Teleglitch

[Wrestlevania]

Anyone else playing Teleglitch yet?

The trailer pretty much sells the basics of the game; think Dead Space meets the Doom map, mix in a decent amount of lore and a cute crafting system, and you're pretty much there.

The basic premise is that you're the apparently lone survivor of an accident on a military research base on a distant planet. Having been in hiding for some time, your supplies have finally run out and so you're forced to make a run for it. And your only means of escape is to risk using the experimental teleportation system throughout the installation.

Gameplay is a tense trade-off between venturing deeper into each level to find supplies, weapons and the ever-sparse ammo, at the risk of stumbling into something nasty - sometimes even a whole swarm of nasty somethings - and being abruptly killed.

Combat is typically fast, twitchy, and brutal. However, unless you're really unlucky, you can often control the flow of each fight. It's often possible to back-pedal out of a room and down the corridor you entered via, and mow them down your enemies as they rush towards you... that is until the click-click-click of your soon-empty gun. You always spawn with a combat knife for last ditch self-defence, but it's tricky to use, and suicidal against anything more than a couple of basic zombies.

Each of the guns I've found so far feel distinct, once you get used to how each of them works. Many of the guns seem to be upgradeable, too, either by adding a part to make a more powerful or faster-firing variation, or by combining an existing weapon with several rare parts to create something entirely new.

Makeshift, single-use weaponry can be crafted from odd bits of junk, too, such as one-shot rocket launchers and throwable nail bombs; after a while you'll find yourself conserving parts as you plan your future arsenal. It's also fun to experiment with each weapon to see which is most effective against each type of monster.

Speaking of which, to begin with the enemies in the game are quite samey, but steadily begin to vary as you venture deeper into the facility. The game also likes to throw the odd surprise at you, a particularly devilish one being a subtle variation on the standard melee zombie who, it turns out, is actually carrying a shotgun.

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Another nasty surprise I've had was where the game sprang a trap which sealed me in a room with three huge minigun-toting robot mutants. It seemed impossible to get out without killing them first, which I failed to do. Luckily, I'd found enough junk to construct an emergency personal teleporter earlier in the game (basically an extra life--you only get one life as standard), but found the room still sealed when I made my way back to it. There was now no way to get inside, and so no way of finding out what the robot mutants might have been guarding, or what they might have dropped when killed. Next time...

What's amazed me most is how long I can become engrossed in a level. I'm a bit of a completist with this sort of game, and like to make sure I've rummaged my way out to every corner of the map before moving on. Taking things cautiously and trying not to miss anything, the first level alone took over half-an-hour to cover satisfactorily; the second, almost an hour. I find the tense atmosphere, visual style and careful audio design to be completely absorbing.

In short, I'm finding Teleglitch a frightening, horrible place to be, but also a ruthlessly compelling one. And I recommend anyone curious should download the generous demo and go exploring.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I play the demo quite a bit. I am shit and haven't beat it yet. I will someday buy the game, either when I am richer or it is c heaper.

[Roderick]

That style of gameplay, topdown with shadows etc, reminds me of a title I played in the 90s, but damned if I can't remember the title. It was semi-future, but not very far into it. 3D.

[BigJKO]

Yes, you're thinking of Harry the Handsome Executive, Rodi. A classic, dystopian future, man. Pre-rendered 3D. No? Ok.

Oh, wait. There are no shadows in that game.

[Roderick]

Haha, no not really. I dunno, it'll be impossible to find this one.

[toblix]

Teleglitch is great. I'm worried that the seemingly brutal checkpoint system will make me give up, but I hope it won't. The exploration and combat is satisfyingly intense.

[Astro Creep]

  On 1/25/2013 at 11:19 AM, Rodi said:

Haha, no not really. I dunno, it'll be impossible to find this one.

Would it happen to be one of the Loaded games for the PS1? That's the first thing that came to mind when I watched that trailer.

I really dig the grimy, rusty aesthetic of this, and I'm an absolute sucker for top-down shooters. Might have to pick this up soon.

[Murdoc]

Yeah I really enjoy the tone and light narration of Teleglitch, it reminds me a little of a HL meets Doom and the shooting for a top down shooter is super satisfying.

[Wrestlevania]

  On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, toblix said:

Teleglitch is great. I'm worried that the seemingly brutal checkpoint system will make me give up, but I hope it won't. The exploration and combat is satisfyingly intense.

If you die, that's it--you have to start a new adventure, which is probably the most Roguelike aspect of the game.

