There’s something particularly absorbing about first-person games that involve exploring intricate and foreboding environments. From FPS classics like System Shock 2 and Half-Life to Thief and Deus Ex, moving through shadowy buildings, atmosphere thick with menace, becomes gripping when viewed from the perspectives of the characters who star in these games. This is something that R_Games seems to understand well, if the studio’s newly launched Zero Protocol, a gritty science fiction game, is anything to go by.
Zero Protocol is an FPS game with a lo-fi pixelated visual style and a design sensibility influenced by Half-Life and System Shock. Like those games, it’s set in a barren high-tech facility populated largely by vicious monsters, in this case the abandoned IAS Antarctic Research Complex and its many cold, dark, computer-lined and blood-splattered rooms.
The player is armed with a gun, but its Steam description points out that Zero Protocol focuses more on exploration and puzzle-solving than just straightforward shooting arenas. As the protagonist tries to survive the complex, they’ll need to find “passwords for doors, search for access cards to terminals, repair damaged equipment, and combine items” to make their way through. At the same time, a story unfolds that reveals what exactly has happened at the research complex prior to the game’s opening and which leads to a variety of different endings.
Zero Protocol is out now on Steam with a 10% discount that brings its price down to $10.79 USD / £8.99. Grab a copy right here.
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