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Can get quite intense. Also works great under Linux.
At the moment I'm about halfway through Basingstoke at 12 hours and I think it's brilliant. The beermat review: If Puppygames raised the infernal spawn of The World's End, Teleglitch and Sir, You Are Being Hunted you'd get something like Basingstoke. It's got the scenario and British setting of The World's End, the top-down proc. gen. crafting and survival tension of Teleglitch; but with the more evasion-oriented play, forgiving structure and personality of Sir, You Are Being Hunted. That last point is important because as good as Teleglitch is, it's brutally unforgiving; one death and you're back to the beginning and dying is so very easy. Basingstoke is still tough, but there's a checkpoint/campsite at the beginning of each level that you can restart at. Here you deliberate over what items you're going to take with you from the previous level. Do you grab crafting materials or something more immediately useful like a kebab to distract enemies or hairspray to get them in the eyes? It's a really smart way of allowing you go full klepto-gamer during the level without inevitably becoming the Labyrinth junk lady. I love that crafting isn't a massive chore too. When you've got the right materials to craft something, a spanner icon subtly lights up with a little pop. Until then, you don't need to be constantly checking what stuff you've got. It's liberating and keeps the focus squarely on the moment-to-moment play. Basingstoke has a great natural flow as well, slowly introducing new elements to you, from the excellent and surprisingly tense tutorial sequence to the roll-out of proper weaponry like nailguns, throwing knives, laser-scoped machine guns, flamethrowers and various types of explosives. Explosive kebabs. It has explosive kebabs. There's other clever things like road signs revealing sections of the map, your torch beam drawing the camera further back for added visibility but also highlighting loot (as well as making it easier for enemies to see you), risky one-way fire exit doors, enemies that vary their patrol routes, first-person items (like the telescope) that double as a very cool new perspective through which to view the world and a handy way of seeing further down streets and through buildings and rooms. Oh, and the photo camera’s function as a means of blinding enemies when they're attacking you also means you get some really amusing close-up snaps. The proc. gen. strikes a great balance between hand-crafted setpiece areas and unpredictable street and building configurations that glue them together. I've died numerous times on certain levels and I'm still surprised by some of the different/new (and natural looking) sections it throws at me. And this is all presented in Puppygames' unmistakeable and slick modern low-fi style. Despite how blocky and chunky the models are, there's so much character and atmosphere here bolstered by some great lighting and sound design -- I love it. (Take a look at my screenshots!) If you're a fan of these kinds of games I'd highly recommend checking it out. I honestly can't think of much to ding it on. I've not encountered any real bugs and everything has just worked, often better than I expected.
First impressions: I absolutely LOVE it! Basingstoke is pretty much what I would describe as a zombie-themed mix between Droid Assault and Teleglitch. I was lucky enough to get a coupon for 75% off, I suppose since I own Droid Assault. Definitely worth $7.50 for me. You get to walk in as a new employee, pick up your visitor card, feed some bunnies in the lobby courtyard, then walk past a huge generator that shakes the room, and get stuck in the bathroom for 5 minutes while the apocalypse happens. In the ensuing events, you get rubber HAZMAT suit lab dudes clinging to you for dear life and getting eaten alive by zombies in the most hilarious ways possible. Getting out of the lab is easy enough. Gameplay goes something like this: You run around, avoid zombies, kill them if you can, craft awesome stuff, and loot EVERYTHING. Basingstoke is a pretty great loot simulator too, because there's no arbitrary limit on the items you carry. Items that you pick up along the way get stored in your "stash" upon reaching a safehouse (which is basically a checkpoint). This is persistent throughout levels, and retains its contents even if you die or reach the next safehouse. You can sometimes find a suitcase in any given level, which expands the number of item slots you have to take more stuff with you. It's always a hard choice what to leave in your stash, but you won't hurt as much with more suitcases. Crafting is just about as fun as it gets. In fact, my favorite crafting system in any game was Teleglitch's crafting system, and crafting in Basingstoke is one of the key proponents to what made me compare the two. Sandwiches, for instance, normally just attract enemies, and create a distraction long enough for one of the zombies to eat it. However, craft it with some poison powder and you have a mix that will induce vomiting until the zombie passes out for a couple minutes. Put chili pepper hot sauce