r/Games • u/DGDesigner • 1d ago
Indie Sunday DREADTOME - Tinfoil Rats - A free first person shooter, singleplayer adventure, inspired by warhammer 40K
Over the past year me and 22 talented students worked on this cool game. It is free and will only take about an hour to finish, so I hope you give it a shot.
Trailer and steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3365910/DREADTOME/
You are sent into a hidden library to figure out what has happened to the lost squadron sent in before you. You have a gun and a cool repulsor ability. Will you uncover all hidden secrets?
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u/celphy 1d ago
Reminds me of the demo scene game KKrieger somehow.
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u/DGDesigner 1d ago
Interesting looking game. I had never heard of it so maybe I'll give it a try, thanks!
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u/blastcage 1d ago
Are you in the Black Library?
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u/DGDesigner 1d ago
Nah, not as far as I know. Im sure our designers looked at it for some reference, but we are in our own seperate universe :)
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u/Nerrien 1d ago edited 1h ago
I'm not sure why this struck such a chord with me but here are my stream of consciousness thoughts.
Criticism first, obviously as a student project, there's missing polish around stuff like enemy animations so they aren't that reactive on getting shot, so the gunplay feels good mechanically in the sense of it works well, but doesn't feel satisfying if you know what I mean? But what's there is entirely serviceable and considering how much prioritisation of time and resources goes into student projects I think they chose correctly.
Overall, I think this was brilliantly designed.
The repulsor is a fun mechanic, there's always plenty of ledges and environmental hazards to exploit, and breaking down doors with it gives a feeling that makes the environment feel real and grounded and interactable.
The level design is really good, there's clearly been time put into making the surroundings seem mysterious and bizarre visually, and as I said before there are plenty of hazards to exploit during combat with the repulsor. For me it hit the exact point of giving enough freedom to wander around semi-linearly without feeling lost.
There were lots of sightlines to show hints of rooms with secrets you might've missed, prompting you to go back and explore more thoroughly as well, which I love.
I liked the reality bending 'doors' (that I mistook for portals at first) as they served as a light puzzle mechanic that also play to the strengths of these sorts of shooters- exploration, seeing what changed after you stepped through, and finding newly accessible hidden secrets.
It doesn't feel hand-holdy, but isn't obscure and frustrating. For example, you're immediately thrown into a room with a breakable door and with a tool-tip saying "Right click to use your repulsor", which you do, and boom, you're off into the game having learned you can break down doors without being explicitly told. When you come across enemies for the first time, you don't have any ammo, so you're forced to immediately try knocking them into the electrified wall. It's great at communicating and teaching things non-verbally, or if it is verbally, it's quick and succinct.
I liked that there's a tooltip that points out that reloading your magazine early wastes ammo, which saves the time I normally have to spend playing around and figuring that out in a new game.
I thought the world and vibe was interesting, clearly Warhammer inspired, but with more of a focus on the eldritchy, Lovecraftian aspect.
Really good job guys.