Thank you Sobaka Studios for the review code.

Have you ever been to a restaurant that looks ugly but has a great meal? That can apply to video games in a way as well. When a game tries to sell itself on sexy ladies, a dark edgy story, or brutal violence alone you might assume it's not going to be that good. Yet when you dive in, it might keep you pleasantly surprised depending on your tastes. Today's game, Redeemer, is a brutal top down combat game that sells itself on violent old school combat. A lot of its descriptions on the store page are very overexaggerated including calling its kill system and disarm system unique. Let's see if this game may have a bad presentation but a great taste.

In Redeemer you play as the soldier for hire turned monk, Vasily. He was once one of their best assassins, yet when they tried to force cybernetic enhancements on their soldiers, he escaped to a remote Buddhist temple to try and find peace. This peace is short-lived when the same company invades his new home, seeking a secret even Vasily didn't know about. His life is once again in ruins and he must now destroy these invasive soldiers by any means necessary to put a stop to their true intentions.

The combat is basic - think Diablo 3 without skills or passives. You control Vasily from a top-down perspective, exploring areas and slaying every enemy in your way. You have a punch and a kick with the left and right mouse buttons. You have the ability to disarm opponents of weapons, and environmental hazards can be used for instant kills. You can use any gun or melee weapon available to you from around the level or from a slain enemy. You also have a parry and block button. Stealth kills are an option if you so wish but most people won't want to do that. The game is definitly most rewarding when it comes to its brutal in your face combat.

For those that seek a violent rush, you'll get it but don't expect this game to be the next Postal or Doom. That is why it was strange to me that they called their combat system unique on the store page. We've had plenty of games with environmental kills, disarming opponents, stealth kills and all of what they offer. It doesn't mean it's bad or that they are copying a more successful game. I've played many platformers, shooters, and RPGs. This doesn't mean all other games of these genres are copying Mario, Call Of Duty and Final Fantasy. Yet if there's a better version of the same experience, I am going to go with the better version.

The story, graphics, and sound don't help much in the experience either. I understand why a lot of people say they aren't in it for the story. I respect that, but it doesn't mean that I am just going to ignore that part of the game. It's like something from an '80s action movie: a character with a dark past tries to hide from it only for it to catch up with him. You can tie dark and brutal stories to your gameplay to enhance the experience; it shouldn't be a throw away element to your design. The voice acting is corny and cheap, but the actors did the jobs asked of them so I can't fault them for it. The music and sound effects are basic loops and stock soundtracks that are just kind of there. They don't help nor hinder the experience. You won't have much time to enjoy the stages with all the fast combat, yet when I did slow down it was mostly walls and random temple set pieces from a top down view. Nothing was ugly, yet nothing was unique or memorable either.

Personally I am glad the game didn't have random skill trees or abilities and kept the combat pure, yet this comes with a negative as well. When you don't have anything for the player to progress towards besides a silly story, repetitive and linear combat will get boring much more quickly. Even popular linear games always have something for a player to grind towards.

For certain users, myself included, there's random frame drops at certain levels. Though I haven't experienced anything debilitating as of yet there are some who say that the frame drops affect gameplay to unplayable levels. Most likely this will vary PC to PC.

Redeemer is definitely a game to file as 17 and up. Vasily is gory, rough, and violent as is expected of any one man army character trope. Only thing it doesn't really have is any sexual moments or particularly rough language. Vasily mostly talks about all the murder he's going to commit since his old company killed his fellow monks like dogs.

Redeemer is neither bad or great food; It's the fast food version of your favorite meal. You didn't have the time to cook your favorite today nor the desire to go get it at a sit down restaurant, so you just went through the drive-thru to pick it up. Sure you could have had better quality food but it's not bad; it filled you up and you may even pick up the fast food that is Redeemer for a few bites every now and then.