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[SparkTR]

Developer: Blackpowder Games
Platform: Steam
Price: $19.99 (on sale for $17.99)
Genre: FPS
Release: 25/03/2014
Store Page

The year is 1604. You sailed from England expecting to join a struggling colony on the coast of Virginia. Instead, you find only ghosts and mysteries. What catastrophe blighted the land and drained it of color and life? Where are the settlers and tribes who lived here? Where are the settlers and tribes who lived here?

Clue by clue, you must piece together the story of what befell this doomed settlement and find a way to set things right. You will be hunted by corrupted Conquistadors and ravening shadows as you explore an expansive wilderness in order to trace the brief, tragic history of the colony and search for survivors.

• Explore large, open environments teeming with danger and discovery. Chart your own course in search of clues and treasures.
• Switch between two distinct worlds featuring different enemies, obstacles, and threats.
• Wield early 17th century weaponry including muskets, bows, crossbows, and tomahawks.
• Upgrade your arsenal by purchasing or finding faster, deadlier, longer-ranged weapons.
• Charge headlong into battle with guns blazing or pick enemies off quietly. A novel, movement-based stealth system lets you hide in plain sight or use the wind to mask your footsteps.
• Equip ability-enhancing Charms to complement your play style, granting anything from extra health to faster movement to improved stealth.
• Play with the default visual style for maximum eeriness and tension or customize the color and contrast settings to suit your tastes.

PC Gamer:

Considering the team's modest size, I was impressed with how technically sound Betrayer’s combat was. Movement is comfortably arcadey (infinite sprint, full-speed backpedaling), and the archery handling feels similar to Far Cry 3: lightweight, with just a smidge of arrow-drop. The primary enemies, the conquistadors, collapse into ragdolled piles when you deal a killing blow, and they’re randomly placed in the world--when I died near a cliff and respawned, their quantity and position completely changed. Betrayer also adopts an element from Dark Souls--when you die, any carried money is left on your corpse. If you die again without retrieving it, that money is lost.

RPS:

Plenty’s been said about the game and how it borrows the ‘lost colony’ of Roanoke legend for its unpredictable ghost story. What shines in the Early Access version – the game is 70 per cent complete, they say – is a strong sense of place that feels particularly rooted in FEAR. The way the rustic colony seems to grow from the environment, exposed to whatever shapeless terrors blow through its timbers, reminds me of one of my own favourite movies, Ravenous. So that’s two favourite things lacquered in a rather brave and divisive – the best kind, right? – art style. Not bad for a tenner.

Strategy Informer:

The thing I want to underline before I go is the creepiness of Betrayer. It’s not like F.E.A.R. which relied on shocks but still gave you lots of guns. It really is an oppressive, unnerving game, somehow evoking the sense in me of being both claustrophobic and isolated. You’re vulnerable, you’re alone, you’re surrounded by hostile ghosts in an unfamiliar land and time, and if you don’t solve the mysteries of the game you might never escape the nightmare. Which would be hell in real life, but in a game is absolute bliss! Just goes to show what weirdoes us gamers really are. There’s definitely a STALKER vibe with the semi-open world combined with the idea that something nasty could be around the next corner, except you’re even more at risk here. Yowch.

Launch Trailer

 

[AntiFacebook]

What? It is already out?
Is it Early Access?

 

[SparkTR]

What? It is already out?
Is it Early Access?

It came out of Early Access today.

 

[Aaron]

It came out of Early Access today.

Yay. I bought it as soon as it hit EA, but only played a little waiting for the final.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Looks great. Am on the fence at the moment as I'll be moving and will be away from my PC for a month and wouldn't be able to play. It looks great though, I love the color and art style and you can't argue with some of the devs track records.

 

[SparkTR]

Yay. I bought it as soon as it hit EA, but only played a little waiting for the final.

I was the same, $15 looked like a nice price. I'll be posting impressions once I get some free time.

 

[Grief.exe]

Great OT!

It looks like they went color for the regular world while staying black and white for the nightmare world?

That seems like a good change.

 

[PirateKing]

I remember this game.
When is the Final version due?

 

[Grief.exe]

I remember this game.
When is the Final version due?

It's out now!

 

[EGM1966]

I'll give it a shot. Looks interesting and price seems fair.

 

[SparkTR]

First big review is up, Eurogamer with a 7/10. Seems to be reminiscent of a more survival horror oriented Far Cry.

 

[Dog Problems]

Great OT!

It looks like they went color for the regular world while staying black and white for the nightmare world?

That seems like a good change.

It's optional. You can play it all in black and white or turn the color on.

 

[phoenixyz]

Any first impressions? I remember filing it away under "interesting, maybe give it a look when it comes out" when I saw the first trailer.

