The noir genre has been around for so long that it’s hard to create something unique that still fits within that mold. The art style pre-dates video games by decades, so it’s only natural that the themes and full-on recreations of the style in games are only natural. Since it’s not such an innovative art form in games, it’s important that a developer gets it right, lest it is compared to the greats instead of becoming one.
El Paso, Elsewhere makes an honest attempt at the genre and it nails some of the melodrama in the few scenes I was able to see as part of the demo. Players who are fans of games like Max Payne will find a lot of enjoyment from this title but whether or not it can draw in a wider player base will need to be seen when it releases in the Fall of 2023.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in this title from Strange Scaffold and its simplicity, but it feels like the game is taking half-measures when it could turn the dial all the way up, literally and metaphorically. El Paso, Elsewhere is a classic action shooter, but that’s as much to its benefit as it is to its detriment.
James is the name, Savage is the game
At the beginning of the demo, the player takes on the role of James Savage of El Paso, Texas, and he makes sure you know it too. Most of the dialogue is given by Savage in a brooding and grizzly voice-over that deserves respect for its authenticity. The voice of the character is beyond fitting and somehow fits the extremely low-res character model.
When Savage enters a motel looking for the vampire queen Draculae, he realizes that he’s been transported to an alternate dimension where he’s forced to fight constant waves of vampires, werewolves, and Biblically accurate angels. The latter of which was a genuine surprise that I really love and it got a laugh out of me when I immediately obliterated it.
The game’s premise is fairly simple and serves as a reason why Savage is in a bunch of different rooms fighting waves of vampires. In his own words, he’s trying to prevent the end of the world and that means he’s going to go floor by floor until he finds Draculae and eliminates her. There were some finer details about the world too, but they were lost on me in lieu of the intense shooting.
Savage seems to be the typical Van Helsing-type, a fully-equipped hunter of supernatural creatures that eliminates them with no questions asked. It’s an interesting premise that makes for difficult gameplay at times, but it admittedly does feel rewarding when you’re able to get the character to the end of the level.
Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge
What will probably be one of the more popular mechanics of El Paso, Everywhere is the character’s ability to dive into slow motion in multiple directions at any moment. It allows the player to instantly trigger bullet time events by holding the right mouse button and pressing a direction, which is pretty cool when you can get it to function properly.
There were a few moments when I felt like I organically got this mechanic to work, but the game implements its own slow-motion moments as well. This made me less reliant on the feature, instead of just trusting the game to implement slow-motion when the need arose for it. The times I did want to use it I found myself in a hallway or room that was obstructed so it didn’t work as planned.
The guns themselves handle pretty well and there is plenty of ammo across the levels as long as you’re not afraid to look for it. Thanks to the Pills resource, players can also heal on demand, which is extremely useful given how close some of the fights with the monsters. These are also everywhere, but in a way where there’s just enough to take care of your needs.
One of my smaller issues with the game is that it doesn’t seem to respect its own soundtrack, keeping all the songs I experienced in the second level at like 25 percent volume compared to everything else. The songs weren’t bad and playing them at a proper volume would’ve made that cemetery sequence even better.
It will be interesting to see how a larger audience receives this game during the Steam Next Fest. It is likely to draw many comparisons to classic action titles, but some players will want more than that. With the game expected to release in Fall 2023, it has a chance to make a lasting impression this summer.
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