Sometimes you come across a game that has something about it that piques your interest, Beyond Sunset did this for me with both its visuals and setting. I went into this game with no prior experience other than it was a stylish shooter.
Story
Beyond Sunset follows the story of a newly awakened individual known as LC-16 or Lucy, your immediate surroundings are what appear to be a lab within the Genemp Corporation building with many different tubes containing people but Lucy has no memory of how she got there. Lucy immediately sets about kicking ass with some cool abilities and sick skills with a katana, a deadly combination!
From what I played of the game, the story seemed to focus around Lucy fighting against a mega-corporation and its private army. Along the way she encounters Raven, a mysterious individual who is willing to help you reclaim your memory in return for completing jobs for them.
In a game that’s focus is killing many many enemies on screen to progress to the next area this works perfectly fine, however I felt given the world setting it’s a bit of a missed opportunity to not include more frequent story beats or events that would help ground you in this oppressive corporation’s shadow. The best that’s offered here is computer terminals you can occasionally read files on to flesh out the world.
I have to admit that I didn’t manage to complete the game, I did try but I found myself very quickly not enjoying myself and as such was negatively impacting my experience. It’s one that I will have to replay on an easier difficulty to experience the full story.
Gameplay
The main gameplay is in line with your classic Doom shooter from the early days, it’s retro but with a cool cyberpunk skin and it works really well! You should expect faster movements and trigger happy fingers for dealing with situations as well as some light platforming elements. As far as puzzles go there isn’t a whole lot here that I found other than a couple npcs who ask you to find an item for them.
There is a map that you can refer to and once again like the old style shooter you can move around whilst on the map in real time. I found the map to be incredibly confusing, there’s no viewing the area in closer detail and only some light indications of save points and upgrade stations that you will use to upgrade yourself.
The gunplay is decent, you will get your hands on a few different types of weapons which is always nice but nothing major that will blow you away. Your main weapon of choice will be the Katana, you will be using this to slice your way through the masses of pesky robots and corporate enforcers.
Being a game with a futuristic Cyberpunk setting ofcourse there is bullet deflection that can be done with the Katana (ofcourse there is its bad ass!) When using block in its intended setting it works; it feels tropey and cliche to deflect bullets, though they don’t always deflect directly at the target who fired them which can be frustrating. However when using the block outside of combat or before being shot at it doesn’t work – it feels and looks weird.
It’s a redeeming factor that the gunplay does feel good, you do have limited ammo for your more powerful weapons though this is offset by a “Powerkill” mechanic, which lets you spend a meter that you will build up in combat to finish off weakened enemies in order to regain health and ammo. Of course you can also find ammo pickups around the map and also from slain enemies, this ammo spills out all over the place in that classic fashion which i always loved!
There is also a Hacking side to the game which you will engage in from time to time, this side of the game I disliked. It’s primarily where the puzzle solving is located but it’s too simplistic for me, you lose all your weapons and instead shoot out a red orb to fight back against ai entities that try and halt your advance. I understand the need for this to be part of the game, it fits within the realm of a Cyberpunk universe. I just dislike the way it feels, I’d much rather just be chopping up corporate mercs with my katana!
Sunset City Radio Music / Visuals
Beyond sunset looks damn good, as stated before I love the setting. It’s your classic dystopian sprawling metropolis with towering mega-corporation buildings against the skyline and bright colours flooding the streets. Combining this with the retro art style just works, it’s absolutely gorgeous.
Enemies all sound fine, the corporate lackies will talk to one another via radios and their vocals are all distorted as they are speaking through helmets, the robots have that classic electronic steel plate whirring as they pursue you. Sounds are done well, however I had to turn mine down as some of the guttural screams were giving me a headache (fair considering i just cut them in half).
The music too works amazingly well, it sets the tone for the universe perfectly. Satisfying synthwave beats and retro 80’s and 90’s vaporwave, I’ve included the OST if you’re inclined to check it out and have to say that the first track “Malibu Road” and the fourth “Cryo” just go so hard (Catjam for sure!). Beyond Sunset (Full Game OST) by Karl Vincent
Final Thoughts
Beyond Sunset brings some very cool additions to the retro Doom style game, both stylistically and thematically they work well. If you’re looking for a game that will challenge you and offers a cool Cyber-punk setting this might be the one for you!
As of right now it’s priced at £8.50 on Steam which I think is a more than fair price for what this game delivers, Its not perfect though. I had my own issues with the game but putting them aside I can see the vision and I’m locked in.
7/10
Beyond Sunset – if only there were some quote about a samurai and waking up that would fit this game… oh well.