in there to literally set them on fire and KILL them when they eat it. Throw in coffee grounds and toss it over to a dog, and watch it go nuts and start eating other zombies! You can make all sorts of other awesome, makeshift stuff too, like guns and attachments. There are definitely some "Wow, this is BS" moments in the game, but that's kind of by design since your player character is a walking one-hit-point wonder. In my 5 hours of playing Basingstoke, I'm willing to bet that about 4 of those were trying to get from the police station to the metro, which I'm still stuck on. 3 or 4 times now I've run through the entire level, looted everything, and then walked near a tentacle enemy that just shoots out of the ground and whisks me away, right by the metro entrance. The two times that this didn't happen, I got swarmed by the obscene amount of enemies behind the metro gate. It feels odd since I've unlocked the gate, gotten past it, and the game declares that I'm now in the metro, but there's still about a dozen zombies, two dogs, and a hunter on me and no sign of an exit. It kinda sucks that 45 minutes of gameplay get totally erased every time I reach what I think should be the next safehouse. Aside from this, the gameplay is incredibly rewarding. Between looting everything, checking the map for my progress, discovering new areas, crafting things, and clenching my butthole from being chased by zombies, 5 hours of my time got completely sucked away. On top of that I'm now spending another hour to write this review. Totally worth it though! 8.5/10: Excellent game! Excruciatingly hard, but insanely entertaining. --- UPDATE: Now that I've had the pleasure of playing Basingstoke for yet another evening, I'm happy to say that with some luck (and explosives) I was able to get into the metro station after a couple more tries. And what do you know? The Insurance Policy item gives you a respawn checkpoint that you can use wherever you want. Huzzah! I would like to point something out as well, which is a fact often confusing to fellow gamers: Basingstoke is NOT an "isometric 3D" game! Seriously, claiming something is "isometric" when it's not is one of my pet peeves! Just do a search of "isometric", and you'll see that the definition is actually pretty limited. A couple examples of actual isometric 3D games would be Project Zomboid or the original XCOM: UFO Defense. Basingstoke may seem like an isometric game, but really all it amounts to is a difference in POV due to change in camera angle. So, another thing I didn't mention before is that I'm extremely picky when it comes to zombie games. Why? I think the genre is way overdone, and Sturgeon's Law applies more than usual because of it. But why do I like Basingstoke, you ask, even though it's centered around zombies? Well, that's a bit of a complicated question to answer. Instead of trying to distill what constitutes a "good" zombie game to its purest essence, let me give you some other examples of games that, for me, meet my rather strict criteria. For example: How To Survive, They Are Billions, Project Zomboid, Teleglitch, and some others like that. Zombie games, in my opinion, have to be able to prove in some way that they are better than other zombie games. People striving to make these games need to have content twice as stellar as normal games to pull it off. Basingstoke is easily one of the best zombie games I've ever played. Because of this, I would like to revise my rating. 9.5/10: Awesome zombie game that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
The Game is great, sound, atmospehre, tension, mystery (to a degree), style, challenge, and art. It really solid, player and runs well, its size is light as a feather, and the overall gameplay is great. So whats the problem? The price. The game is really great for what it is, but asking $35 for the content in this game is sort of a joke. Dont get me wrong, what they have here is amazing for what its wanting to do, but for $35 its kinda high. The replay-abiltiy is somewhat limting for what a rouge-lite(lite) is expected to give. Got the game on discount for $5 and cant see myself paying the orginal $35 in the slightest. The early game is very painful for new players, and the amount required to "get going" is a bit too steep. The game rewards you for the longer your alive/looting. as soon as you want to fight the zombies you better have an arsenal, as even attempting to fight one zombie is risky. You dont have "hp". You have a single hit, and if you get hit, your dead, not get hit and are wounded, na just stright dead. For the early game players its really hard to get ya feet off the ground. But once ya do ya rewarded with a bloodbath of guts and zombies. With nearly and endless arsenal at your disposal. Its a fun challeging experiece, but at $35 base, think its just a bit too much for the advarage gamer out there. Overall, as of writing its a 7-8/10 game, and main loss of points are the single hit and the bit harsh price tag. I will need to dive deeper to truly understand its worthy, but right now, I perosnally cant see the $35 price, personally i feel a soild $15 is fair, but ill hold my reservations till it "beat" it.
