CONSCRIPT

War is Hell.

Horror games have generally focused their horrors and thematic elements on cosmic woes, undead fiends, creatures from Hell situated on Mars, and even a fishy menace from the deep. But it’s rare to see a horror game take on a subject we would not commonly associate with typical “Horror”. Yet there are plenty of everyday horrors, such as paying taxes, the crushing reality of getting old, and of course, War!

CONSCRIPT is a solo development project by Jordan Mochi, bringing us a game that’s influenced by the sheer horrors of the First World War, taking us into the dirty, dead-filled Trenches on the Western Front, and having us face unspeakable things and problems, which were very much true over a hundred years ago.


What is CONSCRIPT?


In CONSCRIPT you play as an isolated French soldier searching for his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. After a bloody battle that sees the German army advanced into the trenches of the French, it is up to you to search for your missing brother within the maze-like, twisted trenches, and navigate through old bunkers, decaying woodland, and of course, cross the no-mans-land swamped in poisoned gas and enemy troops.

Face the brutality of German soldiers looking for blood. Fend off disease, flesh-eating rats, low resources, and crippling Shellshock as you search for your brother Pierre. The unique twist? No zombies, or demons from Hell, you don't see an evil underground lab or cosmic beasts waiting for you here. It’s all very much grounded, in an awful reality. But you partake in many classic survival horror tropes from managing limited resources, gathering key items, saving is limited, and much more.

A perfect setting and a combination of classic gameplay mechanics, we all know and love equates to why Conscript is simply magnificent.


I have a Rendezvous with Death


It’s 1916, and the Great is in full swing, with the bloodiest tragedies such as The Battle of the Somme on the horizon. Many young men, fathers, brothers and sons, have died in the endless grey fifth of the No-Mans Land, rats fester on the weak, the water is tainted with waste, the onslaught of fighting, shelling, and Shellshock runs rampant through the fragility of the troops hiding in the dark of the dirt, waiting for either the war to end or the bittersweet release of death.

This is the perfect material for a horror story, and Conscript wastes no energy utilising it to its full potential. Capturing the soul-crushing atmosphere, the endless misery, and the sheer terror that many would have felt while stationed on the Western Front.

CONSCRIPT is a sheer powerhouse in terms of presentation, nailing the haunting aesthetic of a WW1 setting, with a beautifully crafted world, incredible attention to detail, and the various small touches from wartime posters, flawless animations, the gruelling dismemberment and notes of decay push CONSCRIPT as one of the most visually striking horror games to date.

But it also brings about a powerful tale that looks at the dreaded extent of human nature, both good and bad. As someone with a brother, I could see myself in the shoes of our protagonist, as the worst situation I could imagine is losing them in one of the worst places on Earth. There is an overwhelming sense of gravitas with the world-building, the small interconnections from your fellow few troops there are, and the scribblings you discover of lost lovers, parents, and children who have been brutally discarded from life.

There have been oddly plenty of media long past that romanticise War, particularly the First for some reason or another. But many others have spoken out of the true sordid nature, even shows like Blackadder Goes Forth gave us a heart-breaking end to an otherwise overly comedic show set during one of the worst times in human history, and it was perfect.

Conscript hides nothing, taking influence from many other war films to give us the perfect anti-war game since Spec Ops: The Lines. Where killing certain enemies will have them drop photos of loved ones, showing the true extent of your actions, be they necessary but ruthless nonetheless. Or having troops from both sides be in full mental breakdowns, or otherwise obtain massive injuries where they’re crawling on the floor bleeding out as they follow you until death. It’s gruesome, unsettling stuff which is what nightmares are made from.

And while the story does not give a massive, rosing conclusion or epic fleeting swoop of heroics and bravery. CONSCRIPT presents a sombre and bleakly tragic tale of brotherly love and loss. And I feel that’s most important, capturing the war in all its terrifying form, but at the centre is some hope and endless love one man has for his brother.


