Two words that I never thought would go together, let alone to be the title of a game. Immortal Redneck’s announcement had me puzzled and the title made me laugh because honestly, how freaking wacky of a name is that. I expected it to be an attempt at some sort of a turn based game or a Steam Early Access title but I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the actual trailer. Immortal Redneck has been developed and published by Crema and is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC with a Nintendo Switch version coming soon in the future.
Immortal Redneck has you play as an American Redneck tourist in Egypt who wakes up mummified and doesn’t remember how he got there, how he died or anything related to the accident. He’s also immortal which plays well into the main gameplay element of the game. The game is an arcade-like first-person shooter with twitch controls and roguelite elements of permadeath, levelling up and dungeon creation that is randomly generated. It’s a combination that we don’t see a lot of but Crema has really nailed it. The game is extremely fun and is perfect for one of those “pick up a controller and just shoot things for a while” type of games. It’s easy to pickup but can be difficult to master. The game absolutely nails the fast-paced first person shooting aspect though, it’s thrilling, exhilarating and keeps you on your toes and is very reminiscent to Serious Sam in terms of the fast paced shooting and dare I say, even DOOM.
The Roguelite elements take a while to get started which can be off putting at the start since the starting perks and abilities aren’t that great but once you get the good stuff, it turns into a world of a lot of fun. The various powers of the Gods that you can use, the weapons that range from classic weapons like shotguns to mystical Ankhs add wonderful variety. You can change the way you approach each run to utilize the passive abilities, spells and different starting loadouts. Each level has an end boss and even a mid level boss that are tough, unique and aren’t simple bullet sponges which is great because it gives you a fun challenge every time you encounter a boss. The gameplay loop is simple but never felt like a chore and I always kept going back for more.
The visuals are great for the pseudo-realistic look that it goes for with a lot of colour being introduced with enemies and level set pieces which give levels some great flair. Enemy variety is also good, you won’t be bored any time soon frankly. The audio is good, packs a wonderful punch and all the weapons sound different enough for you to easily differentiate between purely based on sound. The soundtrack is alright and adds to the adrenaline rush type gameplay. The writing did have me chuckling and was not a cringe-fest thankfully.
Immortal Redneck is a fun arcade FPS with roguelite elements that is bound to give you a fun experience and is quite fairly balanced besides the initial grind which can be off putting to newcomers. Games of this genre are not for everyone but if you have an itch for a good fast paced FPS or a game that is similar to Serious Sam, this game should do perfectly and I really recommend this game.
