Developed by Latest Past and published by Perun Creative, Kvark is a first-person shooter set in a fictional facility in the 90s Czech Republic. Kvark features a large, abandoned facility that is obsessed with protocols but for some reason, all of this goes down the drain as soon as you step into the game. If you remember playing the early 2000s shooters like Valve’s Half-Life games, you may find some familiar mechanics here, but Kvark brings its unique personality to the table. Kvark has been out for some time on PC in Early Access and the developers have been busy adding new content to the game but now, we have the full version in our hands, and it is time to see how much this title brings back the nostalgia in the early 2000s shooter titles. This is our review of Kvark on PC via Steam in which we land some satisfying headshots and figure out what is happening around us.
Kvark begins with you finding yourself inside a cell block from where you escape and start exploring the underground facility. Apart from you, everyone else in the facility is either dead or wants to kill you so your mission right from the very beginning is survival. The game starts chucking enemies at you right from the start with their numbers increasing gradually along with their variations. Kvark is mostly a linear game with little handholding, but it also offers a decent bit of exploration sections. You quickly understand your goal in the game and with linear paths, it is fairly easy to understand where you need to go next. Exploration is also rewarding because you will always find useful items in areas that you may miss if you are traveling across. Kvark combines shooting, puzzle-solving, and inventory management and these three mechanics comprise its gameplay.
Kvark’s most strong suit is its gameplay mechanics. Although they are not very complex, their simplicity makes them really good. You move around and use the mouse to aim and shoot your enemies. Weapons feel meaty and your movements are decent as well. While moving, the gun sway feels satisfying and when you are shooting the enemies, you feel the weight of the weapon that you are firing. It feels pretty satisfying as you land headshots and the enemy’s head blows off and gushes of blood start flowing everywhere. The game design is pretty brutal so you will find a lot of blood in the game. As you use different weapons to kill enemies, you will tear off limbs, arms, and whatever body part that you choose to shoot. The kills are brutal and satisfying.
The weapon selection in Kvark is fairly limited and there are no ‘advanced’ variants of what you get in the game but one good thing about these weapons is that each of them packs quite a punch. Even the starter pistol that you first get in the game packs a punch and can easily help you get headshots. As you progress in the game, you unlock new weapons for yourself, and they are added to your inventory automatically once you pick them up. You have a melee wrench which is used for knocking out enemies or breaking barriers to enter rooms but most of the combat relies on ranged weapons. As you unlock new weapons, you can use the middle mouse key to scroll through them on the go. Each weapon has its unique ammo and when one runs out, you can switch to another one quickly.
The ammo is found throughout the game in random locations, but you still have to reserve your ammo. While you can bullet-spam enemies, carefully taken headshots always excel in the game because ultimately you run out of ammo, especially during the early levels. Depending on your chosen difficulty, the supplies you find in the game will vary. Melee also serves as a last-minute defense mechanism because if two enemies surround you, your health trickles down fairly quickly than you would like. During my first playthrough, I was speeding through the levels like Doom, but I got stuck at a location where I had low health, and two drones appeared in the next room. They would wipe me out as soon as I entered the arena and since the checkpoint was right next to the area, I had to restart the game. This was early in the game, so I had not made too much progress in the game, but it made me increase my guard for the new playthrough.
Kvark is also not forgiving when it comes to save points. Instead of common checkpoints or any sort of Quick Save system, the game is only saved when you reach far-off checkpoints located at particular points throughout the game. It means that if you die, you will lose all your progress that you made since the last one you crossed and you will also respawn with the same amount of health and ammo that you had previously. This encourages careful playing, and you cannot just run and gun your way through levels like most modern shooters. Most of the enemies will instantly rush into you which means that you have to control your pacing through the levels as well. Typical to horror games, there will be some jumpscares but here the worst one is an enemy rushing into you from around a corner or when you open a door.
There are also little details here and there that immerse you in the game. For example, while it does not look like it at first, you can explore little areas here and there to collect some lore items and learn what happened in the facility. You can find collectibles, interact with different objects, and even just hang around in an area after clearing it, looking for loot and supplies. You can pick up notes and read them. Some walls have cool posters to look at. You can even interact with vending machines to get some drinks. Apart from shooting, there are some puzzles as well so apart from your trigger finger, you will need to use your brain to progress in the game as well.
While these things might not look like much when was the last time that your AAA shooter told you where to dump bodies in case of an inspection or try not to cut your finger on the edge of the poster? These little things put character into the game and show that the developers wanted to put something extra here and there for you to find out rather than just blast everything and run toward the next room. Visually, Kvark reminds you of shooters from back in the early 2000s. Most of the time you will spend time inside corridors and offices of the facility but there are some open-area sections as well during which you will find yourself in greenery and relatively larger areas. The enemies also tend to get harder and harder as you progress in the game.
Initially, you only come across melee enemies who rush into you to attack you, another thing that was common back in the early 2000s shooters, however after progression, you come across enemies that fire from a distance and ultimately you have to face flamethrower-wielding enemies and aliens. The AI of Kvark seems just okay and nothing too special because apart from them rushing into you, they will not use some sort of a strategy to take you out like hiding behind cover or trying to flank you. The rushing works most of the time because it forces you to keep moving during gunfights and you have to figure out whether to focus on the rushing melee enemies or take out the ranged enemies hitting you from afar.
Kvark started its journey as an Early Access title and it was only just released for PC players, you can tell that the developers have not been slouching during this time. The final release comes packed with new content and this content gives you all the more reasons to jump back into the game and give it another shot. If you have been playing it during Early Access, jumping back into the game will allow you to find new weapons, new collectibles, new enemies, and a whole new chapter to conclude the game’s story. This little shooter packs quite a punch and if you want to play something small but fun, you should definitely give it a shot.
Final Verdict:
Kvark has its quirks but overall, it feels great. The controls are responsive and basic shooting mechanics ensure that the controls are never failing you in any situation. Judging from the state of today’s AAA releases, this has sort of become a rather novelty in video games. Kvark presents an interesting environment for you to explore while using good shooting mechanics to ensure that your enemies do not stay longer in front of your barrel. It is a little hard if you are used to modern shooters with plenty of save locations but once you get adjusted to managing your health and ammo, this is a surprisingly fun shooter to keep you busy for a decent amount of hours. If you love playing shooters inspired by Half-Life, you must dive into Kvark because it is a great shooter. Highly recommended for players looking for a shooter with good mechanics and a decent environment.
Final Score: 7.5/10
