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El Paso, Elsewhere is like Max Payne mixed with Blade, and it’s must-play for shooter fans

2K View2023-09-26

El Paso, Elsewhere

10.0

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SHOULD I PLAY EL PASO, ELSEWHERE

Uh, yeah, this game absolutely rules. El Paso, Elsewhere blends the intense shooting and slow-mo powers of Max Payne with the supernatural vampire drama of something like Blade or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That mixture pays off with an action-packed adventure through the underworld and a noir-tinged story that had me rolling with laughter but still managed to have some emotional depth as well. It’s one of my surprise favorites of 2023.

TIME PLAYED

I completed all of El Paso, Elsewhere’s fifty levels in just under ten hours, though I think you could zoom through a lot faster if you’re not quite as obsessive about hunting for secrets as I am. The game’s levels vary in size but generally can be completed in ten to twenty minutes, and while I was compelled to play through in just a few sittings, you could easily split the game up into smaller chunks and enjoy it for a long time. There are also difficulty modifiers for those who aren’t great at action games or for hardcore shooter fans who want to make things harder on new playthroughs.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT EL PASO, ELSEWHERE?

• Pristine gunplay. From the low-poly PS2-era visuals to the slow-motion diving, El Paso, Elsewhere is not shy about its main inspiration: the first two Max Payne games that were developed by Remedy Entertainment. But what this title really gets right is the tight, adrenaline-pumping shooting of said Max Payne games.

El Paso, Elsewhere drip fed me new weapons and enemy types at the perfect pace to ensure I never got bored, but also every gun feels so good that I was still enjoying the hell out of taking out even the easiest vampire enemies in the last chapters. From the intensity of firing dual pistols to the satisfying percussive blast of the shotgun to the rapid-fire drumbeat of the uzi, there wasn’t a single gun in the mix that I didn’t have fun with, and I found myself swapping weapons out constantly.

• Imaginative level design. Despite ostensibly being set in, you know, El Paso, most of this game actually takes place in some strange otherworld that seems to be shaping itself around the fractured memories of protagonist James Savage. The game begins in a dusty, run-down motel, but the levels quickly grow much stranger: from a cemetery where the dead don’t want to stay buried, to a pyramid full of something more than mummies, to a meat processing plant where it’s disturbingly hard to figure out what creature the meat came from. The game makes great use of the freedom of its setting, presenting levels that warp and shift in surprising ways, as well as plenty of memorable visual change-ups.

• A story that balances humor and heart. It’s difficult these days to make a noir story that doesn’t venture into the realm of parody, and El Paso, Elsewhere certainly is self-aware and tongue-in-cheek for much of its script. But as James Savage reaches the end of his journey, the story gets more and more serious, and I was surprised to find myself really moved by some later scenes in the game. The gruff, overly self-serious dialogue may wear on some players, but I loved it. And the overall message of the game tackles some incredibly difficult topics (substance abuse, abusive relationship trauma, etc.) with much more nuance than many totally straight-faced works of fiction.

• Those vibes. The real draw of El Paso, Elsewhere is not any singular element, but the way they all come together to form this enveloping atmosphere of cool. It’s the way the game made me feel as I kicked open a door and shotgunned two werewolves just as the beat dropped on an earworm of a techno song. Or the way that indie hip-hop tracks are used in specific levels to heighten the emotions. The way that the chorus of one of those tracks just kept repeating, “Break shit and kill! Break shit and kill!” as I did just what I was told, as if I had been pulled under a trance by the game. It all just feels like a complete package—like every piece is there for a reason—in a way that very few games pull off.

• Brilliant linear level design. While I’ve mostly compared El Paso, Elsewhere to Max Payne, one other game kept popping into my head as I played: Doom. Like that classic early first-person shooter, El Paso, Elsewhere is a series of self-contained levels that I progressed through in linear fashion. And like that masterpiece, level design is boiled down to some absolute basics: fighting enemies who spawn at specific locations and in specific numbers, finding colored keys to open new doors, and so on. It’s the kind of game design that can only carry a game if it’s pulled off with perfect confidence, and developer Strange Scaffold has that confidence.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT EL PASO, ELSEWHERE?

• Sponge-y melee mechanics. When you’re running low on ammo or just want to take out an enemy quickly, El Paso, Elsewhere allows you to slam a stake through the hearts of your supernatural foes. Unfortunately, the main character’s melee swings feel a lot slower and more awkward than basically every other action he takes in the game. I chose to ignore stakes for ninety percent of the game, but later on it throws out some more powerful enemies, including a few bosses, who can only be defeated using stakes. Not a game-breaker by any means, but I wish it felt better.

• A standard arsenal. For as fantastical as its level locations and designs are, I was a little surprised to discover that El Paso, Elsewhere plays it totally safe when it comes to weapons. Aside from the aforementioned stake, every weapon in the game is one of the basic building blocks of shooters: a pistol, a shotgun, an SMG, a rifle, etc. As I mentioned earlier, all those weapons feel incredible, so this isn’t a major complaint, but if you’re expecting some weird guns to match the supernatural overtones of the game, you may be disappointed.

• A few bugs. I got stuck on walls, tables, and beds a few times on my playthrough when trying to do some dramatic dives and dodges around the environments. I also ran into an issue in one level where an event didn’t trigger properly and my checkpoint got broken, requiring a full level restart. The levels are short enough that this wasn’t a massive setback or anything, but still something to be aware of.

💬 Will you be hopping into your car for a journey to El Paso and the evils that await you there? Or are you not interested in engaging in a bit of slow-motion vampire hunting? Let me know what you’re thinking in the comments.