Immortal Redneck | PS4 | Review

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Imagine being dropped into the blazing Egyptian desert with just a baseball cap, a lumberjack shirt and… a potato launcher. Well, now you can face that reality, as developer Crema’s twitchy first-person pyramid-crawler, Immortal Redneck, breathes a colourful, comical breath of life into the old school, arcade shooter genre.

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          by Amy Mallett

​@amy_mallet

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Developer: Crema
Publisher: Crema
Platform: PS4,
  Xbox One, PC 
Players: 1

The game begins when a sarcastic redneck wakes up to discover he’s lost, not to mention pretty darn mummified, in ancient Egypt following an accident. He’s not sure what’s going on (that makes two of us), but has a feeling the answer lies within the three pyramids of Giza.

​A quick personal admission: I often find arcade dungeon crawling quite laborious, and originally took Immortal Redneck on because of its creative swearing (you’ll always have me at creative swearing), but its surprisingly accessible gameplay structure kept me engaged this time around. Focusing on a series of procedurally generated tombs within several large pyramids, the goal of each trip is to reach the Apex - the mystical centre which presumably holds as much gravity and metaphysical majesty as the Maze from Westworld. 

Reaching the Apex is far from easy. Why, you ask? “Permadeath!” laughs Immortal Redneck. Yep, it’s possible to ascend level upon level of a pyramid, clearing random tomb after random tomb, just to ultimately get blown to bits by an unseen projectile and go hurtling all the way back to the bottom. 

​​What makes this a little less wounding is the game’s rogue-lite elements, which see you retain some form of progression with each death. You’ll get to keep any gold coins you find, used to purchase items from in-game merchants, as well as experience to invest in the skill tree for whichever class you’ve chosen. There are nine classes, to be exact, each befitting a different play style and boasting abilities directly inspired by Egyptian mythology.

​Once you’ve had a gander and chosen your favoured class, you’ll venture onward to discover your foes. Standing boldly between you and bragging rights are a dastardly array of enemies that range from lava-belching toads to floating skulls, which look a little bit like angrier versions of rock band Avenged Sevenfold’s logo. Although the visual style keeps things light and cartoony, coming nowhere close to the sheer nightmare fuel of fellow twitch shooter Doom, the game’s bevy of beasties are still a force to be reckoned with, setting your pulse a-racing whenever the music swells because you’re about to be blasted in the face with a fireball. That’s without even mentioning the two huge bosses hidden within each pyramid, which will definitely have you crying for mummy...

Standing boldly between you and bragging rights are a dastardly array of enemies that range from lava-belching toads to floating skulls.

To combat these blighters you’ll have to rely on two things - your rapidly twerking thumbs and a suite of over 50 inventive weapons, found scattered across each of the floors you’ll navigate en route to the Apex. Our hillbilly hero begins with just a basic pistol, but can uncover anything from an electric flamethrower to a wololo staff (you can decide what that means). Each weapon will put a massive smile on the face of any arcade action fan; the shotgun blast is suitably explosive, machine guns are frantic and noisy, and Grampa’s Blunderbuss is simply a great name.

​With all that awesome firepower, it’s a shame the environments themselves contribute little to the overall experience. Despite doing their job in offing up mythical monsters aplenty, plus accommodating hunts for crazy weapons and madman levels of strafing, areas come up short. They start out large and sprawling, like an Egyptian multi-storey car park, and narrow as the difficulty spikes, with the only real design variation being a few random platforms, more ramps and a few spread out pillars. Alas, that’s the inherent danger in opting for procedural generation over human craftsmanship.

It goes without saying that fans of Serious Sam, Timesplitters and DOOM will no doubt find a familiar home in Immortal Redneck, but those who crave a more narrative-driven experience may find that they get bored long before they ultimately reach the Apex. Even then, it could prove fun to dip in and out of whenever you fancy getting some sand between your toes, and, of course, kicking seven shades out of cute looking rattlesnakes with a taser sword.

Pros

• Sharp dialogue & comedy value
• Solid, responsive FPS action 
• Over 50 crazy weapons to wield
• Classes & abilities offer significant variety

Cons 

• Environments are lacking on the whole
• Gameplay will seem a little repetitive for some
• Permadeath & frequent difficulty spikes can be a formula for frustration

7/10