HROT: Slavic baby of Dusk and Quake

[Biodegradable]

I mentioned it before, but I haven't seen anyone speak about it at length. HROT (that's Spike in Czech) is a retro indie FPS game I've been following the development of for a couple of months now. I found it on Twitter thanks to a tweet by New Blood Interactive head honcho Dave Oshry. The dev, Kotolout, has been working on it for a couple of years by his lonesome with it running on an engine he wrote himself. It's low-poly and looks beautifully dreary and post-apocalyptic as you're a fella running around an industrialized world fighting blokes in gas-masks and radiation suits, flying heads, giant spiders and no doubt other wild creatures.

 

 

No doubt some of you would probably find this interesting, especially if you're enjoying this renaissance of new shooters with that old-school charm we all know and love like I am. I figured it would be appropriate to mention now as there's a playable demo available on Steam you can check out and play the first level which is a fun and meaty challenge. I personally had a ball with it and am working on a silly video I'm editing together with my gameplay footage. It's very impressive for a one-man-development team and I can't wait to see how it all comes together, even if I have to wait a few more years for it to be finished. You can also follow the games development on Kotolout's Twitter account if you're so inclined.

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Biodegradable

[666shooter]

Well, its... kind of fun. Definitely promising and very Quake-like with the weapons and textures, which is cool. Nice to see a more playable version of Stalker, at any rate. Although that's debatable with the current resource balancing in this demo- why do I have dozens of rockets but no launcher? Why do I not get the shotgun until halfway through the level randomly? Why is there ample health at the start and none for the brutal chokepoint in the sewers, causing me to have to savescum like an insane person to progress or restart entirely? And now that I found this rusted key in this pitch black area, where the hell am I supposed to go next?

At any rate, I like the main ideas here, so we'll see if this doesn't get some needed polish as it progresses.

[Man of Doom]

Just a bit of a fun fact- This game is actually on the exact same engine that Chasm: The Rift uses.

EDIT: Turns out that this game seems to use its own engine, and that my words above turned out to be false. Oops.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Man of Doom

[Spytihněv]

2 hours ago, 666shooter said:

why do I have dozens of rockets but no launcher?

you can use rockets as grenades [RMB], rocket launcher is hidden in secret area, that is very easy to find

 

2 hours ago, 666shooter said:

And now that I found this rusted key in this pitch black area, where the hell am I supposed to go next?

use flashlight [F]

 

2 hours ago, Man of Doom said:

Just a bit of a fun fact- This game is actually on the exact same engine that Chasm: The Rift uses.

that's not true

[666shooter]

3 minutes ago, Spytihněv said:

you can use rockets as grenades [RMB], rocket launcher is hidden in secret area, that is very easy to find

 

use flashlight [F]

 

that's not true

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[boris]

7 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

HROT (that's Spike in Czech)

Are you sure that it doesn't mean "brown"?

[taufan99]

Keeping my eyes on this. Love the aesthetics.

6 hours ago, Man of Doom said:

Just a bit of a fun fact- This game is actually on the exact same engine that Chasm: The Rift uses.

Wait, I think I've heard this uses its own engine.

[Man of Doom]

Just now, InDOOMnesia said:

Wait, I think I've heard this uses its own engine.

Yeah, you might be right. It's just that I kept hearing that the game borrowed the engine from C:TR, though HROT does seem to share that aesthetic somewhat.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

After giving the demo a try I might skip it. The demo was a little janky to understand the new mechanics and the difficulty is a little on the harder side personally. I do love the atmosphere of being in a depressing 1940's Soviet Russia (Literally just spit balling the era).

 

Also, RIP Motorbike. Q_Q

[taufan99]

6 minutes ago, DynamiteKaitorn said:

I do love the atmosphere of being in a depressing 1940's Soviet Russia (Literally just spit balling the era).

It's 1960's-1980's Czechoslovakia, just to correct you.

[plums]

5 hours ago, Man of Doom said:

Yeah, you might be right. It's just that I kept hearing that the game borrowed the engine from C:TR, though HROT does seem to share that aesthetic somewhat. 

CTR's engine was really limited judging by it's levels, which were mostly 90° walls with only superficial height variation. Plus it was fairly buggy, I can't imagine anyone actually using it these days. That HROT shares its aesthetic is probably just because they both take a lot of visual cues from Quake.

