PIGFACE feels like a long-forgotten classic, with gameplay and graphics that resemble Hotline Miami modded from GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64, and a world that feels oddly nostalgic in its grungy brutality. It made for a pleasant change of pace from my other reviews and an overall fun experience. Though this Early Access title is bare bones at best, the cost of entry is worth it to get your hands on the title before its full launch and to have the chance to potentially shape the game’s future with feedback and testing.
The game sees us playing as Exit, a brutal killer with a dark past (something that should be pretty obvious considering I introduced her as a “brutal killer”), who is abducted and forced to work as a “cleaner” for a shady criminal organization. Operating out of a ramshackle apartment, Exit takes on jobs for the criminal group, wiping out other gangs and would-be competition, paid just enough for her efforts to keep her armed and medicated, with the bomb in her neck being her real incentive for working.
Each of these missions takes the shape of a small, self-contained level full of enemies and a couple of objectives to complete. A skilled player will blast through these in five to ten minutes, with the only real delay being if an enemy catches you off guard and you end up dying. Hotline Miami isn’t a terrible comparison to make for PIGFACE, as these levels are incredibly fast, and you’ll die quickly if you’re not careful or if you run out of morphine. Said morphine and a higher health bar make death more easily avoidable than in Hotline Miami, but there are still areas in the game where you can be one to two-shot if you’re not careful.
The most obvious sign of PIGFACE still being an Early Access game would be the amount of levels available, or the lack thereof. At the moment, PIGFACE only has five short playable levels, including the tutorial. It is, unfortunately, just a taste of the game, but fans can rest assured that the 1.0 release will have more, as it seems to be the biggest area the developer plans to expand on.
When you enter a level, you cycle through various aspects of your loadout, including your main weapon, melee, armor, and mask. Masks give special passive bonuses, and the game’s only real progression is using money earned from missions to collect masks and gear. Morphine, your healing item, is persistent even on death, so you have to buy more if you fail a mission and run out of healing.
The gameplay itself is a fast FPS in the style of DOOM or Half-Life, with the latter being what the game most reminded me of. You lack crosshairs and most direction, and the guns are punchy and dangerous. Most firearms will kill enemies in one or two hits, or a single burst from automatic weapons, and feel satisfying to use when they send enemies flying back on kills. They also have very reliable spray patterns and hip fire, with the game incentivizing you to use the latter to keep moving and avoid damage from enemies. Ammunition is sparse, and you’ll often find yourself cycling between your melee weapon or dropped guns to keep the flow of combat from grinding to a halt.
The game is clearly designed to challenge you to go back and clear each mission as quickly, efficiently, and stylishly as possible, expecting you to run each one multiple times to find optimal pathing and the best way to kill the enemies that spawn there. For players who like speedrunning or time-trial-type games, PIGFACE will be a delightful new entry to try out.
If I could change anything about how the guns felt in PIGFACE, I would add more hit detection and kill feedback. Some may argue that this is part of the game’s charm, but I often found myself in situations where I wasn’t sure if I killed an enemy or not, only to turn around and see them get back up. To be fair, if you blow their heads off this isn’t really a worry, but I’m a sucker for little audio or visual celebrations when I gun down a helpless NPC.
Before closing out this review, I have to give credit to the game’s graphical design. The deceptively simple early-PS2-style graphics play incredibly well into the dirty, grungy, crime-filled world of PIGFACE. Enemies have surprisingly notable silhouettes and designs despite their limited details and basic clothing, thanks to some well-placed blood stains, creepy masks, and incredible voice acting.
PIGFACE is clearly a title developed with passion, and one that was released into Early Access because the creator wants more from it. “Wanting more” is my biggest criticism of the game; besides the obvious lack of playable levels (the gun runs remarkably short because of it), I just find myself wanting to try more guns, face off against more enemies, and experience more of the story.
As solid as it is, PIGFACE’s greatest flaw is simply that it’s still early on in the development process. For some, I could understand this being enough of a reason to avoid the title and come back to it in its 1.0 release. I, however, say the game is worth giving a chance even now, and that interested players should hop in and give feedback to help the game grow. Who knows just how different it might be when it leaves Early Access?
Pros
- Fast, punchy FPS gameplay reminiscent of DOOM and Half-Life
- Strong speedrunning/time-trial potential
- A strong, grungy setting
- Satisfying gunplay
Cons
- Very limited content in Early Access, with only five short playable levels completed
TryHardGuides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of PIGFACE. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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