Resident Evil WW1? It’s a little more than that


But for the record, while there are no zombies, Bio-logical monsters, spooky mansions or little dudes who like to say “Mr Kennedy!”, you can see the influence the Resident Evil series has had here, down to a key which you would see in the Spencer Mansion. 

Conscript is set within a maze-like environment, split up throughout several chapters, taking us deep into the Trenches, No-Mans Land, a town, and woodland. You’ll be involved with plentiful tasks to survive, escape and look for your brother, and collect key items to progress further. There are keys, coded messages and other items which you can use to break through blockades, unlock chained doors, and fend off advancing German troops.

You’ll be backtracking, partaking in intense exploration and piecing together clues that will lead to resolutions. Now Conscript does not mess around nor does it fully hold your hand. As a veteran and fan of survival horror from back in the day, I’m quite used to this and many others thrive on figuring out the solution. There’s a healthy amount of problem-solving to do, and much of it flows nicely. There is a map to track your progress and some important points are marked.

Yet there is an issue with how big the environments can be, and their relentless nature to twist and turn quite often, requiring a dense amount of backtracking, and the lack of highlighting when an area has been 100% searched. Or the fact some of the most critical objective markers aren’t highlighted at all, but some are which doesn't make much sense at all. 

Now the last few points I wouldn’t mind so much, and these types of accessibility features weren’t in all old Resident Evil games. But the old Resident Evil games had compact environments, perfected looping level design, and highly recognisable landmarks. Conscript isn’t so far it breaks these rules, and the level design is generally good and well thought out. However, as the environments usually have multiple dozens of paths, are vastly detailed, and are in some cases immense in size where backtracking on a whim can lead to certain death, is where things can get a little tedious.

Yet I understand it’s something where you can take down notes, but having optional accessibility options such as marking cleared rooms would be nice. And to be honest some areas and puzzles are so convoluted that they do bring down the pacing and enjoyment overall. And it doesn’t help with the amount of coded padlocks in the game, or the number of constant problems and random blockades that pop up causing you to loop back around. This hindered one chapter in particular which just became a chore to finish.

Oh, and the rats. More on that later.

This all said the level design is good, as exploration can be incredibly rewarding, many of the puzzles are enjoyable to resolve, and vibes and sense of discovery did keep me engaged despite a couple of problems in the level design. The intention is clear, and for a WW1 setting CONSCRIPT provides an astonishing vision of the nightmarish workings of the trenches. I wish certain landmarks and more points of interest were marked on the map, or if the flow was a little more like Amnesia: The Bunker, which was complicated but area segregation and problem-solving are much neater. And that certain recurring problems (like the rats) didn’t slow the pacing down quite so much.


Trench Guns, Spike Grenades, and Alcohol


But this can be overlooked somewhat by the confident combinations of classic survival horror mechanics, and some neat modern ideas.

There is a great line-up of weapons, varied and compelling giving you a bountiful amount of player choice with pistols, shotguns, throwables and special weapons that will pack a punch in a gruesome display. Most interesting is the inclusion of a shop, via a mysterious figure who trades goods and services with cigarettes. You can buy new weapons, items of interest, and artillery shells to unblock optional paths and upgrade weapons and tools to improve your chance of survival. It’s incredibly engaging and rewarding, especially with a New Game Plus mode where you can keep upgrading and buying weapons playthrough, after playthrough.

I thoroughly loved finding cigarettes and bartering with the shopkeep, and this was handled incredibly well. It never lessened the tension or horror, as resources were still limited, and the pricing never fully worked in my favour. Meaning I would have to go out and search for more currency or make some tough choices on selling items. But there is some breathing space when you can find and sell gems and other precious items. Again, this heightens the exploration and relieves some of the issues from before.

