Shardpunk: Verminfall is an impressive label that attempts to check several pseudo-cultural reference boxes at once. The punk evokes retro-futurism; its prefix, shard, serves to distance this particular variety of punk from more mundane punks, such as steampunk or cyberpunk. This punk world, presumably dystopian, seems affected by vermin that caused some sort of fall, evoking Warhammer Vermintide vibes. It’s an implicit promise of exciting things you can expect to encounter while playing. Reality always differs from marketing, as almost everything about this game is either derivative or dry. The few good ideas it has been buried under the pixelated rubble of influences from several legacy legendaries. The developer explicitly states XCOM and Darkest Dungeon as chief role models for Shardpunk: Verminfall. Lowly Pathway also provided some important pointers.
In Shardpunk: Verminfall, the world has already succumbed to an invasion of giant humanoid rats. Leading the team of four people, you’ll be attempting to bring the robot automaton to the imperial palace and beyond, in search of reactors that can fry the vermin using the activation codes carried by the said automaton. You will pick your own path in a manner similar to FTL or Slay the Spire, choosing the travel nodes that lead to a singular, final location in each of the three chapters. The objective of most levels/nodes is reaching the safe zone at the end, but there are some exceptions, such as chapter finales. Before you embark on that desperate trek, you must select the team from a pool of candidates, most of which are locked for the first playthrough attempt. Every member has a unique weapon and a distinct set of abilities you’ll evolve during the campaign.
Shardpunk: Verminfall is all about tactics and resource management. Traversing the square-shaped grid, you will move your guys towards the safe zone, making sure you avoid falling headfirst in the ratmen ambush. Every level is packed with lootable consumables, often requiring separating the team in pursuit of the loot squares. Grenades, stimpacks, crafting materials, and fusion cores (rare, multi-purpose resource) are finite, but the ammo and innate abilities of every character are unlimited. You are, however, constricted by cooldowns and heat. Every weapon can be fired twice before overheating, requiring venting before subsequent use. Risking bodily harm by firing a hot gun is simply not worth it.
XCOM meets Darkest Dungeon as Shardpunk: Verminfall combines turn-based tactical battles with the hard choices made at the bunker Grid-based levels that are open for exploration and full of tactical possibilities while you run from the endless hordes of rats.
In conclusion, Shardpunk: Verminfall is an interesting game that combines turn-based tactical battles with hard choices made at bunker grid-based levels that are open for exploration and full of tactical possibilities while you run from endless hordes of rats. The game’s world has already succumbed to an invasion of giant humanoid rats and leading a team of four people; you’ll be attempting to bring a robot automaton to imperial palace and beyond in search of reactors that can fry vermin using activation codes carried by said automaton. The game’s mechanics revolve around tactics and resource management where every level is packed with lootable consumables often requiring separating team in pursuit of loot squares. Grenades, stimpacks, crafting materials and fusion cores are finite but ammo and innate abilities of every character are unlimited. Every weapon can be fired twice before overheating requiring venting before subsequent use which makes it more challenging.
REVIEW : Desktop Dungeons: Rewind (PC)
