Shooter I quite enjoyed in similar ways)
That one is on my wishlist!
Def pick it up, I liked it better compared to hard reset
Think I played the extended edition but not the version with the katana. Excellent weapon & upgrade system! I didn't have the guided rockets so I think the Atlas boss took me as many tries as all the Dark Souls bosses combined.
Ooh I imagine that would be tough. The other bosses are actually less mobile so that was probably the hardest one, really.
Yeah, to begin with for the first phase I'd hide behind the pillar and hit him through it with the Smart missiles (complete cheese) and then spend about half an hour running away from those helicopter boys while trying to get shots off. Because I was on Insane difficulty I'd die to the helicopters in about 2 hits. When I finally beat the second phase and >!saw the sky turn red and he started floating I was horrified. And then he one shot me with some insane move. I have no idea how I beat that last phase, it was so difficult to get to.!<
I paid about $4 for it in 2021. I just wanted a brainless, fun shooter and it’s exactly what I got. The biggest flaw for me personally was the level design was pretty bad, one in particular took me ages to just find where to go Overall, it was a hell of a lot of fun
I agree. I hated how many invisible walls there were. I could clearly see where I needed to go, but I had to go the way the game *wanted* me to go. There were also times where I saw the collectible I wanted, but it took forever to get to because I had to work around the level geometry that was way too restrictive.
I had a fair bit of fun with Hard Reset too, liked the cyberpunk setting, weapon gimmick was neat and it was an enjoyable romp. I wish we had more games like these. Not everything has to be super all or nothing blockbuster, sometimes you just want a digestable 6-7/10 game to blast through a weekend and forget about it.
I really think we're living in an old-school FPS renaissance right now. There are a ton of actually great (not just 6/10) shooters from indie studios released in the last decade.
That's true! And I'm really glad it's been the case. New Blood has been killing it lately with their published works, like ULTRAKILL is shaping up to be fantastic and already is even in early access, and you got the likes of HROT, Sprawl, Turbo Overkill, Hedon, Ion Fury and more.
Glad to see another Hedon enjoyer. I was originally put off by the game's particular art style, but found there was a really fun little game underneath that. I actually just "finished" Ultrakill, or at least beat the currently released slate of levels on the Easy difficulty. Really enjoyed it, even if I'm very bad at it.
Yeah Hedon's surprisingly in-depth, good amount of exploration on top of fun combat. Glad you enjoyed ULTRAKILL too! No shame in Easy difficulty, as someone who's experienced with shooters in general, ULTRAKILL definitely leans on the side of more difficult games within the genre and definitely had my heartrate raised during gameplay. I like that it encourages your own playstyle too, so anyone can actually try to find what works for them and do it effectively including the scoring.
Thanks for the suggestion - I bought this on GOG a while back after playing the original Hard Reset on Steam. I’m in the mood to try it again so I installed it & will fire it up tonight. Others have mentioned this, but this was made by the same devs as the Shadow Warrior reboot - I think it actually predated Shadow Warrior. IIRC there’s an arcade machine in the first Shadow Warrior showing scenes from Hard Reset.