This along with a plentiful number of great puzzles and having to avoid various hazards aside from German troops, like mustard gas and dysentery, will keep kept on your toes throughout. But smaller, yet critical survival tasks do come into play, such as boarding up openings where more German troops can spawn through (a nod to Resident Evil 2’s police station and the windows) and blasting rat holes to stop the flow of rats in certain areas (very, very important). And most interesting a mechanic which has popped up here and there over the years, is being able to burn corpses, which again stops rats from festering in and making your day even worse!

All these mechanics while sounding a little overwhelming are executed beautifully, adding in a nice dose of tension here and there, and panicking your problem-solving and resource management constantly. It never gets easier, but you will get better in small doses on handling the hellish trenches. These and all the typical stuff from storage boxes, limited saves and all elevate and combinate into a rather magnificently tension-filled drama of wits, worries, and wartime misery.

CONSCRIPT includes light stealth mechanics here, and avoiding enemies is strongly advised to elevate the rat problem. But overall the stealth feels vastly empty and could have been immensely fleshed out to provide better variety in gameplay styles and help massively tackle certain problems at different angles. It’s incredibly bare bones, even barer than bare bones, and like an idea was planted but not sure how it would react with the other mechanics, and thus left alone.

Okay … the rats …. Holy hell.

It’s difficult to flat-out say if a mechanic is broken or not without substantial evidence. But I assure you that the rat enemies here are broken as all holy hell. The idea of them is great, but the execution is awful, as they’re too fast, usually in big groups, can poison you, and most annoying of all, they don’t attack German troops…. They just endlessly run for out, outrun you, gang up and can easily mess you up within seconds. It’s painful.... 

The rats were the most annoying aspect of my playthrough, and I tread lightly on the subject as the developer is aware that these pesky little buggers are OP. I do hope that maybe a mechanic is added in where you can lead rats to German troops and have them be attacked as well.

And combat … this will surely divide people, as it’s super clunky, absolutely brutal, and at times painstakingly methodical and will test every single wit and bit of cunning in your brain. And I love it.

So yeah, the controls and aiming are quite clunky, requiring some time to get used to. Something which pops up later on is having shellshock affecting your nerves and thus your aim, with alcohol being the only thing to ease the burden. But with the amazing line-up of guns, grenades, the various explosive barrels, mounted machine guns, and traps you can lay out all bring together a brutal, yet thoroughly engaging and chess-like outcome to many fights. Planning and utilising your full arsenal is brilliant while screaming perfect clunky survival horror combat but with plenty of variety and punch.

So massive probs there!

Overall?

The Survival Horror resurrection/renaissance continues to boom and I can easily say that Conscript will join the ranks of the best of the best, among the likes such as Signalis, Amnesia: The Bunker, and Darkwood, but brings forth an utterly compelling new angle to the themes and thought-processes to the horror. Bringing about an honest and damning take on the First World War without any of the cliché horror tropes was a risky endeavour, but one which has paid off in absolute grandeur.

While I do have issues with some aspects of the level design, lack of optional and vital accessibility options, and some crippling balancing issues which hopefully will be resolved soon, I still felt such awe and disgust playing through Conscript. With the depth of gravitas, engaging combat, and excellent execution of survival mechanics old and new, I was left in such immense glee, sorrow and profound respect for developer Jordan Mochi for having created this mainly himself and doing so with phenomenal results.   

Conscript is a truly exceptional survival horror game that deserves your time, respect and support, as it proves that no matter how many indie horror games come out, there is always one around that corner to raise the bar and keep our nightmares fully fuelled for many moons.


+++ Phenomenal world-building, and aesthetics
++ Excellent presentation, visuals, and sound design
++ Gruelling and enjoyable combat
++ Some great puzzles, and rewarding exploration elements
+ The shop is handled well, and the bonus material is excellent

-- Some aspects of level design kill pacing here and there
-- There are a couple of puzzles that are far too tedious and convoluted
- A few balancing issues which can make or break your time in the game (hopefully to be resolved soon enough)


The publisher kindly provided a copy of CONSCRIPT for this review.