Fancy Skulls (Tequibo)
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Seeing how modern shooter are either heavily scripted or skewed towards multi-player gaming, it is refreshing to find something like Fancy Skulls. This Unity powered first person shooter throws you into a world with procedurally generated levels and surreal enemies plus the threat of permanent death hanging over your character. It makes for a challenging experience, but one that changes each time you play, so you will find yourself coming back for more.
The game has a distinct visual style, with enemies and rooms made up from very simple shapes. The art style contributes to the surreal nature of the game and makes for some very bizarre enemies. Everything from ghosts that teleport all over the place, one-eyed monsters chasing you down, spinning laser turrets, floating skulls and more are out for your blood. Each enemy has a very distinct weak spot though, so you will soon learn which ones to prioritize on your “to-kill list” and how to do so efficiently. They also literally fall to pieces when killed which looks pretty neat.
Levels are made up of rooms with doors that lock when you step foot inside. You can only exit after killing every enemy that spawns from the black eggs inside the room. The eggs are triggered by a well marked floor button, so before getting into the thick of things you can scout the room for boxes that contain coins and health. The coins can then be used to buy weapon upgrades from the shop kiosks you’ll find in certain rooms. Each level also has a special box where you can find a new weapon to replace your starting pistol or secondary power to help you out.
Fancy Skulls doesn’t allow you to save and you can only take a few hits before it is all over, so the gameplay is a lot more tactical than your typical shooter. Spraying bullets at everything that moves will get you killed pretty quickly so instead you must use the walls and trees in each room to your advantage and take down enemies one by one to survive. The longer you survive the more items and powers you discover, but all it takes is one careless move to lose it all, so this is a game that forces you to stay on your toes.
If you enjoy shooters, but don’t have the time to indulge in something with a story you will enjoy how Fancy Skulls allows you to simply jump in and have fun. Initially you will die pretty quickly, but once you learn how to handle the different enemies and which items are the most effective the game becomes quite addictive. In the version that I played there were a few character classes, unlocked by accomplishing specific goals within the game based on coin or item collecting and I’m sure more will be added as the game is updated. The game is already a lot of fun to play and I am eager to see what else the developer has in store for future updates. Fancy Skulls is a unique title that is easy to overlook because of the recent glut of games released on Steam, but do yourself a favor and keep an eye on this one.
