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What if Doom had a little more Greek mythology and a lot more roguelike? - Perish Quick Review

22K View2023-02-02

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it, as long as you’re ready for a challenge. Perish is a great action shooter that takes inspiration from Doom. It puts its own twist on classic shooter gameplay by heavily focusing on Greek mythology and implementing roguelike elements. That enticing formula results in a gory experience jam-packed with demon bloodshed and epic combat, even if it gets a little over-the-top difficult sometimes.

TIME PLAYED

I played Perish for four hours. Each run took me around thirty to fifty minutes before I fell flat on my face and died. I didn’t manage to get far enough to beat a boss, but I unlocked most of the weaponry and items available early on. I was only able to test out the single-player version of the game, but it’s worth noting that Perish is built for co-op with up to four players, a feature that’s sure to only add to the delightful chaos.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Combat. I had a great time with Perish’s fast-paced combat and the thrill that came with smacking around monsters like punching bags. I was able to customize and upgrade my weapons, as well as equip myself with rings, items, and other perks to help me survive. Although I struggled to progress through the game’s challenging levels, I enjoyed beating the living hell out of these demons.

• Card buffs. After every level, I chose from three cards that buffed my character in various ways—sort of like leveling up in Vampire Survivors! Some allowed me to earn more resources, while other cards helped multiply my damage output. I enjoyed trying out all the combinations I could pull off and appreciated the help these buffs provided. It wasn’t easy getting through hordes of demons, but with the right cards by my side, I felt unstoppable at times.

• Aesthetic. I loved Perish’s supremely creepy and dark look. Each level is meticulously designed and beautiful to look at but still unsettling.

WHAT SUCKS

• Farming as an unbeatable strategy. Twenty minutes into Perish, I discovered that I could infinitely farm resources in the first level. Although this made gameplay easier, it completely tarnished the experience. Since enemies would endlessly respawn and there was no limit to daggers or bullets replenishing, I could grind to my heart’s content by backing off into a relatively safe room and mowing down enemies one after another. After thirty minutes, I’d return home and upgrade my weaponry and items, easily progressing through multiple levels of improvements. The game says it has “risk-versus-reward” gameplay, but I was able to make it all reward with very little risk with a little planning.

• No mini-map. I absolutely hate that Perish doesn’t have a mini-map or some sort of indicator to alert me of incoming enemies. It’s tremendously hard to distinguish enemies when walking through dark areas, and even harder to do so in the rush of a fight. I had to rely purely on the sound of footsteps to figure out where enemies spawned, or I’d find myself overrun by demons in a heartbeat.

• Balance. Enemies move and dodge way too fast in Perish—so fast that it made it almost impossible for me to get through a level without losing a life early on. Blame my bad reflexes if you want, but it felt really punishing when an enemy would sway from right to left in a split second and bonk me on the head, ending my run then and there. The only reason I got as far as I did was the aforementioned resource grinding. If I hadn't figured out that trick, I definitely would have had a much harder and more frustrating time.

💬 Will you play Perish or are you going to pass on it? Let us know down below!

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