Prepare to enter a world where evil corporations dominate the digital space with their massive access to resources and funding to suppress the flow of information in their favor. With total information, control these companies are able to subvert civil governments and legal authority to manipulate and exploit the world for their gain. Large private military corporations guard the keys to the digital vault where all of the world’s power has been consolidated and managed by a select few.
This is not an overly dramatized description of current times; this is the dystopian cyberpunk future of Black Ice, where psychedelica meet social commentary to create an addictive first person shooter-cum-RPG loot grind. We recently got a hands-on preview with the game, so we were keen to jack in to hack and shoot our way through hordes of virtual spiders.
Initially created by “Super Duper” Garrett Cooper as a simple puzzle hobby project to work on after he finished his day job as a computer engineer in Silicon Valley, Black Ice has since evolved into a dungeon crawling shooter. Indeed, Cooper had recently finished reading George R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and was looking to pass the time when he started to explore the Unity engine. Black Ice has recently cleared Steam Greenlight and entered the Early Access phase of development for a modest price of $9.99 / £6.99 over on Steam, with Cooper making frequent weekly updates the game. There’s even a free browser demo that you can check out in order to get a feel for the style of game Black Ice is invoking.
Reminiscent of games from his childhood – Diablo, Quake, and more recently Borderlands - Cooper sought to create a fast-paced loot crawl with the endless possibilities of procedurally generated weapons and environments. Further inspiration was drawn from classic sci-fi novels like Neuromancer, Dune, and Snow Crash, depicting a dystopian future ruled by faceless corporations that have become detached from reality and the horrors they commit in the name of profit.
All of this goes into creating a truly unique visual style which, while being geometric and minimalist, is still able to recreate the neon wire-frame 1980s vision of futuristic cyberspace would look like. In fact when Cooper describes the game he frequently invokes Steven Lisberger’s classic film Tron. The analogy is a good one, as Black Ice is filled with bright vibrant colors that dominate the geometric cyber city landscape, contrasted by the darkest of blacks that surround everything.
Spawning in a central platform you are able to choose your name before being run through a quick tutorial that gives you the basics of hacking within the game. Then, you’re sent off to wander the city alone. Walk these city streets is an isolated, lonely experience, and our initial playthrough had us cautiously moving between alleyways and buildings, fearful of the unknown.
As a hacker it’s your job to bring down the monolithic corporation that resides within an endless white construct, dominating the city skyline and easily visible at almost any time. The starting pulse rifle and grenade will be no match for the defenses that reside within that giant though, so you would be wise to start with a weaker corporation to hack. Each building is given a numerical level indicating the level of difficulty required to overcome the hacking process, with the basic hacks starting around level three and becoming progressively more difficult, with the final building set at 500.
Once we located a building within our level range we fired up our hacking tool - and that’s when the game fought back. A sudden shift in the music to a beating drum hails the alerted state of the corporations security programs – giant spiders, tall walker disk creatures, and a rare helicopter – that spill forth from spawn points located around the area. A halo-like ring encircles the building marking the combat zone; thankfully it didn’t lock us in place, so running away is always a viable option.
Combat is fast-paced and at first can feel overwhelming as waves of wire-frame monsters spawn in to defend their base against your intrusion. Each kill provides experience and the occasional health pack. The controls are quick and responsive, and at lower levels the combat encounters end quickly as the hacking tool works its magic faster than you can kill the enemies in your area. Once a corporation has been cleared it is pulled offline and vanishes, leaving behind a ghostly shell and your loot reward.
It’s here that the truly addictive grind starts. That first piece of treasured gear is immensely more powerful than your starting equipment, and as you continue to play you’ll find yourself hoovering up ever more powerful loot. There are seven inventory slots - five on the keyboard and two on the mouse – and they are completely customizable, with even jumping being an optional ability. This all provides plenty of freedom of customization and the ability to flesh out a “whatever works” playstyle.
Shops litter the cityscape, offering to purchase your unwanted loot and in turn selling you gear more powerful than you could find from enemy drops – and this is the best way to gear up against the harder corporations. Gear does have a level requirement, and more experience is needed to unlock further levels much like in a traditional RPG. You’ll also gain talent point that can be spent on a number of stats.
The sound effects blend seamlessly with an original soundtrack by composer V-Axys to create an incredibly immersive and downright haunting atmosphere at times. We were easily lost in the hypnotic music while we explored the city, starkly contrasted by the upbeat rhythmic music featured during combat. A good pair of headphones goes a long way with Black Ice.
Our time with Black Ice has really impressed us and while there’s a full game here already – complete with progression and ending – we’re excited to see what other features will be included in the final release down the road. It’s always interesting to see one person working in their spare time creating a quality game, and goes to show that game design isn’t just exclusive to large, experienced teams. Black Ice is definitely a game worth checking out if you’ve needed to scratch that loot grind itch, and for such a reasonable price for what already feels like a fully-featured product, you can’t go far wrong with it.
Happy hacking.
Brian Kale
@brianwkale
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