tl;dr: A low-poly indie love letter to Half-Life and Stalker, with two distinctly different game modes, engaging story-telling and great gunplay.

The Saying “Never judge a book by its cover” was tailor made for games like ADACA. Under its multitude of bundled assets and plain low-poly textures lies an innovative, mysterious and highly satisfying indie shooter that caught me by surprise. Following the advice of the always helpful Dominic Tarason , I picked this one up on sale and haven’t really played anything else since. It’s unbelievable that ADACA was made by a single developer. Sure, the credits show quite a list of different asset packs but isn’t that the purpose of these anyways? The reason why the term “asset flip” became known in the first place is due to the fact that some developers take these assets, glue them together without thought and purpose, slap a price tag on it and call their piece of junk a finished game.

ADACA instead offers two distinct game modes: A linear campaign with a compelling story-line and Half-life inspired gameplay ─ even making use of a gravity-gun like arm ─, cut into three different episodes with multiple missions. Looking through the augmented eyes of Jessy Thorn you’re thrown from end to end, in a short but sweet plot that takes a couple of hours to finish. It’s a mysterious science fiction story that doesn’t hide its inspirational origins but still offers a very personal spin on the subject. Some missions are extremely well crafted, with dark underground passages that gave off survival horror-like vibes, while others felt a bit like moving from one enemy spawner to the next.

If you don’t like linear, tubular level design, then the second mode, Zone Control, is more to your liking. In a nonlinear open world experience, reminiscent of Stalker, you take up the gun as Sgt. Lexi Abrahms. It’s a highly rewarding experience in which information isn't spoonfed but has to be discovered via notes, logs and other messages. It feels way more like a game of survival and exploration, with a chain of missions that can’t be saved in between.

---

The mystery surrounding the world of ADACA is extremely well crafted, with hidden secrets and codes that can be easily missed. Even if you’re mindfully picking up bits and pieces, there is still the problem of finding the correct place to apply your knowledge. At one point, I came across a code pad that opened a locked door only after being fed with a code I picked up. hours earlier, listening to a couple of radio frequencies. Moments like these make this game old-school and rewarding; there is no arrow pointing in any directions, nobody telling you to write anything down, just simple intuition.

Another great addition is the gravity-arm, which serves as your handy Swiss Army knife. You can pick up objects to overcome obstacles and reach hidden platforms or just use everything as deadly projectiles, which is fun to watch and saves ammunition. It’s possible to block paths so that enemies can't reach you but I generally preferred the more “definite” way of blasting them into oblivion. A staggered foe can be disarmed by picking up his gun, even instantly using it against its former user, which made for some very hilarious gameplay moments.

Yet, despite not being a big fan of puzzle games, I would have liked to make more use of my gravity arm. In most cases, you’re simply carrying batteries around, maybe throwing them over a large distance, which feels like a waste of potential.

---

If there is something I had to criticise, it’s the feeling that Episode 3 of the campaign was unnecessarily prolonged with the help of bullet-sponge enemies, which overall made it feel slightly inferior to Episode 1 and 2. Zone Control mode is, by all means, a wonderful blast from the past with its game design promoting anything but hand-holding.

I also loved the way how the leitmotif, established at the start of the game, keeps coming back at you whenever something important happens or a mystery unfolds. It's just a small thing but it always felt incredibly atmospheric.

ADACA is a great example of indie games done right and easy to recommend for everyone enjoying story-driven fps gameplay. It does have some janky parts to it, like the movement sometimes feeling a bit sluggish, but it makes up for these short-comings with rewarding gameplay that respects ─ and challenges ─ the player's intellect.

[i][b]tl;dr: A low-poly indie love letter to Half-Life and Stalker, with two distinctly different game modes, engaging story-telling and great gunplay.[/b][/i] [h2]REVIEW[/h2] The Saying “Never judge a book by its cover” was tailor made for games like ADACA. Under its multitude of bundled assets and plain low-poly textures lies an innovative, mysterious and highly satisfying indie shooter that caught me by surprise. Following the advice of the always helpful [url=https://psteamproxy.yuanyoumao.com/curator/43135575-Dominic-Tarason%2527s-Opinionation-Station/] Dominic Tarason [/url], I picked this one up on sale and haven’t really played anything else since. It’s unbelievable that ADACA was made by a single developer. Sure, the credits show quite a list of different asset packs but isn’t that the purpose of these anyways? The reason why the term “asset flip” became known in the first place is due to the fact that some developers take these assets, glue them together without thought and purpose, slap a price tag on it and call their piece of junk a finished game. ADACA instead offers two distinct game modes: A linear campaign with a compelling story-line and Half-life inspired gameplay ─ even making use of a gravity-gun like arm ─, cut into three different episodes with multiple missions. Looking through the augmented eyes of Jessy Thorn you’re thrown from end to end, in a short but sweet plot that takes a couple of hours to finish. It’s a mysterious science fiction story that doesn’t hide its inspirational origins but still offers a very personal spin on the subject. Some missions are extremely well crafted, with dark underground passages that gave off survival horror-like vibes, while others felt a bit like moving from one enemy spawner to the next. If you don’t like linear, tubular level design, then the second mode, Zone Control, is more to your liking. In a nonlinear open world experience, reminiscent of Stalker, you take up the gun as Sgt. Lexi Abrahms. It’s a highly rewarding experience in which information isn't spoonfed but has to be discovered via notes, logs and other messages. It feels way more like a game of survival and exploration, with a chain of missions that can’t be saved in between. [hr][/hr] The mystery surrounding the world of ADACA is extremely well crafted, with hidden secrets and codes that can be easily missed. Even if you’re mindfully picking up bits and pieces, there is still the problem of finding the correct place to apply your knowledge. At one point, I came across a code pad that opened a locked door only after being fed with a code I picked up. hours earlier, listening to a couple of radio frequencies. Moments like these make this game old-school and rewarding; there is no arrow pointing in any directions, nobody telling you to write anything down, just simple intuition. Another great addition is the gravity-arm, which serves as your handy Swiss Army knife. You can pick up objects to overcome obstacles and reach hidden platforms or just use everything as deadly projectiles, which is fun to watch and saves ammunition. It’s possible to block paths so that enemies can't reach you but I generally preferred the more “definite” way of blasting them into oblivion. A staggered foe can be disarmed by picking up his gun, even instantly using it against its former user, which made for some very hilarious gameplay moments. Yet, despite not being a big fan of puzzle games, I would have liked to make more use of my gravity arm. In most cases, you’re simply carrying batteries around, maybe throwing them over a large distance, which feels like a waste of potential. [hr][/hr][h2]Conclusion[/h2] If there is something I had to criticise, it’s the feeling that Episode 3 of the campaign was unnecessarily prolonged with the help of bullet-sponge enemies, which overall made it feel slightly inferior to Episode 1 and 2. Zone Control mode is, by all means, a wonderful blast from the past with its game design promoting anything but hand-holding. I also loved the way how the leitmotif, established at the start of the game, keeps coming back at you whenever something important happens or a mystery unfolds. It's just a small thing but it always felt incredibly atmospheric. ADACA is a great example of indie games done right and easy to recommend for everyone enjoying story-driven fps gameplay. It does have some janky parts to it, like the movement sometimes feeling a bit sluggish, but it makes up for these short-comings with rewarding gameplay that respects ─ and challenges ─ the player's intellect. [code][i]If you like reviews about indie games, consider joining [url=https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/groups/indiestructible]INDIEstructible[/url] and follow [url=https://psteamproxy.yuanyoumao.com/curator/41972991/]my curations[/url].