Pros: + Goofy sense of humor + Cute Graphics + Interesting item design and uses (using sausage kebabs as lures and crafting flamethrowers out of hairspray is fun) + Different things to unlock Cons: -- No replay value whatsoever. You get different characters but it all feels the same. - no real incentive to keep playing. Each level gets a little harder but there is no real sense of accomplishment - The maps are "randomized" but are basically the same thing every run. - Loses it's fun after awhile. I wish there was a neutral button. It feels a bit unfair otherwise. The game itself is a stealth rogue-like seperated into levels. At the end of each level is a "safe-house" where your character can stash supplies that can be used by another run later on. At the surface it is silly and goofy with a fun sense of humor, the gameplay itself is all about gathering items to combine, and using wits and your stealth to survive. Biggest crutch is there is no real incentive to keep going. I just got bored of it after a couple of hours becuase every level is pretty much the same thing of grabbing an item and getting to the end. Maybe if there was more variation in the levels, objectives, and strategy it would feel more alive, but as is the levels start to get stale. If it is ever on sale I would suggest trying it, or if you're a big fan of goofy british humor.
I came across Basingstoke completely unexpectedly through a purchase from a collector and it caught my attention. The gameplay and videos all looked interesting and unique and i love zombie culture, especially from the UK. When it came up on the steam sale, I must admit I hesitated against some AAA titles, but I bought it. This game has far exceeded my expectations, it's one of the most fun casual single player games I've ever played, up there with some real cult classics. I read the dev's have had a hard time financially as a result of releasing this title, this is a real shame, as this game deserves a lot more attention that it clearly has got. Nothing beats taking on an entire swarm of Zombies armed only with a Kebab. Also I'd definitely buy Basingstoke II with multiplayer, please do that.
Basingstoke is a cute-looking isometric post-apocalyptic zombie survival game. The game ain't easy and you will die a few times learning the workings and rules of the game. Playing this will keep you on the edge of your seat until you master the controls, understand enemy behavior and know how to use your surroundings to your advantage. The sound is well done giving silent ambiance while exploring and only bringing in music when near monsters in order to build on those moments of tension.
I love zombie games, but this one here isnt worth the time to put into. Way too frustrating in its approach. You are dead in one hit and levels can be very long. When dying you have to do the whole thing over, which would be fine for a rogue-like, but this isnt your typical rogue like. Only the items are different, the level layout as far as I can tell is always the same. Controller layout and feel is a desaster, autoaiming an enemy behind you letting you run backwards, not recognizing menu input correctly, it feels awful with a controller. Stealth would be a good thing in a zombie game, but it is not well done here. You have an isometric view but the camera zooms in randomly without your control and its so narrow that it makes planning your next move impossible. I know its a game mechanic to not being able to kill zombies off and to simple stun them, but that is for my taste too far off, as you would definitely defend yourself to the max an be able to kill a zombie with a shovel instead of just stunning it. I dont have the time and patience to sit through this game and even worse when it doesnt provide as much fun, there are way better zombie stealth games with more depth.