 

[FlyinJ]

I need some general guidance for the game. It's such an odd beast I'm not sure how stuff is supposed to be communicated:

Spoiler

For the first "quest", the old man in the dark world wants to find his wife. He mentions she is on a hill somewhere. How am I supposed to find this hill? Do I use the "dpad-down" 'listen' system to walk towards where the noise is coming from? Should I be walking towards this noise in the light world or the dark world? If this is not what I'm supposed to do, how am I supposed to figure out where his wife is given the systems the game uses?

 

[Dog Problems]

I need some general guidance for the game. It's such an odd beast I'm not sure how stuff is supposed to be communicated:

Spoiler

For the first "quest", the old man in the dark world wants to find his wife. He mentions she is on a hill somewhere. How am I supposed to find this hill? Do I use the "dpad-down" 'listen' system to walk towards where the noise is coming from? Should I be walking towards this noise in the light world or the dark world? If this is not what I'm supposed to do, how am I supposed to figure out where his wife is given the systems the game uses?

Spoiler

While in the spirit world or whatever it is, "listen" and go towards the noise. This doesn't work for every search and sometimes you just have to explore to find what you need.

As far as impressions go, I really like the atmosphere and exploring the world. It has a really creepy atmosphere that gives a sense of dread as you go around in it. As far as the gameplay goes, it can get pretty challenging (it did for me, anyway) but getting stealth kills with a bow feels very satisfying. A lot of things to find, many of which add to the story, are fun to hunt for. I'll admit that by the time I finished the game I was left feeling confused about what happened. Visually, the game looks really good. I stuck with playing the game in back and white but it's nice an option for color is in there. It took me around seven and half hours to finish, and that's with finding most stuff. Overall I'm very pleased with the game.

 

[macfoshizzle]

played 30 minutes of it. wow, im impressed and hooked. so mysterious. just found the girl in the red. on my way to piece together what happened to this place and looking forward to it.

 

[fredrancour]

Sometimes having a terrible pc hurts. This is one of those times.

 

[Jim Sterling]

Played a bit for my little YouTube channel and got more excited by it as I progressed. Now playing privately, aiming for an Escapist review, and finding myself drawn further into it. Wonderful little game so far.

 

[Messofanego]

Jim Sterling played 22 minutes of it:

Jim Sterling seems to be enjoying it quite a bit.

BETRAYER - A Good New Game On Steam!!!

"So far, this is not wank."

Might have to get back into this.

Oh he's right above my post! XD

Thanks for the OT, SparkTR!

 

[Warewolf]

This looks great! Hugely interesting, Thanks for the quality OT.

With all the Dark Souls and Metal Gear flying around right now I would have completely missed this one.

 

[BPoole]

Is anyone else having any issues with the lighting? Anything that I can interact with and glows just has a white box flash over it instead of an actual glow.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Will check it out as soon as I fix my PC -_-

 

[Messofanego]

Yo, this game's soundscape is spine-chilling as fuck! Headphones are highly recommended. When the bell rings, I'm tense all over. And the corruption totem, don't even want to be near it even if it's harmless (right now). I love that you can hear out enemies and loot. The wind mechanic actually works, as I have sprinted behind enemies to get the drop on them. So far, not thinking of using arrows, just employing a stealth whack-to-the-back approach.

I'm not sure what the benefit of the listening mechanic is right now.

After Fort Henry, I feel slightly like a paranormal detective.

The wind really adds to the flow.

 

[DukeBobby]

Huh, the reviews seem to be quite poor.

Still, it looks very interesting, so I'll be picking it up soon. Also, the impressions in this thread are good so far.

 

[SparkTR]

Huh, the reviews seem to be quite poor.

Still, it looks very interesting, so I'll be picking it up soon. Also, the impressions in this thread are good so far.

It seems like one of those games like Pathologic or Cryostasis, iffy reviews and low budget but a very specific ambition that appeals to a niche of people.

 

[BPoole]

Huh, the reviews seem to be quite poor.

Still, it looks very interesting, so I'll be picking it up soon. Also, the impressions in this thread are good so far.

I am quite surprised at the low reviews. I'm only towards the end of the second zone, but I had played quite a bit of the Early Access and find the game very intriguing. It has a really creepy atmosphere, and the combat/stealth is competent enough.

I'm really impressed with the sound design though. Playing this game with headphones is quite a nice treat for the ears. Hearing various insects/animals make noises as you sneak through tall grass sounds just as it would in real life, and it's easy to pinpoint where enemies are based on their armor clanking around.

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

Really enjoying the game, dark world is really creepy. Almost wanted to alt-f4 when I approached a corrupted totem in dark world.
Couple of questions though, which markers are avalaible in a zone ? Like, is there a "found all the lost souls", "found all the page scraps", "completed all the investigations", "found all clues" ? I want to be sure that I haven't missed anything before going to the second area.

