Trepang² (PlayStation 5)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): October 2, 2023
- Release Date (EU): October 2, 2023
- Publisher: Team17
- Developer: Trepang Team
- Genres: First-Person Shooter
- Also For: Computer, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Trepang² is not a sequel, nor does it have anything to do with sea cucumbers! It is, in actual fact, an ever-so-stylish first-person shooter by a fresh Canadian studio that brought Trepang² to life through crafting demos in Unreal Engine and expanding from a one-man outfit to a four-person team that only incorporated bullet time and cloaking to balance gameplay!
You begin by busting out of prison, you have amnesia but it won't stop you from viciously killing everything around you before you get to where you need to be. The evil Horizon Corp is hot on your tail and you, subject 106, have to swiftly escape, join Taskforce 27, obtain any intel possible and clean out black sites from Horizon Corp's heinous human experiments.
A Generic Story With A Culmination Of Brilliant Features
You are initially thrown into unarmed stealth action which involves a Splinter Cell-style of hiding in the shadows combined with stealthy movement through offices and back rooms without being seen. You then finally locate weapons, and progress to fighting waves of increasingly buffed super stealthy enemies.
You quickly learn that you have a Crysis-style cloaking mechanism on the L1 button, and a cinematic Max Payne-Esq bullet-time mode on the R1, which gives you a short burst of overpowered brutality you can exert on anyone or anything around you. These fantastic special moves have rather lengthy cool-down times combined with a relatively short-term effect, which is just enough to get you out of a bind without feeling too invincible, and without taking over every firefight you undertake in-game.
You can combine melee attack with jumps to perform dropkicks, and you can run, drop and slide tackle enemies' feet right from underneath them, giving you an opening on enemies that are using riot shields for example. This again, feels like a very purposeful feature that has been cherry-picked directly from a game like Dead Island 2, and it feels like a perfectly chosen mechanic for Trepang².
The gunplay, regardless of which firearm, feels balanced and solid, it feels fantastic to chain a whole magazine of rounds into a bunch of enemies, followed by throwing some hefty brutal elbows, buttstroke enemies to the face and then slide tackle the next one into oblivion.
Shooting enemies in different areas also blow off limbs, and explodes them into pieces in front of you. You will find pick-ups on the floor too, such as clips, mags, weapons and shards of armour to collect, but you will also see fragments of skulls and organs such as eyes and brains! It's incredibly satisfying! There is a definite 2000s feel, it's a bit Half-Life, a bit Soldier of Fortune, and very definitely inspired by F.E.A.R.
I have to note that the AI in this game is quite sharp, on the harder levels at least, with flanking, teamwork and deadly accuracy with ranged weapons and explosives, I also noticed that there was some level deformation and damage coming from crossfire knocking off concrete on pillars and objects being destroyed in the heat of battle: the immersion is full tilt.
Beyond the six main missions spread across the globe, there are 6 side missions that include heists for computer hacking where you have to defend from waves of attackers and even stop super-natural-looking red-glowing anti-hack infantry from impeding your progress.
The main payout is gun parts, intel to fill in the blanks in your memories, and ticking off the in-game trophies, where the former are collectable and usable at any in-mission supply crate, where you can modify suppressors, laser sights, stocks, magazines and the skins on your weapons. The customisation is pretty expansive with each weapon having approximately 6-9 modifications that you can combine in multiple ways to have it your way.
Mini-Bosses, Jump-Scares and More
One of the coolest things in this game is being chased by the enemies. You are dropped into a slimey dripping hornet's nest of zombies and enemies, only to be chased by the proceeding boss through these narrow weaving corridors full of detritus and wall-hanging giblets.
There is the obligatory jump scare as you see a zombie on one side of some glass, only for it to suddenly burst through and lurch at you. The lighting and atmosphere really engage you and draw you in, even if the story is a little generic and unremarkable, at least the action is fueled up and extremely well presented.
The undead enemy styling reminded me of House of the Dead enemies so much, with them barfing up tonnes of goopy slime, exploding into a mountain of viscera and oozing all over the place. The sound effects that accompany these also reminded me of HOTD with some bubbly, squelchy audio foley in between the screams and roars.
The first boss you discover is the Moth Man, and effectively you have to mow it down with as much firepower as you can muster in order to evac the site successfully. I found it incredibly easy to smash enemies like this on the lower difficulties, but the RAGE mode difficulty makes it a real challenge that isn't for the faint of heart.
Combat simulator adds layers to this title too, with a Perfect Dark style zone for you to choose a scenario and hone your killing prowess against waves of increasingly difficult enemies. In amidst this you can find a supply crate and buy more weapons, armour, explosives and even call in a team to assist you!
I had a huge amount of fun in the combat simulator, running through 20 waves of enemies at a time and perfecting my slide tackle and follow-up melee attacks to take with me into the next main mission.
Solid Gameplay With Engaging Action Throughout
Trepang² brings together the best elements of Crysis's Stealthy super suit, invisibility, and OTT lens flares, Max Paynes bullet time, Dead Islands Drop Kick mechanics, HOTD's B-Movie cheesy vibes, with slime-gurgling zombies, and winged-bosses to hammer with thousands of bullets. The retro feel is a very 2000s style of FPS with its mountains of weapons, mods, intel to collect, smashable bottles, vents to skulk around in and icky-oozy environments to flee around in.
This game is a triumph in blending so many sources of inspiration together and making it feel totally cohesive. The ability to cloak and shoot out lights, adhering to the shadows makes the stealth sections tense and engaging, whereas the all-out evisceration of the waves of zombies and increasingly tactical grunts up to assassin-level targets feels incredibly frenetic and frantic, but still gives you a feeling of control and power.
I am a huge fan of Trepang² as it ticks all the major boxes for me from its core gameplay to the customization options and with the combat simulator alone: I just keep going back for more!
Verdict
- Brutal melee combat mixed with satisfying gunplay
- 10-12 hours worth of campaign
- Combat Sim modes for wave-shooter enthusiasts
- 50 trophies to pop
- Heaps of intel and weapon parts to find
- Only 6 main missions, and 6 side missions
- Pretty generic story, but who cares when it's this fun to play
