Radio The Universe First Demo Impressions
Radio The Universe is an upcoming top-down pixel art action-adventure game developed by 6E6E6E. Within bleak ruins and vague story cutscenes with no dialogue. Lies a tense, slow, and at times a pretty uncomfortable game to play. Whether that is the atmosphere, gameplay, platforming, or the enemy design. Radio The Universe is a very intriguing game. Despite the very short demo that will be available during Steam Next Fest.
Lost in the Unknown
Radio The Universe takes place in an unexplained location and a mysterious character who wanders through the place. This location is bleak in its design. The atmosphere is dark, with machines, worms, and unique areas. Like a church placed above long metal corridors. It is very difficult to describe but my short trip into the unknown was interesting.
As mentioned before, the details of the character you control and even any story details are either non-existent or very ambiguous. So there is not much to say outside of the gameplay which was satisfying, albeit clunky. You have a giant sword that can cover a great distance in swings of three. The sword is very heavy feeling but satisfying when you hit enemies. You also have the option to use a widespread shotgun or sniper rifle to keep your distance. When attacking enemies, you can see how many hits you need to land to kill them. Instead of a standard health bar. There is also a decent variety to them as well and they feel like a challenge since you can only take one hit from anything.
Killing enemies drop a currency that you can go to upgrade stations and unlock more health or weapon damage upgrades. All standard action-adventure stuff. But the presentation is very interesting.
There are a lot of old-school cyberpunk-themed text and UI elements to everything, including the jumping. It creates a form of creepiness that meshes with everything else in the game. Such as the main or pause menu’s having an up-close shot of a face. Unexpected yet effective.
Closing Remarks on the Radio The Universe Demo
While the demo for Steam Next Fest is definitely short and lacks any real story or location details. There is a solid game built here with a lot to explore. My only complaint is that in the demo, there is a room you can hard lock yourself in if you do not hit the switch after entering the room. An easy mistake to make, but one that can cost the player their progress.
The full game currently has no release date or window. But do ensure to wishlist the game to keep track of it. I do wholeheartedly recommend checking the demo out. It is just enough to have you decide whether or not you should keep your eye on it. Which I definitely do.
Special thanks to the developer for allowing us to play the demo early.