A spur-of-the-moment decision to actually use the random 75% off coupon I got from something unrelated led to me buying Basingstoke, and this was absolutely the best uninformed game purchase I have made since Rogue Legacy (clearly showing a pattern of excellent Roguelikes being impulse purchases for me). It is tragic that it is so underappreciated and virtually unknown (it is not even in the Wikipedia list of Roguelikes!). I have played dozens of Roguelikes, from Actual Rogue, to NetHack, to Angband, to Moraff's World, to ADOM, to Falcon's Eye, to Dungeons of Dredmor, to Wasted, to Dead Cells, and who knows how many more inbetween. One thing remains constant throughout my Roguelife--I never stop playing any game quite so definitively as when I stop playing a Roguelike. There is no worse feeling in gaming for me than feeling like you finally understand how the game works and making some headway only to be abruptly killed by something you have never encountered before, losing hours of progress, often with essentially nothing to show for it. Roguelikes at their worst are the intentional recreation of discovering your only save file is corrupted, with all the fury that entails. Roguelikes at their best actually understand how to dole out accomplishment so you do not feel like you are endlessly spinning your wheels and achieving functionally nothing. Basingstoke hits that balance about as perfectly as any I have ever played, thanks primarily to parceling gameplay into discrete levels, rather than forcing you to start over at the beginning when you die (though you are always able to start all over again if you wish). The first stage is so genuinely easy that if you are acting even remotely cautiously you are bound to win, yet it also teaches you a solid chunk of the skills you need to survive throughout the rest of the game. I say "a solid chunk" because later stages introduce new enemy types and new environmental hazards that are real literal game-changers and can easily result in your immediate death (as is tradition). But, again, if you die the first time you encounter the floating tentacle-eye that guards a locked gate (and you certainly will, if you are anything like me), you have learned what you need to make a better attempt next time (as is also tradition) but you only have to repeat about 10 minutes of gameplay, not, you know, six hours. And that is the single crucial difference between a fun game and a game-as-job, the latter where I place titles like Nethack or Dead Cells or most any other title that makes you start all over and often gives you nothing to show for your effort (and often mocks you by reminding you what you lost, something Basingstoke also does not do). And as for how the game actually is to play, well, it is hilarious how simultaneously cute and horrifying everything is. Watching your little bobblehead/Funko Pop!-equivalent character respond to the threats, whether by fleeing or chopping or shooting, is great. You spend most of your time fleeing at first, of course, but between the game's great assortment of loot and its delightfully fun and simple crafting system, you are provided with a surprising abundance of equipment with which to try to tackle the zombie-alien-Cthulhu menace. The first time I finally built myself a gun it was a revelation, and then the first time I actually found a much better gun in the world it was an equal revelation (then, by the time I reached the final "real" level, even my submachine gun was mostly unused), but even while desperately searching for things you might normally process as weapons, you can find an abundance of other items that can be creatively used to escape or elude creatures, from kebabs to hairspray. The end result of the huge assortment of interactive elements in the world and usable objects in your inventory can certainly produce results you might call "emergent gameplay," or at least I will never forget the time I discovered shooting a police car's lights resulted in electricity arcing through my pursuing horde, resulting in one of them being snatched up by a nearby tentacle monster as others were electrocuted. Basingstoke is full of pure fun gameplay moments like this, and with the exception of the one aforementioned level where two new challenges were paired (floating tentacle-eye and locked gate) the difficulty increases always feel fun rather than harsh. Plus, if I had realized how creative you can get (I was near the end of the game before I accidentally blew up a locked door, and cursed what might have been in earlier levels), things would have been even more enjoyable. It is definitely a shame that this game is so overlooked.
Most of the screenshots and videos are showing how you are roasting crowd of enemies or blasting them with dynamite and whatnot, but that's not what this game is really about. Weapons are really rare, so majority of the time you'll be sneaking around, trying to not get detected, and when you get detected you need to run away, because it's one-hit-kill. And this is frustrating more than anything else - you are stumbling on things, trying to jump over a fence or or hide in a container, but the trigger zones are super-finicky, so a lot of times you are just dryhumping it instead and getting killed a second later. Then what? You have to either restart the whole level which is randomly generated each time (wow such roguelike!), so have fun finding the randomly placed keys all over again. Or you can actually save the game! Considering the levels are pretty long, and it's nearly impossible to get them right on the first try due to some specifically designed choke points, then it's a certain must-have. But only if you have looted enough money and you can find a vending machine to buy a pretty expensive single-use save. There is some kind of crafting system, but considering you will be saving most of your money for purchasing the aforementioned game-saves, I didnt have almost any opportunity to utilize it properly. The levels are in different environments, but the way you play through them always feels all the same, so I dont feel motivated to keep going through it when the vision I have is that I will have to keep replaying dozens of times the same level until I will get somehow lucky and the enemies will hopefully spawn and patrol in a way which is passable, which is not really that much fun.
