HROT is the Datura-induced lucid fever nightmare you wake up from whilst chained to a derelict basement under an abandoned laundromat somewhere along the steppes of Belarus after answering a deep web ad for volunteer work in developing communities. Creeks bellow out from an unseen stairwell, sending plumes of disintegrated drywall airborne. The clouds of dehydrated plaster glimmer and dance along the numerous beams of light penetrating through the loosely assembled wooden rafters above. The silhouettes of two men peak through the shadows of obscured shelving and cargo pallets.

Your heart drops, you feel a rise of bile in your throat as the unimaginable reality of this situation begins to dawn on your now fully conscious mind. The echo of footsteps begin to penetrate through the deafening blare of antiquated air conditioning units, as the two shadows approach you from behind.

You're helpless, immobile, confused, and entirely violated.

They're getting closer.

The shadows grow to absurd heights, easily breaching 6 feet each.

They're getting closer.

Tears well up in your eyes.

They're almost here.

You blink away your tears, violently opening and shutting your eyes in a desperate bid to wake up from this all-too realistic nightmare.

They're almost here.

No, you already woke up, this may be a nightmare, but it's certainly not a creation of nocturnal fiction, this is real, This is happening.

They're here.

You instinctively close your eyes.

That's HROT.

This game is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ radical, I've never felt more pride to be an an early-adopter and support this cause. Paying 17 bucks for this game in it's infancy felt like sending a check to sponsor disenfranchised Tanzanian youth seeking higher education.

I've been following this game since around mid-2019, and I'm so fully funked out to see it in such a fully realized state with an actual functioning Steam page. So often these projects fall into the collective void where all promising Indie-Game-Twitter projects go when their devs grow apathetic or go back to the Arby's register in an effort to keep a roof over their heads without also keeping a ♥♥♥♥ in their mouths. (No disrespect toward sex-workers, you folks are amazing and your profession is valid).

Obviously the tone and atmosphere are completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ off the wall and utterly incredible, weaving this horrific web of art design, soundtrack, subtle-lore, and liminal-horror that fully leans into the strength of retro aesthetics in a horror setting and leaves you almost immobilized in many areas. All with this really unique, and largely unexplored within the retro/PSX aesthetic, Eastern European lens.

We all got this from the demo and years of peaks through the dev's Twitter.

But what seriously took me off guard was just how much the gameplay measured up. The combat opens up in a ton of areas, and the weapon dynamic and enemy balance seem seriously toned and well-tested. Combined with clever arena design, wonderful sense of level progression that carries through from the best of retro FPS, and episode 1 of HROT seriously ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crushes that 100% proof Boomer-shooter gooey goodness.

There's been murmurs about the weapons, their impact and lack of "GA-GOOSH"ey-ness. But ech, blech, bloacch, bloackh. Don't listen to them Mr. Spythinev, I absolutely love the weapons and their sound design. They feel much lighter compared to the heavy, bassey tones in other contemporary titles of the Retro FPS Renaissance. HROT's weapons feel very utilitarian, and every-man. Fitting the tone of the setting, and the role of the character as just another soldier in the motherland's armies, not a stand-alone death god of boom and shoot. Keepa da noises.

Where I feel HROT *might* falter a tad, is simply in its scale and sense of progression? It is only the first episode, and with it being such, there is a sense of same-eyness that starts to occur once you're over an hour in and you're still walking through the same sized narrow halls and eldritch demon-diarrhea soaked train station courtyards. As the game grows, I'd definitely love to see some larger maps alongside utilization of the game's driveable vehicles, perhaps in a Highway-17-esque extended section. Although I am absolutely certain beyond doubt we'll see the game's scale open up as the following episodes progress.

To close, HROT is easily worth the $20 asking price, and supporting it's growth is something I feel a genuine sense of pride in doing.

Support the arts and the Slavs.

7/10