 

[T.O.P]

Giantbomb quick look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imzo8rmBN6w


Might grab this tonight after work

 

[ichtyander]

Been playing it for a couple of days, got to the fourth area already. It has a very intense, creepy atmosphere throughout the whole game which I like a lot. The gameplay is pretty simple, listen/ping for the next waypoint, encounter NPCs that make you walk back & forth and sneakily kill humanoid and supernatural enemies.

The first time

Spoiler

that silver skull beast thing jumped at me I nearly shit my pants.

The gameplay is pretty repetitive and simplistic but in a more of a Dark Souls kind of way. There's an exploration element to the game that's somewhat satisfying and along with the "listening" mechanic it feels much more fresh than having a pointer arrow or a radar on screen. The bow & arrow and firearms gunplay is pretty tight and enemy encounters (especially the Spaniards) can be intense as fuck. Also, when you die, you loose your cash, the enemies you were attacking respawn and you have one chance to get it back in a very Dark Souls fashion.

The detective part of the game isn't really fleshed out or anything and it only consists of taking items and talking to people but the stories you learn are often gruesome and add a lot to the atmosphere.

I'm getting a bit of an oldschool C64 vibe from this game where you'd learn all of the gameplay mechanics on your own, a heavy, mysterious atmosphere with a dash of Forbidden Forest thrown in.

For the people that completed the game or are near the end,

Spoiler

when do you get a shovel or whatever is needed to dig up the rocky humps? I'm afraid I might've missed it somewhere.

 

[Messofanego]

I feel good about myself for getting enough moolah for the Common Longbow.

Spoiler

So, I found everything around Fort Henry, "nothing remains in the light". But there's much more to this world? I looked out to the world map and was like WHOAH. I gave William Martha's topaz necklace back, but don't know how else to advance the game. Still can't find a damn spade! Maybe it's best I didn't know and I'll figure it out by myself tomorrow, but yeah

really enjoying the mystery to all of this.

When I went out in the other world version, I really don't want to venture far. And when you listen in, GODDAMN creepy shit.

Spoiler

I found a couple of skeletons spawn, they weren't too hard, but yeah I don't want to venture randomly and have enemies spawn like that

unless if you get something out of it.

Also, is this enemy group a bitch to anyone else? Is it necessary to defeat them?

Spoiler

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/086/3/f/betrayer_hard_enemy_group_by_digi_matrix-d7bv64v.jpg

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

Also, is this enemy group a bitch to anyone else? Is it necessary to defeat them?

Spoiler

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/086/3/f/betrayer_hard_enemy_group_by_digi_matrix-d7bv64v.jpg

Yeah you need to defeat them to be able to go through the door. What you should do is make sure the area is clear of enemies, then kill one of the soldiers with an arrow. As soon as it's done run back the road while shooting at soldiers (don't shoot the big one yet, he's slow and predictable), you should have enough time to kill them. Stop at a big rock (just next to the road) and use it as cover to kill the big soldier.
Again make sure the area is clear since gun shots draw enemies from a long distance. There's a barrel full of water on the way if you need to refill your waterskin.

If you don't have a musket yet I suggest you explore the zone and kill some soldiers, rusty muskets are kind of a common drop and they get the job done.

 

[Messofanego]

Yeah you need to defeat them to be able to go through the door. What you should do is make sure the area is clear of enemies, then kill one of the soldiers with an arrow. As soon as it's done run back the road while shooting at soldiers (don't shoot the big one yet, he's slow and predictable), you should have enough time to kill them. Stop at a big rock (just next to the road) and use it as cover to kill the big soldier.
Again make sure the area is clear since gun shots draw enemies from a long distance. There's a barrel full of water on the way if you need to refill your waterskin.

If you don't have a musket yet I suggest you explore the zone and kill some soldiers, rusty muskets are kind of a common drop and they get the job done.

Thanks, will try that I have got a musket, should do the job.

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

I don't know if this is intended or not but I actually find it much easier to explore when in the dark world. Running in light world usually aggro enemies from 10 miles around while in the dark world you only have to deal with skeletons which are really predictable and easy to deal with. Soldiers and natives are much more of a pain to kill.
I'm only at the Sentry Post though so maybe later in the game there will more dangerous enemies in the dark world.

 

[Arsenic13]

I was hoping to like this, but I just can't. It's narrative and objective structure is vague and unrewarding. The enemies are overpowered and impossible to escape, even in a settlement or town. Hell, the girl in the red has watched me get killed twice now.

The one thing I'm enjoying are the visuals and sound (except the clunk sound when you shoot the Spanish Soldier Monsters). This game is not scary, though. It's just tedious and difficult. I'm fine with a vague unraveling narrative but this is just uninteresting IMO.