PuppyGames has a bad habit of loving their camera shake and it is so much worse here. playing on a 1080p monitor when explosions go off is probably the most sickening thing to try and work through. and im not one to get sick with flashing strobing things. all that needs to happen is that the distance the camera moves needs to be minimized or scaled for larger displays. how can I be expected to focus on a top down game when the camera is flying 6 inches across the screen every other frame also, I cannot justify $40 for this game.
I am really enjoying this game so far. The developers are very active and communicative on the forums, so that is a huge plus for me. I enjoy all their games. Basingstoke is sort of like a more action-oriented version of The Escapists. You're running or sneaking around various levels, looking for the exit. Along the way, you have to avoid or fight many zombies and other alien creatures. Good stuff * The controls are butter smooth * Replayability - the levels are enjoyable and slighly randomized each run. Not sure if the maps are varied, but the location of bad guys and loot certainly are * There are a bunch of playable characters you can unlock, each with various skills, offering new play styles. I look forward to this part of the game * Crafting is super easy. No need to look up recipes on Google or Wikis. Big yay for this! * The game allows for some very clever ways to lure, entertain, attack, stun, and basically avoid the enemies * The game will save your death video as a short .mp4 file, directly to your desktop!! Very, very cool! Not so good stuff * The maps are mostly really dark. That's intrinsic to the purpose of the game, I understand that, but it is a bummer to not see much of the game maps quite often. * It is what it is - a game about running to the exit. I was just hoping for more puzzling aspects. But, that's not this game. It's not a negative, but just feels like something is missing. The game is tough! The monsters will one hit kill you. Your job is to craft the right gear to get past these horrible creatures and make it to your next safe place. I am a huge fan of puppygames, so I want to support everything they make, and want Basingstoke to succeed so we can get more stuff! It sounds like the developers really want to support this game for quite a while with more levels, monsters, crafting, etc. The game is slightly expensive in my opinion, but I rarely argue about prices. A game that will give me many hours of entertainment is ALWAYS worth a couple lunches out.
As someone who actually lives in Basingstoke. It's a pretty realistic represenation of the town.
Basingstoke is an interesting game. It’s definitely an action game, but avoidance and stealth, rather than killing, is the main focus. It is a mix of old and new ideas, starting with perhaps one of the older ones: Science going wrong, because a big company delved into things Man Was Not Meant To Know and so Basingstoke is now a hellhole filled with zombies, mutants, aliens, and death-robots. A hellhole that you have to escape. It works really well. Part of that is that Puppygames have a solid grasp of the low-poly aesthetic, with good sound design and occasional music. And part of this is that, most of the time, it feels fair, with the difficulty escalating sensibly. There’s also good variety in play. In non-confrontational play, creeping around, distracting enemies with sausage rolls or sandwiches, occasionally setting groups of zombies on fire with a molotov or flamethrower, if you can get hold of the salvage needed to build them. And the game supports this quite well. Get some Instant Coffee and you can mix it with a sandwich, kebab, or the like to turn the zombie that eats it on its fellows. Or just have a nice cup of coffee. Still, running like hell everywhere is still a valid and workable strategy if you’re clever about it. A large part of Basingstoke‘s appeal is its cute graphical style. While the game is played from an almost-top-down perspective, the game world and characters are rendered in full 3D. Characters appear to be made of relatively simple low-polygon shapes, which can break apart, with the undead enemies painted with wonderful textures reminiscent of a Day of the Dead celebration. The game is dark, and best played with the lights off. There are static and dynamic light sources scattered throughout each level, but your main source of light is your torch, which is bright and harsh, like a modern LED torch should be. Lighting and shadows play a big part in the gameplay, and they look fantastic. Gameplay is solid and, in spite of the few frustrations, it’s nailed that “just one more go” addictive appeal. There are enough items, weapons, and crazy things to make, as well as fun unlocks and achievements, to keep you interested even once the appeal of the wonderful cutesy zombie graphics has faded a little. THE GOOD - Great graphical style - Good interface - Great mix of old and new ideas - Items and weapons to craft THE BAD - A bit too dark at times - Can be hard to use stealth 8/10 DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | GOOD | GREAT | AMAZING | MASTERPIECE If you like this review, then please consider giving it a thumbs up. I've also reviewed other games that you might find interesting. If so then please click here. [https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27418263/]
