We all love a good single-player, retro, first-person shooter. Ones that will throw back to the times of the likes of ‘Doom’ or ‘Quake’, you know, the classics. Well, the people at Crest Helm Studios have brought us that gritty and dark atmosphere with such a modern feel to it. ‘Diluvian Ultra: Chapter One’ lets you thrash through the hordes like any great sci-fi movie.

You play as the grotesque creature, Attila, awoken from his slumber to find that your organically functioning ship is overcome with enemies in the depths of space. All that is sacred to your way of life is being desecrated and it is your charge to purge this filth from your home. It is up to you and your comrade, Bella, a bug-like monstrosity, and you must “Awaken prince, and carve a red ruin!” to take back control from these invaders with nefarious plans. The story is pretty detailed with lines of dialogue explaining your plight. It is quite interesting enough to keep you on your toes to see what will come next.

With multiple difficulty settings, you will be thrown into a tutorial-like level to take back your throne room, and here, you will have access to 10 levels in this chapter which need to be completed in order. As Atilla, you must run and gun your way through a range of different enemies that progress in difficulty with each level.

You will have a double jump and a dash to help with platforming areas as you solve puzzles and collect keys to open doors to locked-off areas. Typical of the genre, there are health and armour pickups along the way to keep you topped up from the damage you may take, and you will also find hidden nooks with ammo and new weapons. It is all very retro, but in the same sense, so fresh.

Initially only rocking a Bloodsword, you quickly acquire a plethora of cool-as-shit weapons, from chainguns to organic-like weapons. Each of these is ridiculously fun to use and they act so differently, where some will only deplete armour, making for some strategic gameplay.

Surprisingly, you can also upgrade each of these at a waypoint using Focus Points collected from Blood Orbs along the way. The upgrades give each weapon a much-felt and needed oomph, and thankfully, these waypoints act as a save point, so you don’t need to start all the way back at the beginning of each level.

The controls are simple but at times a little bit clumsy. While I did master it, it was a little awkward at the beginning. Thankfully you can rebind controls – a modern-day must. Unfortunately, though, it is not very compatible with a controller, which I would love to see in the future.

The graphics are of a retro aesthetic – think old-school Doom, but a lot more vibrant. Flashes of red and purple contrast perfectly as you explode your way through waves of enemies. The enemies and bosses are perfectly detailed, making deciding on which weapon to combat them a breeze. The environments are interesting too, with an overall decrepit feel, but vastly different in each stage. The backtracking compliments it well too, with some dark but electronic beats keeping the tempo of the fights feeling eerie and pumping.

Overall, Diluvian Ultra: Chapter One is a great addition to the FPS run and gun genre. Gritty, fast-paced, and energetic, this is one title that does what it sets out to do; make hell a fun experience. I can’t wait to see what Crest Helm Studios has in store for the next chapters in this game.

Written by: Stacey