Redout: Space Assault is an arcade-like shoot ’em up that is gorgeous, but very linear. The former attribute is lovely. But the latter disuades me. In whole, Redout is a fun game that fans of shoot ’em ups should consider picking up if they have an itchy trigger finger…that won’t literally get scratched. More detail follows.
If you are not familiar with the term rail-shooter, in short, the player-character has limited maneuverability and enemies come at you in a scripted fashion. In other words, this is not Everspace. In fact, the controls are not complicated. Your space ship, which can be customized with various colors, automatically fires when an enemy is in your crosshairs (hence trigger finger not litterally getting scratched). Combined, I found the gameplay too slow and simple for my taste.
Graphically, the game is super pretty. It offers HDR support, which I had no issues with, and an overall art-direction that is welcoming. You won’t find detailed character models here. Artwork? Yes.
Prior to my first playthrough, I had no idea Redout: Space Assualt was a mobile port. In hindsight, there were some obvious cues.
For starters, the lack of mobility in missions, the strict linear (rails) progression, and the orientation of some buttons, such as the mission select screen, just screams “mobile game.” There is nothing necessarily wrong with porting a mobile game to PC, but it is important to price it right, in my opinion.
Redout: Space Assault on Steam is $9.99.
Would you pay $9.99 for Redout on iOS or Android? Probably not – sounds overpriced to me. So on PC, to charge $9.99 you have to come with something more. And, frankly, developer 34BigThings appear to have mearily ported the game and later cleaned up some UI quality-of-life issues (from what I have read).
Beating up games and developers is not my style. They accomplished something I could not: they developed an actually, working game that does have some value. So, dear reader, know what you are getting into. Redout is a fun game, but temper your expectations.
