STRAFE

Oh wow.
What a genuinely fun experience in one of the most stylish packages I have ever seen.
STRAFE® from the get-go I have to say as a little warning.
Do not expect a deep or varied rogue-like, this is not that.
There is a severe lack of variety compared to essentially every other rogue-like I have ever played and every run for better or for worse feel pretty much the exact same.
Think of the game more like a normal shooter kinda like DOOM but with permadeath and semi-randomized elements that is highly replayable from the pure fun factor.
Now with that said the gameplay is *chef's kiss* pure excellence and some of the most fun I have had in a while.
The movement is wicked fast as you STRAFE® around at lighting speed shooting enemies into meaty bits.
The music kicks ass and get's you pumped while everything get's covered in blood and chunks fly everywhere.
There is an extensive mutator system to spice up the gameplay and some completely change the way you play the game (like one makes it an rpg with a whole xp and leveling system)
It honestly at times just feels perfect in how well it puts you in a flow state so intense the real world seriously feel like it is in slow motion after you're done playing.
AND OH MY GOD THE STYLE ON DISPLAY!
The visuals first and foremost are world class.
The way you can interact with all the little things Duke Nukem-style and all their wonderful animations is just WOW.
Also the fact that you are always in first person behind the helmet and every loading screen is some kind of transportation in real time instead of a static screen to the next area makes a run have no cuts whatsoever and is a level of immersion I rarely see in any other game ever.
The game just oozes style from every crevice.
Like so many Devolver published games the game is also chock-full of references and mini-games to other Devolver titles aswell as other old school shooters in general.
The game feels like a love letter to the shooting genre in every single way and you can tell the developers love this genre and had fun making the game.
STRAFE® is not a perfect game by a long shot.
But if you enjoy fast paced boomer shooters then you will almost certainly have a blast playing this game as much as I did.
Thank you Pixel Titans for such an incredible game!

I recommend this game but with caveats.
I hate a lot of the design choices, such as a preorder gun which destroys the meaningfulness of your achievements. It does this by completing the game if you fire it. Yes, seriously. People may find that fun and/or funny, but that's not how it lands with me.
There's a review of Temple of Elemental Evil on Good Old Games, and it goes something like this: This game feels like it was written by two people, one of them very smart and the other one not so smart. The not so smart one gets to make most of the choices, but sometimes the smart person manages to trick them into making a good choice.
Strafe feels EXACTLY like that to me, except it's two smart dudes with wildly different visions.
Basically there's a LOT of stuff here to love, but I don't care about any of it because none of it interests me. For myself I'd give a 'Not recommended'.
But this review isn't for me, it's for other people who want to buy a roguelite boomer shooter.
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Basically, it's like this: The gameplay is fine, remarkable in its solidity even. One of the few games I own that have never crashed. The gunplay, while basic, is responsive and satisfying. All the controls make sense, and can be rebound. The graphics are spot on, the sfx are perfect, and the OST is a banger.
The story is simple (there's literally no plot at all), and fits right alongside other similar deep space resource games like Deep Rock Galactic and Void Bastards.
Of all the boomer shooters I've played, this one feels the most like Quake 2 (most go for a Doom, Quake 1, or Hexen/Heretic vibe),
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They say 'We'd rather have a happy non-customer than an unhappy customer.' Even just as a marketing phrase that's hella cool, but the store page also reflects this attitude from them.
I'd normally have to explain why the Steam page is a lie, but these guys have already done it for me. They know what you're expecting might not be what they want. They know that the genre 'boomer shooter' comes with a LOT of baggage.
They explain what the game ISN'T, which I wish was a lot more common.
The only thing I'll add is that it has what I consider the PERFECT tutorial: Completely optional, you learn by doing things within the gameworld, and the corporate satire is - well, back at release it was hilarious, now it's just 'how things actually are' (the curse of ALL good satire).
Just don't fire that VV1N gun if you care about achievements, okay?

Tons of fun and runs great on steam deck! It definitely plays better with a mouse and keyboard, so I usually play it docked, but it is playable handheld/with a controller.

Absolutely top shelf game. Soundtrack SLAPS!! IT SLAPS I SAY! Gameplay and controls are tight and responsive, weaponry is varied and punchy, enemy design *chefs kiss* Level design 15/10, replayability is infinite, if you havent played this game you need to rectify that immediatly and bless the Pixel Titans! I would love to see a Strafe 2 or at least some more level enemy add ons.

Personally I really like this game. I wholeheartedly believe it to be a game that doesn't get enough recognition and I hope to see more people play it some day. I love the replay value, you would think with just 3 main weapons to choose from that it would get boring, but it really doesn't. There's a good bit of upgrades that you can get for each of them that change the game play by quit a lot. there is some negative stuff that I feel like need to be addressed though, like sometimes enemies can seem to pop out of no where, and with a game that saving your health for as long as possible, knowing where enemies are is pretty important. And not to mention getting lost, that can also be a pretty big negative to the game as well. The map needs some rework for sure because that thing is almost useless, and like I said, getting lost It really doesn't help with much, but then again admittedly that could just be me. regardless though. I still really like this game. Is it perfect? no not at all. Is it fun though? Absolutely yes, and that's why I would recommended it. I would give it like a solid 6.5 out of 10.

A very fun FPS-Roguelite taking heavy inspiration from 90's classics like Quake. Not quite a Boomer Shooter, but it did get me interested in other throwback shooters. The best element is the soundtrack, by ToyTree, is an absolute earworm gold mine. However, the game is lacking in several areas, as if it's unsure if it wants to be a Roguelite or a Boomer Shooter. STRAFE's current rating at "Mostly Positive" is deserved, but I'd still recommend picking this up at full price.

Great game, the gore system is VERY impressive, the soundtrack is superb, the stylization is awesome and the secret minigames are mindblowing in their different styles. The only downside is that it's REALLY difficult to discover secrets on the levels and some of the console commands simply don't work with "access denied" which is weird.