And All Would Cry Beware is a brilliant name for a metroid'y FPS
Metroid Prime: Ultra-Retro Edition
Released today, And All Would Cry Beware fits in nicely alongside Renegade Sector Games's other stuff by looking like a portal to a parallel timeline where the Sega Saturn reigns supreme. Described by solo dev Alec Stamos as "a fast-paced 90s-style shooter with a Metroidvania Structure", it's a chunky exploration platform shooter set on a strange alien world. I've had half an eye on this one's production, from earliest concepts to release, and while I've not played it, I'd expect a short but sweet game full of chunky textures and low-poly monsters. See the launch trailer below.
The Renegade Sector games are fine examples of what one person can do in just a few months with modern tools and some time. They're rough, chunky and potentially easy to break, but there's real heart to them. This one in particular looks like a meditation on just how you can cram the Metroid Prime experience into something one person can create quickly. Even the story -- the player falling through a portal into a strange alien world where few had gone before -- feels like a measured choice to explain why there's so many semi-abstract enemies, but few characters around.
While I've not sunk as much time into the Renegade Sector games as I would have liked, they're good fun and all have a very particular set of old-school sensibilities. Bullets are slow enough to dodge, bosses are aggressive and spammy, and polygons are to be carefully budgeted, lest we run out of the finite supply of them mined from the planet's rendering core. A bit of an acquired taste, but I'm curious to see what Stamos's take on Metroid is like, especially after having so much fun with Cold Vengeance, his chunky 3D throwback to the days of arcade shooters like Cabal.
And All Would Cry Beware is out now on Steam and Itch for £5.75/€6.55/$7.99. You can find the rest of the Renegade Sector games here on Itch, most of them discounted in the big Itch summer sale.