I followed GTFO for many months, and its release from early access motivated me to find companions to brave the darkness and unravel some monstrosities in an underground and hyper murky research complex. Once the 3 comrades have been found, we went through the installation box (10.8GB to be recovered via Steam) and here we are in the lobby... heading to hell.
We will go through an equipment phase before the launch of an expedition
Like many cooperative FPS, GTFO does not bother with an extremely deep scenario. We play a group of prisoners released from cryogenics by the "Guardian" who sends us to explore the Complex, a huge research center that goes deep underground and is dotted with deformed monsters... probably from not very ethical research, if we are to believe the few containers placed here and there in the levels with monsters preserved in formaldehyde. We will have to complete expedition A to move on to the next one, deeper underground, and so on.
We blindly obey our executioner, following the objectives displayed on the left side of the HUD. A quick word on the interface by the way. The latter is very classic in what it displays, but the way of doing it disconcerted me. In game, it's readable and it's even rather classy, but navigation in the menus is a bit risky, since all the texts are projected in the background in semi-transparency, for a result that didn't really convince the company that accompanied me. The intention is there, but it significantly spoils the readability of the whole. Shame.
The FOAM allows you to temporarily immobilize the enemies thanks to a foam that you swing
Coming back to the objectives, they are not very varied. Roughly speaking, you will have to recover an object scattered around the level, and to do this you will have to perform a series of tasks such as: find the blue key 277 of area 77 in such a place then ping a terminal to see which door it is. activates and access area 80... We thus advance gropingly, following the indications which change from one part to another. The blue key will for example become an orange key 463, which requires adapting the command that will be entered into the terminal to obtain a response from the door allowing access to the desired area. These few minor variations make it possible to avoid boredom, the effect is successful. Wandering from one area to another, we will come across different types of Sleepers, the creatures that inhabit the complex and are - as their name suggests - asleep. We will therefore have to move slowly, avoiding making noise and pointing a flashlight at them so as not to wake them... Once out of their sleep, these filthy creatures tend to call for help and make very heavy damage, and although we can opt for nag mode by shooting all creatures on sight, we will have to keep a close eye on the reserve of ammunition which melts extremely quickly. The idea is therefore to move crouched in order to place a good stab of a charged knife in the skull of your enemies to save precious ammunition that will be reserved during the waves of invasions which arrive several times during each expedition, especially when waiting for a door to unlock or an elevator to activate.
In the middle of a bug, I have no choice but to be a spectator of the action, not being able to place the object in my hand because of a buggy checkpoint
To resist as well as possible, we will therefore be careful to arm ourselves additionally. Before launching a mission, you can indeed choose your equipment: 2 weapons (shooting sensations are generally very good), a tool, a melee weapon and 3 boosters, which are in fact artefacts that you will recover by exploring the different levels previously visited. Each run therefore improves your chances of succeeding in the next one. A good idea, especially given the overall difficulty of the title. Don't expect to twiddle your thumbs while playing GTFO. You will have to be constantly on your guard and act intelligently to overcome an area. We can also raise several concerns at this level: the bots are certainly present, but will have as much savvy as Lydia of Skyrim...not a freebie, clearly. Another concern: checkpoints. At best, you will reappear in the middle of a fight and you will have to hope not to die immediately, at worst, you will arrive at a checkpoint equipped with a quest object and the respawn will simply prevent you from placing it... A very annoying concern that makes one of the players completely useless... while each resource is precious. As a final note, we have noted some matchmaking problems, with a player who finds himself ejected from the game during the launch, or who arrives in a parallel game, alone...
You could say it's ok if it's just that, but it feels more like a somewhat early early access release, with the feeling of playing a game still in beta (controller support is partial on paper , but unusable as it is, since we have to use the keyboard for the terminal), with a bit of optimization to be done. Indeed, regardless of the config, we find ourselves at the start of each game with a framerate that is close to 0 before leaving like a flower towards the 120/144FPS that my config allows. Then we will fluctuate according to the ambient chaos. Nevertheless, it is clear that we are still facing a rather clean title technically speaking. The lighting effects are successful, the fog is superbly modeled (and proves to be oppressive as possible) and the monsters are very uncomfortable.
Two hours... that's how long it took to complete the first level!
"Work together or die together", one could think of a somewhat crude marketing phrase, and yet, the latter takes on its full meaning as soon as one launches GTFO. The title of 10 Chambers is demanding, and will require the total cooperation of the members of the team so that we can appreciate all the flavor and come to the end of the raised challenge which is proposed here. A good draw, certainly, as long as you find friends to play it with, because the bot AI is too weak and the matchmaking does not allow cohesion as good as with players you know.
