Meet Your Maker review – Just one more raid

Behaviour Interactive is one of the largest Canadian independent game studios that exist, if not the biggest. The developer has been around for a few decades, releasing its first game Jersey Devil in 1997, and then continuing to release a steady flow of games after that. The company made a lot of money off of games that were tie-ins to shows and movies until the 2016 horror multiplayer Dead by Daylight.

While the developer had been creating games for 20 years prior, this put their name on the map as a known indie studio. Now, Behaviour Interactive has just launched its newest IP since 2018. It’s a base-building and raiding game called Meet Your Maker, and it draws on the two-sided battle and feeling of besting an opponent that made DBD so successful.

However, it’s a very different game, and players may be hesitant to trust the developer. They have a proven track record of launching games and are clearly confident about the possibilities in Meet Your Maker. Whether or not it’s able to stand on its own will largely depend on the test of time.

Before the launch of the full game, Meet Your Maker had a beta that was released on Steam in February. Now that the game has been released, it’s clear that it was much of the full game, if not the whole thing, was released to players at that time. Going from playing that beta to playing the full game basically feels like taking a break before coming back and starting a new save.

There’s raiding for survival, and then there’s raiding for fun

The world where the game takes place is interesting and a little grotesque at times, but it would be nice to be able to explore more of the reason why it is the way it is. What virus led to the downfall of man and the birth of the Chimera program that raiders across the wasteland seem to be partaking in?

The concept of the game is simple, with players first introduced to the raiding aspects of the game, where they’ll need to explore the GenMat harvesting bases created by players and Behaviour’s own staff. Players will need to get through these bases to steal the GenMat and then get out alive, which is no easy task. Thankfully, you’re not limited in attempts and keep all the resources except GenMat if you quit.

These levels can be anything creators can imagine, as long as it fits around an unmovable framework on each new building site. This is a great measure to challenge builders and works to keep their bases in check, which is a smart move. Some of the best moments when you’re building yourself will be when you think of and successfully implement a fix to a problem in your base.

The bases are separated into three difficulties that seem to be based on the number of traps that you have in your base. This can be a bit misleading, as some bases with better traps are built to be more artistic than they are difficult, so it’s hard to call them “Dangerous” or “Brutal.” Raiding can be a lot of fun, but it also requires a touch of sadism due to the nature of failing and restarting repeatedly.

Some of the more dedicated players will likely spend nearly half an hour on some levels due to the difficult nature and strategy required. That being said, the rush you get after getting out of a level you died 20 times in is indescribable in a way that people tell you Dark Souls games are supposed to feel. As the game puts it, “death is a currency,” since every one of those deaths fuels the creator of that base.

Playing on the PlayStation 5 offers unique feedback in the DualSense’s triggers, which offer a satisfying click when building and alter in resistance based on your weapons. While it’s not a feature that makes the game on its own, it’s pretty cool if you can get the game on the latest Sony console.

Build the trap and they will come

Building your bases is definitely the more exciting part of the game, with it feeling like you’re laying a trap for prey to wander into later. As you become more familiar with your options and play more raids, your ideas will only grow. There will be multiple instances where you’ll see someone do something cool in their base and you’ll want to implement or improve on it in your base.

It’s incredible how after playing for a while, you begin to see the flaws in others’ planning as well as respecting their vision. It’s a unique feeling in this game due to the fact that everything has been created by players just like you, so you’re even more aware of how things work. It’s a lot of fun and having to leave a base you couldn’t complete always comes with a tinge of respect.

On the other hand, the classification system of built bases in three difficulty settings feels like it could use a little work. For example, why is a base labeled “Brutal” when it hasn’t killed a single person, and even when it does, has a death rate of 0.4? This seems like a slight balancing issue and doesn’t really affect anything on the raiding side. However, it can keep new bases from getting any players in higher difficulties.

The ability to replay and watch a raid through your base in the POV of the raider is great as it reveals weaknesses in your defenses while also showing you what works. Getting to walk through while building and collecting resources from raider deaths in your base is also really satisfying and can also be a great tool for knowing what works and what doesn’t.

Of course, this only works if your base gets players, and not every base will get the same love. It’s unclear if there are low player counts, although that seems unlikely with the game having over 3,000 players on Steam alone over the weekend. It may be that there are so many bases that there aren’t enough players to go around, but this is also unclear.

Even the most popular bases will likely have issues remaining fresh long after release if Behaviour doesn’t update the game with new content. The more that becomes possible through the creativity of players in Meet Your Maker, the better chance this game will have.

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PS5 review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Meet Your Maker is available on Steam, Xbox One/Series X|S, and PlayStation 4/5.