I don't consider this a bad thing, however; it heightens the tension, and increases your focus. It's also a good excuse to explore more, and experiment with the weapons.

[toblix]

  On 1/25/2013 at 10:58 PM, Wrestlevania said:

If you die, that's it--you have to start a new adventure, which is probably the most Roguelike aspect of the game.

I don't consider this a bad thing, however; it heightens the tension, and increases your focus. It's also a good excuse to explore more, and experiment with the weapons.

You're wrong – there are checkpoints at levels 3, 5, 7, and 9. If you reach level 5, you unlock the level 3 checkpoint, and so on. It seems you start with a pre-set or randomised set of stuff, and not whatever you were carrying at the time.

[LazerBeast]

Looks interesting, I'll check it out.

[LazerBeast]

Played a bit of the demo just now and really enjoyed it.  Went on Steam to see if it was part of Greenlight and was surprised to see it was not.  Oh well.  I'll probably grab this sometime in the near future.

[Wrestlevania]

  On 2/27/2013 at 5:00 PM, LazerBeast said:

Played a bit of the demo just now and really enjoyed it.  Went on Steam to see if it was part of Greenlight and was surprised to see it was not.  Oh well.  I'll probably grab this sometime in the near future.

 

Desura no good for you?

[singlespace]

Yeah, I've played off and on since the earlier releases, but quite a great deal more recently because of the Mac beta. I love all these new modern offspring of the Roguelike genre like FTL, and in many ways, Demon's Souls / Dark Souls. There's something immensely satisfying about learning the various systems and becoming skilled at games like these.

 

At the beginning you're uncoordinated, ignorant, and clumsy, where just about anything poses a very serious threat, but a couple dozen games later you're immensely skilled and can pull off these feats that would leave the you of the past dumbfounded. Unlike RPGs and what not, the sense of progression doesn't come from the accruing of some arbitrary placeholder for accomplishment via statistics, skill trees, and items, but rather in an actual improvement in your own skill. And I know that's really the bread and butter of highly mechanically nuanced games like competitive shooters, LOMAs, and such, but the brilliance of these kinds of games is that it makes the experience of a top tier competitive player accessible.

 

Modern Roguelike spinoffs take the entire progression and of the player from ineptitude to utterly brilliance and condenses it into this dense experience that requires a hundredth of the time and effort. Not everyone can be a top tier Quake player, but just about anyone has the aptitude to become amazing at FTL or Dark Souls.

 

Teleglitch really captures that feel.

[ThunderPeel2001]

This should be called, "I MAED A G4M3 WITH AL1ENS IN IT!!!!!!11". Also, it should have cool soundtrack.

[Erkki]

I recently found out that Teleglitch was made in Estonia. Yay, finally someone here made a game people know about!

[LazerBeast]

  On 2/27/2013 at 8:15 PM, Wrestlevania said:

Desura no good for you?

It is, and I'll grab it on there.  I was just surprised to see it was not on Greenlight, seems like it would do well there.

[brkl]

I like that this runs excellently on my old shitty netbook.

[castorp]

  On 2/28/2013 at 6:32 AM, brkl said:

I like that this runs excellently on my old shitty netbook.

Oh, thanks for the info, I didn't even bother to try the demo, having a shitty netbook myself. Just had a short go, and it really ran fine - any idea whether it slows much with more stuff happening on screen?

 

Instantly liked the look and feel of the game.

[thainatos]

Doomelunky. Love it.

[Sno]

Oh hey, this is on Steam now.

So this is worth a few of my bucks, hey? I've been curious about this game.

[youmeyou]

There's a demo for it which should be fairly illuminating.

 

http://www.indiedb.com/games/teleglitch/related/downloads

 

I quite enjoyed the demo so look forward to playing the full version. It feels like a top down twin stick doom. I love the style and the atmosphere and the crafting system is pretty brilliant.

[Wrestlevania]

I still haven't beaten the game, but its lost none of its shine. So simple and yet there's detail and imagination in it everywhere.

 

Totally recommended to anyone who likes shooters, sci-fi, or simply well crafted and atmospheric games.

[Sno]

Well, that was just enough to convince me, so i bought it, and it is pretty rad.

I'm slightly confused as to why it has a CD key if the game doesn't ask for a CD key.

I love, love, love the look of the game though, that super low resolution and the minimalist pixel art juxtaposed with all the crazy color separation and distortion filters.

[Sno]

This is a seriously great game.

I've gotten as far as level 4, but i tend to get myself killed scavenging for supplies instead of moving on when i find the teleporter.