CW: Gore

If one were to tell my younger self that I’d be getting into FPS titles as an adult, they’d probably assume that they were in the bad timeline. And they’d be right, but not for the reason they think. There was a simple reason for this; when I thought of FPS games, I thought of Call of Duty, which never appealed to me. I’ve come to realize since then that what I actually don’t like are games with a heavy emphasis on feeling “cinematic.” Personally, I like my games to feel like games.

That’s probably why I recently fell in love with the Doom series, and have made my way through most of it, but that’s not what I’m talking about today. I will be saving that for an article where I cover the entire series. Instead, I will be talking about a game that was recently brought to my attention through online recommendations… for its sequel.

I have yet to play Beyond Citadel, but I’ve been told that it is very high on the degeneracy factor, involving shit like rape and incest. I can only assume that this was the case because the developer faced harassment from critics of the first game, who called it fetishistic filth over some very light ero-guro elements that are only noticeable by people who are well versed in the genre to begin with, and decided to make the sequel all the more perverse out of pure spite.

That being said, I’ve also read that the gore is toned down in Beyond Citadel, which I find disappointing, because the gore was one of the more fascinating features of The Citadel. Rather than simply having blood spray everywhere, individual organs and body parts are strewn about, and each having individual sprites. The fact that they look unrealistic actually makes it all the more unsettling, and adds to the unnatural and unsettling atmosphere of this game.

Story wise, The Citadel is very vague and abstract. I literally completed the full game and I have no clue what happened, but I can say that it was ominous and unsettling. Visuals are pretty good, and I don’t just say that because you can see the Martyr’s breasts when you look down… I also say it because of the ero guro elements. Okay, it’s also because the sprite work and animations are well done, but mostly it just made me kinda horny. That being said, we could do with more variety in level backdrops, as everything just sorta looks the same. Sound effects were well crafted and contributed to the eerie atmosphere quite well, and gave all of the weapons the precise punch that they needed. The music did its job from an atmospheric perspective, but I also can’t remember a single track from the game.

Level design was fairly solid, though not necessarily remarkable. My main issue with the game is that there’s a ton of different weapons, different fire modes for each one, and upgrades for your weapon and none of them are explained. I had to look shit up so many times, and most of these were not even necessary to complete the game. Granted, I played through on easy (which was still fairly hard), so I don’t know if you need them on harder difficulties. On top of that, there’s also a food meter and an oxygen meter which need to be filled up in order for you to restore health. These end up adding no real strategy to the game.

The other issue I have with the game is the lack of a difficulty curve. I recall the first level being overly difficult, while many following levels were easy. You just have a bunch of levels in sequence, without any sort of scaling difficulty.

I don’t have a lot to say about this game. I had some fun with it, and I like the tits and gore, but it’s also very abstract, and it seems to end as quickly as it starts. I consider The Citadel to be very middle of the rode, and unmemorable. I genuinely believe that no one would remember this game if it were not for its sequel, which I am looking forward to playing.

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