Once in a while there is a game that stands out for its originality.
Reloader: test_subject is one of those games.
Short and sweet, it serves as a showcase for Reloader: subject_alpha, a more extensive proposal by Nevertheless Studio to be released on January 2024.
This first chapter of the Reloader story feels like the opening sequence of an action movie, introducing us to a sci-fi plot that reminds this minion of movies like The Matrix and Upgrade.
Our character is the test subject of an experiment: a new technology has imbued us with the unparalleled shooting skills of a legendary marksman. And we must use those skills to escape a building full of gangsters that definitely mean us harm.
And then there is the twist. We may be really good at shooting BUT we must also control manually all the steps involved in the handling of our gun.
Reloading our piece implies removing the magazine, putting it in our belt (or dropping it), getting a new magazine from that belt (or the ground), loading the gun with it and pulling the slide of the weapon in order to put the first bullet in the chamber. Only then we will be able to shoot.
We also even need to fix manually the ocassional and usually untimely malfunctioning of the gun. Does it sound complicated? Then add the need to count the bullets ourselves.
Doing all that while bullets whistle by and some psycho decides to charge us with a knife is, of course, the real challenge. Keep calm and you’ll keep shooting. Panic and mess one of the reloading steps or forget your bullet count and you can consider yourself dead.
All this excitement is extremely well accompanied by the game’s retro pixel art style (with a special mention to the use of light), an awesome soundtrack and its sweet sound design.
You can get test_subject for free on Steam or support the developers with a more than fair little contribution and just purchase it.
The only thing that displeases the Indie Skunk is that Reloader: alpha_subject and 2024 feel too far away. As usual It will punish its minions for it.