Back during the 90’s FPS boom there were a number of standout titles we were graced with, and most have been brought to current-gen consoles in one form or another. Serious Sam is one that many younger players may not remember, but was a staple of my early gaming years. Featuring cartoonish enemies, crazy weapons, and secrets as far as the eye can see; Immortal Redneck is the closest thing I’ve experienced on Xbox One that even comes close to recapturing Serious Sam’s magic.

You play as an unnamed redneck that has somehow been mummified and returned to ancient Egypt in a Rouge-lite romp through the pyramids. While not directly associated in any way to Serious Sam, the comparisons that will be made show that it was clearly an inspiration. Visually, it looks like a cleaned up version of the classic, down to the freakish enemies and cel-shaded weaponry. You’ll work to accumulate gold to upgrade your character and unlock different gods that you can earn the favor of, which work as classes. Each class will offer some weapons or abilities specific to the starting loadout, while replacements from other classes can be interchanged mid game in the event the weapon is found as a drop or from one of the chests. With this being said, experimentation is key for finding the best class for your playstyle, and the option to max out each skill tree gives the title a lot of replay value. The downfall to this mechanic is that at the start of each new run you will forfeit any gold that is not applied to your upgrades. Sadly, in a number of runs I would be just a few gold pieces short of my goal and ended up losing the progress from the previous run or throwing the upgrades into something that wasn’t really needed. With most options featuring 5 to 25 levels of rewards, this will be a grind for those in it for the long haul.

As you begin your journey, you will find the game is a bit difficult; while the enemies do not require a lot of damage to be taken down, neither do you. As mentioned previously, choosing the right upgrades is paramount for making your future runs more successful. Choosing the right class will also be important, as each has their own pros and cons and does truly feel like you are playing as a different type of character, which is rare for most of the rouge-lite titles I have played in the past. Having unlocked all of the base versions of the gods in my time with the game, I found the high damage options to be much more entertaining, especially when being overwhelmed. If stealth or a medic option is your cup of tea, you’ll find those options early into the game, but their cons seemed to outweigh their pros for me.

Each run is filled with randomly generated rooms as well as enemies that will drop rewards that alter gameplay, sometimes in your favor, other times not so much. As you progress through each room, you’ll be searching for secret areas holding chests which feature new weapons and scrolls. Some of these chests will be locked in a challenge room that will task you with reaching the chest under certain parameters, such as within a time limit or without taking damage. The one downfall here is that the rooms can become a bit repetitive after initial runs, making finding the secrets less of a challenge and more of a chore.

There are a number of boss battles that you may encounter, as they appear to be randomly placed. While these did not feel unfair or overly challenging, I often didn’t make much progress encountering them with only a few bullets handy or a sliver of my health bar left.

There is a fair bit of platforming involved in this game, as the rooms often feature a number of vertical levels, often hiding secret areas or chests. The controls make this very manageable, as movement is often loose and forgiving, allowing huge jumps to be accomplished with ease. It’s important to stay mobile to evade the number of enemies that are thrown at you at any given time as well. The biggest issue with the level design is that the map is initially really hard to read and after a short time, depending on the run you are given, everything starts to look the same. In addition to this, some of the upgrades or scrolls mentioned previously will unlock the entire map, which would normally be a good thing. In this, I found myself struggling to find the exit when I was graced with this upgrade. While it was nice to see where chests and alternate paths were prior to setting my course, it was difficult to determine where I had already visited, as well as where I needed to go.

The game’s visuals are not breathtaking, but they aren’t meant to be. I don’t think this title would have gained much by taking on a darker tone, and personally found the brightly colored enemies a fun break from mowing down the Nazi’s, aliens, or zombies found in other shooters. Initially, I thought this was an attempt at being a more kid friendly venture; however, after hearing some of the redneck’s R-rated one-liners, I quickly learned that wasn’t the case. These are well vocalized, varied enough to not become repetitive, and just funny enough to warrant a chuckle.

Immortal Redneck does not have the flashy visuals or super detailed ultra-violence found in other current day shooters, but it does have a lot of replay value and charm at a small cost. Whether you’re into rouge-lites or FPS games, this is a title worth your attention as a day one purchase.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Old School Loose Controls Work Well
• Huge Upgrade Tree
• Lots of Replay Value
• Fun Arsenal

Cons

• Some Rooms Repeat Too Often
• The Huge Upgrade Tree
• The Loss of Unused Gold

Immortal Redneck was developed and published by Crema. It was released on PC in April 2017, and on PS4 and X1 February 27th, 2018 for $19.99. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Immortal Redneck, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.