One of the great things about Quake, is that sometimes people get it right. This game is a testament to the FPS genre and shows that percerverence under harsh conditions can pay off in spades. HROT takes place in Czechoslovakia after a horrific disaster that made the entire place a wasteland. You are trying to escape it while trying to stay alive and fight your way through legions of horrors and other men in gasmasks. Judging by the state of this setting, they aren't doing too well either.
This game was made with an ancient coding system, Pascal. This brought the game to a retro feel that makes it a beauty for any fan of the genre who enjoy some quality shooters. The weapons are not only very reminiscent of the ID Software armaments, they even have something of their own BFG within this awesome title.
The monsters are what really set this game apart from other titles that try to capture the Doom and Quake era of gaming. A lot of games seem to think that just thrusting you into a monster closet is sufficiently fun and will make you praise it. HROT comes at you with variation on familiar monsters, but each of these opponents present their own challenges. Enemies like the Konfident, so named probably because they are literal floating heads most likely used for surveillence. They can be compared to the Cacodemons, but they shoot these laser-like bullets at you that obscure your vision and slow you down, causing a good bit of damage.
The enemies range from a simple shotgun guy with improved armor, all the way up to a literal tractor that rolls around and hurts you by ramming into you. There are many of them that take a lot of damage and have either harsh shotgunning attacks or explosive attacks.
Among all of these enemies, there are some very annoying ones, like the ones in wheelchairs. Seriously, they have a ton of armor, and their attacks will bombard you very quickly. The worst of them, strangely enough, are these strange fish-toad hybrids that seem to be somehow adept in using weapons. It's rough finding any lore on these things but they're more than likely a cause of some horrible fallout. They suck because all of them have the capacity to throw grenades at you and some of them pop out of their spawners with MISSILE LAUNCHERS on their shoulders. They are plentiful and they keep spawning one after the other. If you get too close to them, they will cut you. That is no joke.
The bosses are horrific and the levels are absolutely stunning, if a bit confusing at times. Much in the ways of Doom, the levels require keys of many sorts and there are many enemies who can pop out at your at any turn. If you catch a key room, be sure you have plenty of ammo and armor on you if available. This game can get very hard, especially in some of the ending bosses who keep spawning enemies to keep you company while they rain on you with whatever weapon they possess.
HROT is one of those games you can enjoy to its utmost. It took them a while to get all of the episodes out, but now they are there for your enjoyment on Steam. Do yourself a favor and play this game to your heart's content. It can definitely help relieve some stress in these very stressful times. If people give you crap about being a power-hungry warmonger who relies too much on nostalgia, just tell them that it's a quiet life and shut them out. It's your game and you take it how you want it with a nice tall glass of water.
