Viscera Review
Animation Logic’s debut title Viscera is a top-down twin-stick shooter that goes back to the basics but fails to impress.
Viscera. Credit: Animation Logic Ltd.
In Viscera, you and your guns go up against endless waves of mutant enemies. It’s a classic twin-stick shooter setup, and Viscera doesn’t add much variety to the mix.
Viscera hearkens back to a simpler time in arcade twin-stick shooters. Left stick to move, right to shoot. Swap weapons. Pick up power-ups. Manage space as you deal with the mutant hordes trying to end your game. The problem is that the game doesn’t particularly feel good to play. None of the action feels punchy.
Viscera. Credit: Animation Logic Ltd.
The game stands out from traditional classics in its perk and ability system, similar to Vampire Survivors. As you slay monsters, you’ll level up, and the game will present you with various perks to choose from. I liked the wide range of options, with over 80 available. However, I found the explanations for each perk a bit too lengthy. When I’m playing a game like this, I don’t want to spend too much time parsing blocks of text; I want to quickly understand what’s available and get back to the action.
Visually, the game lacks contrast and depth. The dull-looking enemies blend into the muddy environments, making it difficult to distinguish them. The camera’s high position above the action further exacerbates this issue, making it challenging to follow the gameplay. Additionally, the persistent blood splatter from enemies leaves massive fields of gore that muddle the visuals and make the action even harder to discern. Similarly, the bombastic particle effects and explosions that punctuate projectiles, impacts, and power-ups overwhelm the scene, making it difficult to identify specific actions. While these effects should enhance the gameplay, they end up creating an equal-opportunity spectacle where none of the actions you take feel significant. When everything has emphasis, nothing is actually emphasized. Imagine highlighting every line of text on a page—the highlights lose their purpose.
Viscera. Credit: Animation Logic Ltd.
When I got into the game’s second level, performance took a serious hit for no discernible reason. Viscera isn’t certified for Steam Deck, but I wouldn’t have expected a game like this to stutter so much at the Steam Deck’s default 720p resolution. Notably, Viscera lacks graphics options in its settings menu, so there was no means to tweak to improve things.
I was really looking forward to playing Viscera, but it ended up being a bit of a letdown. For the $20 price, there are other twin-stick shooters out there that are better worth my time.
Viscera is available now on Steam for PC.
Overall Score: 3/10
Played on: Steam Deck
