Selaco Early Access Review – F.E.A.R No Evil

From the moment I had my very first proper shootout in Selaco, I knew that it was going to be something special. Each gunshot rips into steel and concrete alike with ruthless abandon. Every shotgun blast vaporizes anything unfortunate enough to stand in its way into nothing but a geyser of blood. Every gunfight is a methodical orchestra of gore and sinew. 

Selaco is a game that aims to channel the visceral gunfights of F.E.A.R. and merges it with the old-school design that feels like a middle ground between Half-Life and classic DOOM. I won’t waste your time here. It succeeds in its goals with flying colors and it already deserves to sit in the upper echelon of the FPS genre, right beside the games it is inspired by.

Story And Setting

Selaco places you in the boots of Dawn Collins, a renowned soldier aboard the underground space station “Selaco.” In the midst of her investigation into the history of Selaco, the space station gets attacked and taken over by armed invaders, and it’s up to Dawn to make her way through the station and find out what’s going on. 

It’s a setting that I found to be truly immersive, which is a huge feat for a game about blasting people into chunks with a shotgun.

That’s most of what you get by playing the game. Selaco does that thing where the majority of its story is told through text logs that you find in the environment while the gameplay is mostly about fighting your way through Selaco. The structure reminds me a lot of DOOM 3, especially because the entire PDA system is borrowed verbatim from that very game. 

What deserves particular praise is the effort that has been made to make Selaco feel like a living, breathing space. 

How do the people here get water? Oh, there’s a water filtration plant that transfers water across the station. Oh, but how are there plants in this underground space station? Of course, they’re artificially manufactured in a lab. It’s small things like these that made Selaco so engrossing to play for me. It’s a setting that I found to be truly immersive, which is a huge feat for a game about blasting people into chunks with a shotgun.

Gameplay

Selaco’s gameplay is fantastic. Whether you’re facing life-or-death gunfights or engaging in slow-paced exploration, it never really feels as if the game is wasting your time…mostly. 

Let’s start with the exploration, which is surprisingly something you’ll be doing a lot of in Selaco. While combat is still the meat and potatoes of the whole thing, there’s a decent amount of emphasis placed on both secret hunting and puzzle-solving.

Something I noticed frequently was how often Selaco had me relying on unorthodox methods to progress to the next area. Whether it was stacking boxes on each other or shooting switches from a faraway window. 

Level design in general could use a bit more work, especially with signposting.”

I was surprised by how often these kinds of solutions led me to the next area rather than a secret. Part of me felt clever during some of these like I was naturally coming up with my ways to solve obstacles, though in some ways I feel they get in the way of the pacing when you’re trying to figure out where to go.

Levels That Are Often Rewarding But Sometimes Frustrating

Level design in general could use a bit more work, especially with signposting. It was surprisingly easy to get lost in these levels, I frequently had to rely on the map especially when backtracking for secrets because trying to explore the levels on their own made it feel like I was going through that one The Weeknd song. (You know which one it is.)

It’s almost always worth exploring too, as some secrets lead to extremely useful weapon upgrades such as increased ammo capacity for the assault rifle, or a burst fire for your magnum. Secret hunting is also made easier thanks to a fast travel system that lets players travel between each level’s “Safe Room” and hunt for previously undiscovered secrets.

Hard Boiled F.E.A.R

By far the strongest aspect of Selaco is its combat. This is easily some of the best-feeling combat I’ve experienced in an FPS. Bullets shred through environments like paper, each gunshot booms and echoes in the air, its aftereffects felt both in the environment and on the twitching body of the poor sod you just killed.

Selaco cites Monolith Productions’ excellent F.E.A.R. as a major source of inspiration and you see that inspiration shine from the moment you fire your first shot. 

Of particular highlight are the streets of Selaco, which almost made me feel like I was playing Halo 3 ODST with its rainy backdrop coupled with synth tunes that feel straight out of Blade Runner. 

Guns sound beefy and powerful; the assault rifle rips through concrete like its confetti. The Penetrator pins enemies to the wall, the shotgun quite literally eviscerates enemies with a single shot. 

Perhaps the coolest part of the combat is the many different enemy callouts during encounters. I don’t think I heard a single repeated callout in my entire playthrough of the early access campaign which is impressive for a game like this.

Selaco Must Die

My playthrough of Selaco was on “Captain” the second hardest difficulty, and I found the challenge to be almost perfectly tuned. There are three encounters near the end that pushed me to my limit, but none of them ever really feel like they’re unfair except maybe two.

One’s in a level that I’m not allowed to talk about in this review and another one during the final level of the game, I think these particular fights could use a little tuning but getting through them still felt exhilarating rather than frustrating. 

Selaco cites Monolith Productions’ excellent F.E.A.R. as a major source of inspiration and you see that inspiration shine from the moment you fire your first shot. 

Playing it on this difficulty, where I was frequently pushed to the wall and had to work to survive each fight, made Selaco feel borderline cinematic. Setting up traps, baiting enemy flanks only to blast them with a shotgun while the enemy intercoms are going wild because they’re terrified of you, it’s a feeling that makes you feel like the most badass person in the room. 

Visuals And Performance

Selaco frequently blew me away with its gorgeous environment. Whether it’s shooting my way through a mall or exploring the interiors of a massive office complex, a lot of it works thanks to its excellent lighting. Each environment has a distinct flavor to it thanks to the very considered use of lighting effects. The deep, cold blues of the streets contrast wildly with the warm, wooden interiors of the library.

Each level feels varied and distinct from the rest. There’s one level that stands out among the rest, and unfortunately, that’s the level that I am not supposed to talk about, but I’ll just say that it’s going to be a treat for classic Resident Evil fans.

Synth Fury

Of particular highlight are the streets of Selaco, which almost made me feel like I was playing Halo 3 ODST with its rainy backdrop coupled with synth tunes that feel straight out of Blade Runner. 

Each track feels varied and doesn’t overstay its welcome.”

Music in general is something Selaco gets exceptionally well. Most of the encounters in the game aren’t really punctuated by loud music, letting the game’s excellent soundscape carry the weight of the action. This makes each moment that features music particularly impactful, you know that things are getting serious when instead of gunfire and violence, you start hearing rapid synth beats in the background. 

It also helps that the music itself is fantastic. Each track feels varied and doesn’t overstay its welcome. From the relaxing safe room theme to the booming synths of the combat.

Performance-wise, my experience was very smooth aside from some dips whenever things got too intense, usually when explosions got involved. I also experienced 3 crashes during my 12 hours with the game. 

Verdict

Selaco is a triumph. It’s a deeply satisfying shooter with some of the most visceral feeling gunfights in the entire medium. It’s a deeply polished, content-rich experience that only left me craving more by the time I was done. Selaco is F.E.A.R. without the bullet time, and its most impressive feat is that it still manages to be just as good. Even as I write this review, the only thing that I want to do is wrap up this review and start a second playthrough.

While there are small problems with the level design and pacing, I do not believe that it ever hurt my enjoyment in a significant way. I still believe that Selaco is an exceptional FPS that belongs in the upper echelon of modern throwback shooters, right alongside the likes of DUSK, ULTRAKILL, and Ion Fury. As it stands, it feels almost absurd to call Selaco an early access title with a polished 10+ hour campaign with more on the way.

This has been my Selaco review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles. 

• Mullet Madjack 
• Astor: Blade Of The Monolith Review 
• Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut
• Hades 2
• Hauntii Review
• Crown Wars: The Black Prince Review