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Have you played... Midnight Ultra?

Grindhouse FPS horror

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.

I've handed over the keys to Castle Unknown Pleasures to another writer now, but during my time panning for gold among the murky waters of Steam's dozens-a-day new releases, one of the games that most lodged in my memory was Midnight Ultra, a neon grindhouse nightmare of an FPS.

I should say that if you're looking for a solid shooter first and foremost, you should probably walkaway. Midnight Ultra's gunfeel is pretty iffy, and its scope somewhat limited. But if you want a feverish descent into a colour-soaked, semi-abstract hellscape - i.e. the feel of reality struggling to hold itself together, with a side order of Hotline Miami-style exaggerated 80s grime'n'cool - and that precious sense that your monitor is showing you something you don't usually see, absolutely check it out.

It's a striking and giddying assault on the senses, and it's refreshingly brief about it too. Plot-wise, it's about a demon-hunter exploring an America that is equal parts Western, Death Wish and Twin Peaks' seedy underbelly.

Free DLC, and hopefully a bunch of nips and tucks, is due in February, which might just be a very good time to soak yourself in its purple blood.

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