Edited June 18, 2020 by plums

[Nevander]

This looks pretty good. Like Russian DUSK! Added to my list of games to check out.

[dew]

It's weird that all of the detailing is Czech commie-era nostalgia, but the aesthetic is browner than Quake instead of gray, heh.

[Biodegradable]

And here's that gameplay video I finished editing that I mentioned in the OP heh it's pretty silly.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Biodegradable

[MrFlibble]

Just watching this video of the demo:

The look & feel of the Quake era is very competently recreated, and so are gameplay dynamics as it seems. I'm not surprised one could think this is on the same engine as Chasm but I believe that the latter is less advanced (and yes, the author says it's a custom engine anyway). Very promising.

[taufan99]

Just me, or do the weapons' sounds feel rather thin?

[Redneckerz]

12 hours ago, Man of Doom said:

19 hours ago, Man of Doom said:

Just a bit of a fun fact- This game is actually on the exact same engine that Chasm: The Rift uses.

EDIT: Turns out that this game seems to use its own engine, and that my words above turned out to be false. Oops.

 

 

12 hours ago, InDOOMnesia said:

Keeping my eyes on this. Love the aesthetics.

Wait, I think I've heard this uses its own engine.

Perhaps you both saw Gez's post recently?

[MFG38]

I'm loving the boomer shooter resurgence of the current year. I'll keep an eye peeled for this game, though I hope that brown doesn't stay the only predominant color.

[taufan99]

7 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

 

Perhaps you both saw Gez's post recently?

Whose else but his? ;)

[HavoX]

Well, this looks promising.

 

^{(what a dull way to make this my 2000th post... oh well.)}

[P41R47]

i love the reference with the sickle and the hammer!

Stalker atmosphere like games are a must for me.

[MrFlibble]

I'm not getting the horse reference. The game takes place in Prague, but the only interesting thing coming up for horse + Prague search is this.

[seed]

Oh noice, definitely loving the Quake 1 vibes here.

 

Here comes another retro goodie :D .

Edited June 18, 2020 by seed

[BBQgiraffe]

• boomer shooter
• custom engine
• Quake 1 inspired art style
• post-apocalyptic world 
• Hammer and sickle 

[Doom_Dude]

Thanks for posting this. I didn't know HROT existed. Looks interesting and Brown... :D

[dew]

5 hours ago, MrFlibble said:

I'm not getting the horse reference. The game takes place in Prague, but the only interesting thing coming up for horse + Prague search is this.

I somewhat doubt it references anything in particular. Most likely it's just an idea that is both spooky and goofy and the enemy will appear repeatedly.

 

Now if it was a one-time boss that's only present in this level, then maybe it could be the mythical Šemík from the tale of Horymír, a minor lord who escaped entrapment by jumping from the Vyšehrad rock to river Vltava below. The horse did not survive the jump.

[Pirx]

1 hour ago, dew said:

I somewhat doubt it references anything in particular. Most likely it's just an idea that is both spooky and goofy and the enemy will appear repeatedly.

 

Now if it was a one-time boss that's only present in this level, then maybe it could be the mythical Šemík from the tale of Horymír, a minor lord who escaped entrapment by jumping from the Vyšehrad rock to river Vltava below. The horse did not survive the jump.

 

 

it's a ghost horse then.

 

nice game, looks like a stalker mod for quake. 

[Spytihněv]

11 hours ago, dew said:

Now if it was a one-time boss that's only present in this level, then maybe it could be the mythical Šemík from the tale of Horymír, a minor lord who escaped entrapment by jumping from the Vyšehrad rock to river Vltava below. The horse did not survive the jump.

 

good point, thanks

[Redneckerz]

On 6/18/2020 at 3:19 PM, InDOOMnesia said:

Whose else but his? ;)

I am challenging his librarian skills. ;)

[nname]

On 6/18/2020 at 1:12 AM, boris said:

Are you sure that it doesn't mean "brown"?

No? Why do you think so? A hrot is a sharp/pointy tip. Therefore it's a nice, edgy name for a game like this.

 

E: I've just r/wooooshed myself o_0.

Edited March 26, 2021 by xzotikk