Beyond Sunset is a retro-inspired first-person shooter set in a cyberpunk world where subtlety goes out of the window. It’s Deus Ex but without the stealth and Doom without John Romero’s silky smooth hair, yet not quite up to the standard of any of the two. Still, we’re talking about classics here and stepping into the shoes of a lightning fast cyber samurai has delivered some sessions of fun, so this is a good omen for the full launch.
Faster Than Lightning
Running on an upgraded version of the Doom engine called GZDoom, Beyond Sunset does have a good feeling to visuals and gameplay, being fast and enjoyable to look at. Graphics are somewhat uneven depending on the zones you are, but the busiest cities are a joy to look at. Other things that come with the engine are the cardboard thin sprites that rotate along your movement, a limitation that shouldn’t really have a place in games nowadays, but it’s here and impossible to ignore.
Beyond Sunset starts as we try to track down a target and take him out. With initial promise of story-based gameplay, this turns out to be fairly deceiving as most of the game is about combat, using our speed to eliminate hordes of enemies with a few moments of respite between bouts. You can talk to characters and even get jobs from a few, but the bulk of gameplay seems to be focused on slashing and shooting through everyone that comes your way, until you reach a computer and open a new map section, and so on.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a story, but the key elements are few and far between, and mostly as you progress through chapters. Other than that, it’s an arcade rush to eliminate enemies that spawn wave after wave out of nowhere, often behind you as you try to find your bearings, not to mention that the game plays with verticality in a somewhat accomplished way, even though this may be seen as a double-edged sword, as you’re often attacked from places you can barely see, let alone reach.
Needless to say, there are moments of frustration where you are caught by surprise as a group of thugs materialize behind you, and lose part of your progress without being at fault. Some set pieces such as one in a nightclub look really good, with chaos everywhere as people try to unsuccessfully dodge the flying bullets, but the visible spawn points are one mechanic that truly belongs in the retro-gaming past.
Mobility is one of the best things about Beyond Sunset, as you zip and slash through enemies using your samurai sword, later unlocking ranged weaponry such as a pistol, shotgun, and rifle. Vending machines offer you character and weapon upgrades purchased with the coins dropping from enemies, expanding on things such as clip size or add-ons. Shooting sensations aren’t terribly exciting, with the shotgun delivering the best punch but the initial reload time almost makes it unusable. On the other hand, the pistol seems slightly overpowered and perfect for taking out enemies at a distance.
Speaking of coins and also health, it’s odd that these items left behind by fallen enemies only disappear after a few seconds, when they are already collected and added to your total amount right at the moment they drop. This can be confusing and is frankly unnecessary as you try to pick up collectibles from the ground that aren’t palpable anymore.
Beyond Sunset could be more player-friendly in some regards, such as the region map. Since the areas are fairly large and connected to one another by various paths, this can be both interesting and confusing, as the map is extremely crude and the layouts all over the place. There is no legend regarding any of the icons or locations that we explore, so in part it’s a guessing game that wasn’t necessary, and the small arrow that marks the player also shrinks with the rest of the map, so if you want to have an overall look of the area, it’s easy to miss your location for a moment.
Another thing that felt like an oversight is the lack of a journal or quest log to track our main mission and side jobs. Since the areas are vast and it’s very easy to get sidetracked, at a certain point it’s more of a matter of going forward than focusing on reaching a specific place – again, something that the map utterly fails to help with, not even bothering with a name for each region.
Cyber Samurai Ex
The overarching plot behind Beyond Sunset has a few interesting key moments, including a stint through cyberspace, but it is mainly an action game with fast movement within fairly vast chapters. It is on track to be a retro enthusiast pleaser but for now is undermined by a few issues that could be solved without much hardship, such as the unintuitive map or the absence of a mission log. Hopefully the Early Access stage will be enough to iron out the kinks and deliver a full-blown experience taking the best out of a period that marked the golden age of first-person shooters.
MP1st was given access to a preview build of Beyond Sunset for our hands-on session. Beyond Sunset is currently in Early Access and launches during 2024 on PC.