Excited to get their third-person shooter title to their players, developer Playstark and publisher PQube recently released Die After Sunset onto Steam’s Early Access. However, it seems that they may have been a little too excited to get this one out because the game simply does not offer enough at all. At best, I would have considered the game a beta of what it could be, which would be a more honest state of the game. However, if this is a true show of what the full game is going to have, then they have a lot to add to the game before it can be considered finished.

Gameplay

Starting the game, they give you a few panels of written explanations on what you need to do. While these do a decent job explaining everything, actually playing through the map is a better way to understand it. The good news is that you will be replaying this map over and over, so learning the ropes won’t be too hard.

When you first get into the menu, you have the option of going into the shop, starting the game, or looking over the quests. Starting with the quests, they are better titled as “goals” since they are basically achievements that can be accomplished while playing the game. The shop will allow you to spend the goo you have collected from the missions to upgrade your stats or buy something to enhance your experience.

Once you are done messing with the menu, simply hit start and it will take you to a pre-game screen. Here you will be able to choose your character, load out, difficulty, and such. Problem is, everything is locked, including other difficulties, as the majority of these aspects are waiting for updates to be added. So there is nothing really to do here at this time other than moving forward to start the game.

There is currently only one map and you will be dropped in at a random location on the map. You aren’t tolk anything from here so just go ahead and start exploring. Enemies called Murkors will begin spawning and trying to attack you, but they never stop spawning to fighting them is up to you. The thing to know about Murkors is that when they are in the shade, they turn into a dark version of themselves which make them harder to kill and stronger when attacking.

As the timer ticks down to when the Murkraken will arrive, random events will pop up on the map. Typically they will pop up two events at a time so you have the choice at which one you want to do first. As you complete each event, you will be awarded by having all current enemies removed and a free chest will appear. This chest will give you the choice between three options (health boost, shield boost, light points, etc.) and will award you goo. If you are not confident you will be able to beat the end mission boss, the Murkraken, then you can find a bank booth and drop off your goo there so it is saved regardless.

As you go around completing events and fighting enemies, be sure to look out for chests that can be opened. You will need light points to open these chests, but they offer power-ups and special weapons to use as well. With the special weapon, your total attack options will be basic gunshot, blast shot, special weapon, and light bombs. Be sure to try and keep Murkors in the light as much as possible and use your light bombs when you can’t fight outside in the light so all your shots do the most damage.

Expectations

While the gameplay itself does seem really well set up, there just simply isn’t enough offered in this game as it is. There is only one map, you can’t really change any of our loadout options, the events are pretty limited even if randomized, and everything in the shop costs quite a bit of goo. You can truly expect players to just play the same level over and over again to level up stats.

I know they have plans to bring a lot to the game throughout this year, but they need to put in three to four more maps, at least five more different types of events, and more options for the players to utilize for their play experience. Right now, the game offers so little to the players and really only shows off what the gameplay experience is like.

Verdict

Die After Sunset has some solid potential with its entertaining, but it simply doesn’t offer enough variety to players to hold interest in its current version. We need to see so much more added to the game as it continues to be developed closer to release. If you are going to make it a single-player experience, then there should always be plenty of aspects in the game to be experienced. I wish they would have released this version as a demo or beta instead of an actual early access because that is what it feels like I was playing.