 

[Brerlappin]

Hate to say it but im just not feeling this either. I saw screenshots of it in the SS thread last year and thought it looked interesting so i picked it up once it left early access. But so far my main issues with it are its incredibly vague as to what you should be doing. And it doesnt really explain how to progress. Im all for a lack of handholding in games, but right now ive finished all the investigations i could come across, i cant 'listen' for anything else in either light or dark world. So im just stuck wandering around an incredibly bland world. Maybe if i switch it to colour it might help, but the 'light' world in its default black and white state is incredibly boring to traverse. And the 'dark' world is just well, a bit darker. So i have no objectives, very little of interest to see, and some pretty unrewarding gunplay to fall back on. The weapons dont feel fun to use, everything is quite weedy, i know theyre muskets and flintlock pistols but c'mon...they sound, feel, and react like pop guns.
So yeah, not really enjoying this at all.

 

[ichtyander]

Just beat the game. It's very minimalistic in its approach which ultimately gets a bit stale later on in the game. I think there should've been a bit more variety with the enemies, especially in the dark world instead of just skeletons and floating skulls. I hardly even used firearms in the latter half of the game, longbow all the way.

There's a strange rushed up feeling near the end of the game where you finally get a shovel thus getting a chance to go all the way back to the previous locations and dig up quality loot but by that time you're already very well equipped so it's kind of pointless. There's also a

Spoiler

tiresome and unnecessary backtracking at the very end of the game where you need to talk to every soul and spirit (white and dark ghosts, so be sure to go into the dark world and listen again in every location) and release them.

Didn't really get the ending,

Spoiler

I suppose the maiden in red just can't let go after all.

The whole story and concept are a nice idea but it's pretty flawed in its execution or at least superficial.

Hate to say it but im just not feeling this either. I saw screenshots of it in the SS thread last year and thought it looked interesting so i picked it up once it left early access. But so far my main issues with it are its incredibly vague as to what you should be doing. And it doesnt really explain how to progress. Im all for a lack of handholding in games, but right now ive finished all the investigations i could come across, i cant 'listen' for anything else in either light or dark world. So im just stuck wandering around an incredibly bland world. Maybe if i switch it to colour it might help, but the 'light' world in its default black and white state is incredibly boring to traverse. And the 'dark' world is just well, a bit darker. So i have no objectives, very little of interest to see, and some pretty unrewarding gunplay to fall back on. The weapons dont feel fun to use, everything is quite weedy, i know theyre muskets and flintlock pistols but c'mon...they sound, feel, and react like pop guns.
So yeah, not really enjoying this at all.

The gunplay is pretty clunky but I found using the longbow to feel very rewarding. I thought the black & white visuals worked very well with the atmosphere and the gameplay aspect of trying to scout and spot stuff in the darkness. As for progressing further,

Spoiler

did you find the burning woman in the last location? If so then go back to Fort Hope and talk to the maiden in red and she'll unlock the final stage of the game where you need to backtrack to every location and talk to the spirits.

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

Once you get some good equipement there is really no point in sneaking anymore as you can pretty much two shot or one shot anything. With a bit of practice with the bow and the tomahawks you can take hordes of enemies without having them fire at you once and with the exceptional charm of soldiery you can also one shot any poor sod that comes looking for a melee kill.
Only thing that may pose a threat is a bunch of soldiers with guns and good aim but that hardly ever happens.
(Fort St. George spoilers)

Spoiler

Last time I was really in danger I think was in St. George when you just killed every ash figure and soldiers ambush you from every entrance, even then I didn't die.

 

[Robert J. Sullivan]

RPS reviewed it :
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/01/betrayer-review/

They kinda sorta liked it especially because of the art style, mood of the game and tension that comes from fights. They also felt that it was repetitive to which I agree.
About the combat though, I feel that this is true only at the beggining of the game. As I said earlier once you get a tomahawk harness, some decent equipement and maybe a second waterskin you can pretty much rambo your way through the game.
During the second half of the game I didn't sneak once (except when I wanted to see a soldier ragdoll do a backflip because of a well aimed arrow to the head) and just waited for enemies to come to me while I made tomahawks and arrows rain on them. Once I got the best charm of ferocity in the game I could one hit kill every enemy in melee except big soldiers and these smokey things with a deer skull, same thing with every unique weapons. The 2 last fights of the game looked more like a TF2 match than how I was playing at the beggining of the game. Don't get me wrong though, I still found it enjoyable in its own way, it's just that the tension was long gone by then.

Other than that I liked it, it's very unique both in its setting and its gameplay. I bought the game just before it came out of early access (~13&#8364 and I feel it was worth it, however I don't know if a lot of people will think the same now that it's 20€.

also, nvr forgit :

 

[AuthenticM]

How's the shooting in this? Does it feel as great as in F.E.A.R.?