This is a fun little rouge-like game set in Basingstoke in England You have to scavenge, craft and fight your way to the next objective. First off, the graphics on this game are so fun, very well put together and it looks pretty unique in the way its presented, with some lovely lighting effects, the sound design is also good with a little humour mixed in as well. The game has a decent amount of difficulty and when you die you won't have to respawn too far back. The items on the map change each time you die too so you'll find a way around eventually. I would have liked to have seen a little more of a tutorial to explain some of the mechanics, also so far it seems to only be set in the dark and looking at the screen shots I’m not sure this changes. Overall this is a fun little game but the price tag in my view is maybe a little high and might put a few people off as at £20 it’s not a cheap one. If your a little undecided, check my first impressions below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIHaEUcOmjQ
Very hard game, but satisfying crafting, consumables and environmental interactions makes each enemy encounter feel different. You won't have much ammo to be gunning and running enemies like traditional survival zombie games (and melee weapons break after a while), so you mostly have to be stealthy and/or ambush every mob or bait them to kill themselves with traps. My only gripe is minor and that is sometimes enemies who are incapacitated end up blocking you from getting loot.
I'm liking everything that I've seen out of Basinstoke so far. Sometimes life is full of simple joys, like feeding a zombie a sandwich with hot sauce on it and watching them burst into flames. It feels quite difficult to describe this game. It's drawing on elements of survival horror, roguelikes, stealth action and something like Left 4 Dead, without quite feeling like any of those genres does it justice. Even being relatively early into this game though, it's so wildly polished and full of so many good design decisions. Crafting is fast and easy, and crafting feels like a big key to long term success. The campsite/checkpoint system feels like it takes away a bit of the rogue feel, but it also strongly encourages experimentation and risk, and can be ignored if starting all the way over each time is important to someone's experience. That same system will probably make the game far more enjoyable for people who aren't into traditional rogues. Overall it's feeling like an excellent iteration on the genres it draws from, and if it sounds intriguing in the slightest, it's probably worth your time.
Charming roguelike with great artstyle and fun gameplay, by a great dev (I really loved Puppygames' other, more arcadey games, but it's nice to see them try something else).
Thoroughly enjoyable but challenging take on a tired genre. The controls are a pain on keyboard so I would definitely recommend a controller.
Game is interesting, but I'm done with it. Every mistake is instant death and back to camp to start over. At my age this just isn't fun anymore. In my youth I'd have probably loved this, but as an old man it becomes more tedious. Stealth mechanics are good. I think it would be more fun playing with a controller. Think the inventory menu system could have used a better design though.
An interesting sneaker-type game with a lot of depth. Lot of quality craftmanship by a veteran indie game developer. Obvious that a lot of extraordinary effort went into the game, but lack of accessibility to the game mechanics may have lead to problems with sales. Despite the lack of popularity and (comparatively) high price, I still think this is a game worth getting. Basingstoke is a love letter to campy zombie movies, most notably Shaun of the Dead. So, instead of the lifelike gore of a typical Z-world, this game has a playful and thoughtful world, which challenges the player to figure out the game puzzles, like unlocking characters, different crafting recipes, and finding secret rooms. The game is initially played by sneaking in the shadows, causing distractions, and racing for the level-end, but the genius of the game are the rogue-like character unlocks, which largely change the player's gameplay decisions. Even after three hours of gameplay, I feel that I have only scratched the surface of this game, with only one character unlock, but I do have a good feel for how this plays on my ubuntu linux 19.04 desktop system. This game uses the Unity game engine, and there is a problem with gamepad controllers for many people. That said, it does seem to be a game built for keyboard and mouse, and it can be played entirely on a multi-button mouse. Otherwise, I encountered no other technical issues, except that the level-load times are 20-30 seconds (15-20 with a SSD). The sound effects and music are outstanding, and the lighting and graphics are excellent, too. All the effects make for a terrific setting for a creepy game that constantly challenges, yet makes restarting a level a joy because there are always new things to try.