Gravelord Early Access Impressions
Gravelord from Fatbot Games pays homage to a bygone era of first-person shooters.
Gravelord. Credit: Fatbot Games
I spent countless hours playing Doom II and Quake back in the day. Much of that time was spent in addictive multiplayer modes, but my favorite part of those games was the single-player campaigns. It delights me to no end that this first-person shooter (FPS) style has made a comeback in recent years with gems like Prodeus, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, and Selaco. After watching its trailer, I was excited to see how Fatbot Games’ Gravelord stacked up, and I’m pleased to report that it’s now my favorite game of the boomer shooter resurgence, even in its Early Access state.
The protagonist is Queedo, a gravedigger out to avenge his father. You’ll learn more about the story from collectible comic book pages, but all you need to know is that Queedo is out to murder some undead and demons. The story wasn’t why I was here.
Gravelord. Credit: Fatbot Games
As an FPS, Gravelord feels much like Quake to play, with its default high running speed, and it’s great. Aside from a bit of swimming and activating objects, the key verb here is “shoot.” You’ll shoot a lot. While there aren’t yet many guns in the game, you can upgrade each to have a secondary firing mode, and all of them have a satisfying kick and sound. There’s lots of crunch to firing the guns and hitting the hordes of monsters in the game.
And there are a lot of monsters. You’ll be ambushed at every turn with thoughtfully designed monster encounters, often a second time in an area you’ve already cleared when you’re forced to pass through again. The enemies’ aim is very good, so moving constantly and hiding behind cover is required. Ammo is usually plentiful, but in the later levels of the episode in the Early Access build, I was forced to be a bit more conservative with my ammo to survive. Running ahead rarely seemed viable because I’d just run into more monsters.
The default difficulty of Gravelord is well-balanced, though I hit a wall at the end of the first episode. While you keep your weapons as you progress, you lose them all when the final level begins. You have to survive a series of combat challenges with only what’s available there, and I just couldn’t cut it. Quick save was disabled here, too, so reloading the game outside of checkpoints wasn’t possible. I admit I had to save scum in the previous couple of levels liberally.
Aside from that, the rest of the Early Access episode levels were brilliantly designed. There’s no concern for realism; the maps are designed to provide opportunities for engaging, challenging enemy encounters and puzzles. There’s a satisfying amount of verticality with nearly none of the frustration I usually get from platforming in this sort of game. Despite the abstract nature of the designs, every area in a level is distinctly modeled and textured, so I never got lost or felt like I was running around in circles through identical hallways like I sometimes did in Quake or Doom. The path forward was generally clear.
Gravelord. Credit: Fatbot Games
Gravelord features two traversal abilities that open up access to unreachable areas—a grappling hook and a double jump. At first, I was disappointed that I couldn’t keep these abilities between levels. As the game went on, it became clear that the developers used that cleverly to create opportunities for more interesting level designs. This isn’t a Metroidvania; each level is self-contained, so awarding these abilities each time is an effective way to gate progress in levels that loop on themselves.
The game’s 3D graphics are lightly cartoonish, using realistic textures with subtle black outlines around some of the geometry. The levels have an angular look to them, like Quake, but with lighting effects that add a lot more depth. I appreciate that despite the game’s dark theme, Gravelord isn’t afraid to use color; the visuals pop. Smoke, sparks, bloody mist, and other particle effects add a lot of life and make the combat more visceral. Without changing any settings, Gravelord ran at a solid framerate on my Steam Deck without any drops or slowdowns.
Gravelord. Credit: Fatbot Games
I usually don’t score my reviews for Early Access titles, but Gravelord would get very high marks if I did. I genuinely can’t wait for more content to be added. I couldn’t put the game down. If you love fast, challenging FPS games, you owe it to yourself to check out Gravelord.
Gravelord is available now on Steam Early Access.
Played on: Steam Deck
