UNLOVED is a first-person shooter game that is based off of the original Doom 2 mod of the same name. This re-imagining is brought to us by the same creator of the aforementioned, Paul Schneider. The title spent roughly a year in Early Access before finally being given its full release on September 29, 2016. Fair warning: As with the original mod, this game is HARD; it is not for the casual FPS player. If a challenge is not what you seek, then this title is not for you.
By now, there are numerous players who are more advanced and adapted to this title than I am. Admittedly, I did not support UNLOVED during its Early Access phase (boo, me, boo), although I was tempted on several occasions; I did, however, watch its progress closely as I'm in love with both Doom and copious amounts of gore. That is one thing that this FPS has a lot of... gore, even though it seems to be dialed back in-game from the screenshots presented on the store page. The blood doesn't seem to pool or splatter like it's suggested in the screenshots, but it does go flying everywhere when you shoot an enemy.
There's a lot of good to say about UNLOVED, and it's a map-based FPS that has a lot of replay potential. There are currently 4 maps to play on (Apartments, Clinic, Basement, and Town) with 4 different area settings to pick from (small, medium, large, and huge). If you get bored with the standard maps, you can choose the "Twisted" option which stitches together pieces of each map into one. The maps can also be either randomly generated, or you can have the same layout repeat for 24 hours by clicking the "Daily Seed" box. There are 5 difficulty modes ranging from hard to downright impossible, all which are designed for specific player levels. Additionally, there are 4 game modes to try out; the standard Ultra-Violence mode, Classic Horror for survival lovers, Arcade Style to increase the already fast-paced nature of the game, and HOT Mode which makes the game more like SuperHOT. Obviously as you can tell, there is a staggering amount of variety and customization options at your fingertips.
With all that being said, the gameplay at its very core still resembles Doom. Starting off with a pistol and some ammo, you must find the Blood (red), Moon (blue), and Sun (yellow) Crests in order to advance through the map. Once you reach the yellow Sun Crest rooms, your goal is to donate blood to 7 machines and then return back to the elevator (starting point). You will also find collectibles, which are further explained below, guns, ammo, armor, weapon mods, and silver keys to open trinket boxes. Weapon mods only last for your current run and they're randomized, trinkets on the other hand are collected for later use. There's an excellent build up from the start to finish of every run, with monsters trickling in and slowly becoming waves of monstrous hordes by the time you reach the end goal; it really is bloodlust adrenaline rush.
There are also many unlockables to aim towards unveiling. While in the game, you can pick up ink bottles to unlock new color patterns for your character, and photographs to reveal new pieces of the story to UNLOVED; which is told through diary pages in the "unlockables" menu. Ink bottles can also be broken up in to fragments, which can then be used to unlock more trinkets. Collecting 4 card pieces in a single game also crafts a new trinket. Trinkets are magical items with stats that can be used to further customize your gameplay style and experience. During each run you will have two personal objectives, such as doing X amount of damage with X weapon or killing X amount of X enemies. Achieving these goals rewards karma, which can be used to further build up your player profile.
The game uses the Unreal 4 engine; no shoddy FPS Creator or Unity here. In my experience, running all settings on Epic, the game ran smoothly between 130-144Hz on my 144Hz 1080p monitor; the rest of my specs are in my profile. However, for some reason my CPU, even with water cooling, shot up to 75C which is about 10 degrees higher than anything except Prime95 has pushed it; so I do believe that there is definitely something wrong with the code somewhere to cause that, especially since my GPU ran at a cool 45C. The multiplayer portion of the game was a bit laggy, but that could also depend on who you're connected to; unfortunately, the lobbies do not have PING indicators.
There are only a few of things that I can think of that would improve UNLOVED beyond the spectacular, carnage-soaked game that it already is. For one, the HUD to me looks messy, cluttered, and confusing. There are undoubtedly better ways to lay the design out that are not only more pleasing to the eye, but more practical. Another other thing is that some of the assets and effects in the Clinic level closely resembles those from The Final Take and other low budget horror titles; with the hazy red over-glow and the stock checkerboard flooring. This could use a bit of a makeover. Also, it would be nice if the developer, or Unreal, would fix the lack of blood in the game, as it's nowhere near as dramatic as what is shown in the screenshots on the store page. Lastly, the Cutter Demons could be redone, as I've seen them in at least 3 other indie horror games.
As you can tell, there is a lot to UNLOVED; the developer should be extremely proud of himself for creating such an outstanding map-based FPS alone. There's a dark, gritty, thick anxiety-ridden atmosphere that grips the player and refuses to let them go until the bitter end. The game has enough customization options, both in-game and player specific, to keep one interested for a long time to come; it'll take hours just to uncover the story. Perhaps later we will see DLC for new map packs, which would throw in a nice amount of visual variety. I do hope that in the near future, the blood issues can be corrected. The demons of Hell have awoke with one sole purpose, to end your existence. Are you ready to feel utterly alone and UNLOVED?
Rating: 5.0/5.0 - An astonishing achievement, this game must be played.The Horror Network
Steam Group:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thehorrornetworkSteam Curator:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thehorrornetwork#curation 5.0