Betrayer

Betrayer, the first offering from Blackpowder Games, seems to perfectly display what these Ex-Monolith developers did so well on F.E.A.R. and No One Lives forever, and what they may have left behind. Overall the game is a decent offering which will entice those that heavily favor the mood a game sets, but may leave those that look for strong game play elements feeling worn out and frustrated.

I bought Betrayer during its Early Access debut on Steam after having its unique, alluring high contrast and mostly black and white color scheme catch my eye. Simply put, the graphics of Betrayer are gorgeous. Set in early 17th century colonial Virginia, most of the game takes place in heavily wooded areas, and Unreal Engine 3 does a fantastic job rending a large amount of individual trees, grasses, and shrubs to portray a relatively realistic wilderness. Every few minutes a gust of wind will come along and shake the vegetation, causing a truly dazzling display as each tree branch and grass leaf bends and moves, which is amplified by the lack of coloration.

The sound design of Betrayer handily backs up its striking graphics. There is no music in Betrayer outside of the games main menu and credits, so it's up to the ambient noise of the forest to do the heavy lifting. Sound in Betrayer is sparse, but (aside from one combat noise that is outlandishly cartoonish) the sound of wind rustling the leaves, birds in the branches, and your characters footfalls are well mixed and convincing.

Unfortunately, for as well designed as Betrayer's world is, there is not much to fill it. Betrayer is divided into seven open area levels, six of which have both a light and dark side that the player must switch between to fulfill different objectives. Enemy types are introduced between the first two levels, and then disappointingly stop, leaving only a sparse eight enemy types to lock horns with, two of which are simply stronger variations of previous enemies and two of which are almost never used at all. The weapons also follow suit with this, with only seven weapon types being available, most of which you will have by the end of the second area.

The combat in Betrayer is decent but simple, with most enemies also having projectile weapons or rushing toward you with knives. The AI of your adversaries is not very good, but it does fit with the overall theme of the story. The combat near the start of Betrayer is easily where it shines brightest, with each engagement being tense and difficult. Combat after the first few areas takes a disappointing turn, however, as the better weapons and items the player has amassed at this point are far too powerful to make the same enemies pose a challenge any longer. Aside from having stronger weapons, having more water flasks that allow the player to heal all but eliminates the need for stealth.

The majority of the game is spent exploring each area, uncovering clues, and speaking with confused wraiths to piece together stories of betrayal from each area. Although Betrayer gives you a “Listen” skill that will help you find these clues and wraiths to help push the game forward, there is also a lot to find in the world that can only be found by simply exploring. These include not only treasure chests that contain gold to help you upgrade your items, but also paper fragments with more bits of story if you care to further elaborate on the world.

Although personally I did not have a lot of difficulty making sure that I covered all the possible ground of each area, the map Betrayer gives you is about what you would expect from the era, and at times the landscape can look vague, which will sometimes lead to frustration trying to find everything contained in a level. Thankfully, Betrayer does alert you when you have found all of a certain item in an area, in addition to when you have found everything possible about a subject or area, which gives a sense of accomplishment and closure before moving on to the next stage of the game. This is where the meat and potatoes of the game lies, as without this exploration, simply using the “Listen” skill to push the story along quickly turns the game into nothing more then a very short, twenty dollar fetch quest.

Overall Betrayer seems to be a solid first offering, especially for a discount price, although it is certainly geared more toward fans of games like Dear Esther or those that enjoy exploration, and even then many may find themselves a bit worn out from the repetitive game play as they approach the middle and end of the game.