STRAFE

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.

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.

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.

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.

After 8 years I finally got around to beating this game. Strafe Is a Rogue LITE Boomer shooter and if you're into Doom-style games then you will enjoy this one. Don't expect something groundbreaking though, this game is pretty simple and basic.
At the start you get to pick a main weapon that will be with you always, then you jump into a teleporter and the run begins. The levels are all the same, you go into 4 different stages with 2 levels each with a 5th stage acting as the final boss. The levels are randomly generated to some extent with the layout being the thing that changes the most but not too much. The power-ups you find are what can pop up randomly but there are only 4 and they only affect your shooting (Rate of fire, damage, magazine size and accuracy). You get a shop every second level which allows you to purchase items with random bonuses but I feel like a lot of them were pretty lackluster with the only incredibly useful one being the acid resistant. You find weapons across the map while exploring which all of these are random as well on the type and spawn location... this is my main issue with the game. I like that you get to pick up and use different weapons you can find across your journey but you don't get much ammo for them, and once you use it up its gone, you can't even buy more ammo for it. The only way to get more ammo is to find the same weapon again. Your main weapon is the only gun that you're allowed to buy and carry ammo for. My other issue was that Health BARELY spawns while doing a run and there is virtually no way of healing, not even in the shops. This is the extent of the Rogue-lite elements. Once you beat the game you can activate mutators which change the gameplay and some of them are pretty cool. You also get New Game + and hardcore mode but the game itself as a whole does not change much. The music, to me, is also not very great. The starting song is so off-putting, first impressions are important and the music for the first level is the main reason why I took 8 years to beat this game because I hated it that much.
If you want to try it out and are curious go ahead. If you like simple Doom-type Games with a little bit of Rogue Lite elements then you will enjoy the game for the time being, but I think it falls short in many areas. However, I did enjoy playing the game and I liked my time with it, Even if I couldn't get ammo for the weapons I picked up, that forced me into thinking outside the box and strategize on when it would be the best times to use my limited firepower. Buy it on sale.

Are you tired of losing to online multiplayer games? Is it losing its luster? Well do I have a solution for you...
Strafe is teaming with hidden secrets and challenging achievements. I couldn't recommend it more. Be careful though, it's perma-death.