Even with a few months left in 2023, months that have a few heavy hitters releasing in them, I am ready to call it – Trepang2 in all likelihood is going to be my Game of the Year. From start to finish, this is a game that took every expectation I had, threw it into the air, shot it full of holes, and then blew it up as it hit the ground. This wasn’t just something that featured a hard-hitting opening and tapered off, no – this not only held momentum but gained it as I pushed my way through the end credits and still left me yearning for more. This is everything you could want from an FPS game and then some… well, except for ADS as a standard option, but we’ll get there.

If you’re confused, thinking I’ve never even played Trepang1, you’re not alone. From what I can gather by deep diving through Google, there was a first entry that was worked on by some of the Trepang team, but was later scrapped and rolled into this release, although this is just hearsay I found while reading through message boards. What I can say is that the narrative presents itself in a messy, unorganized way that by the time the credits rolled, you’ll likely have figured out where it was going and how it would end. If you are not able to do so on your own, the game mostly wraps everything up in a finite ending that is expanded upon in two alternate endings, depending on how well you did when it comes to finding collectibles and what difficulty was completed.

The narrative follows 106, as he is sprung from being confined to a research facility, and sees him take on a globe-trotting adventure as he battles it out with the nefarious Horizon, a group of scientists who are researching otherworldly experiments and activity. On the surface it’s a little thin, but if you elect to really dive deeper there are loads upon loads of intel objects that allow you to absorb as much backstory as you can stomach through emails, notices, and the like. This scratched an itch I had for so many long-dead franchises that it was hard not to sit there with a goofy grin on my face as I took in everything, letting my mind slip into a zone where I was playing a new Crysis, F.E.A.R., or dare I say Half-Life. 

The real star of the game is the gunplay, which is fast, fluid, and most importantly extremely fun and varied. 106 has a lot of tools in his belt, including a Crysis-style camouflage system, as well as a shot-for-shot replacement of the gun customization screen, the token bullet-time ability that is showcased heavily in the trailer, a slide that can send your enemies flying through the air, stealth, kills, and finally the ability to grab enemies to use as a human shield or a grenade when you don’t have one. These don’t even include the wealth of guns that are offered – while they will never hold a candle to the options found in games like the more recent Call of Duty games, they are what I would consider a full arsenal of the staple guns you’d expect.  You can even dual-wield once you unlock the ability early into the game. The only omission that really bugged me was the inability to aim down sights as a standard for most guns unless you unlock it via the cheats menu. Additionally, I feel like an over-shield option, as opposed to the camo, would’ve been a game changer, since most of the stealth segments quickly turned into chaos and left me using it when I really had no other recourse to escape from a place I didn’t want to be in at that specific moment.

The enemies you’ll square off with are somewhat varied, with a few different flavors of soldiers, cultists, and some otherworldly creatures that I’ll leave you to discover. I wouldn’t say that I was bored of fighting the more repeated bad guys, but I would’ve liked more in terms of some of the standout one-off battles that are mostly limited to single areas. Regardless of what class I was squaring off with, I thoroughly enjoyed blowing them into bits and red mist as I ran through the corridors in slow motion, even more so when it was during one of the more stylish battles that had bullets and particles spraying at impressive levels that never came at the cost of frames per second.

From a presentation standpoint, the game is outstanding on all fronts. I loved the metal soundtrack and the visuals were near flawless and on par with what you’d expect from AAA developers with only occasional assets floating or clipping through walls in a Bethesda kind of way. Even the voice acting was on point, albeit only used in a limited manner pre and post-mission in most cases, outside of the enemy chatter coming through radios.

The game runs a little short, clocking in around five hours for my first playthrough that was almost entirely played on the hard setting, but is almost infinitely replayable when you factor in the staggering amount of difficulty options that can be swapped on the fly, as well as the unlockable cheats. Much like the Goldeneye 007 days, I found myself replaying specific levels on alternate difficulties to unlock these options for subsequent playthroughs.

Trepang2 may not have the star power, seasonal content, expansion passes, or eSport following that other shooters have, but what it does have is a lean, thrilling shooter that is free from bloat and easy on the wallet. If you’re a fan of any of the long-lost shooters from generations past that I have mentioned in this review, it is a worthwhile purchase even at full price.

10 out of 10

Pros

• Absolutely Stunning Visuals
• Near Perfect Gunplay
• A Wide Range of Tools at Your Disposal
• Cheats Add Replayability

Cons

• Limited ADS
• Occasional Floating Assets

Trepang2 was developed by Trepang Studios and published by Team17. It launched on PC, PS5, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on XSX. If you’d like to see more of Trepang2, check out the official site.

 

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