Survival horror is back! Maybe not in the mainstream but it is back. I thought I was going to like this game but wow, I wasn’t expecting something this good. Conscript is engrossing. It grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I didn’t want to play or think about any other game while I was working through it. It is respectful of and understands both the World War I setting and the survival horror genre. It just juggles being video game-y and the seriousness of war with such confidence. Jordan Mochi, the solo developer, is an instant legend and it is wonderful to see people coming up and making games with actual friction and purposeful design even if that won’t catch the largest audience.

Going from Crow Country to Conscript was an experience. Crow Country asks you to make a cup of tea, grab a blanket and enjoy the comfy, nostalgic journey. Conscript kicks you down into the mud and tries to keep you there. The trophy for completing chapter two in Conscript currently sits at around 27% (this is a six chapter game). Conscript is tough to get into but really enjoyable and rewarding if you do. You may start off lying in the mud but then you learn to crawl. Not long after you’ll find your feet and start trudging through it. Then you begin to jog. Eventually you’ll be able to run, maybe even sprint through this mud if you keep at it. This is the satisfying journey missed by those that quit survival horror early or any type of game that requires some patience and building an understanding of how it works. But if you’re really not up for that then not to worry, Conscript has easier difficulty options and you can turn on unlimited saves and checkpoints.

I would recommend giving the standard difficulty a go without the helpers turned on though because you’ll get more out of it in the long run. Having checkpoints means that you can abuse them, it means fewer concerns about the considerations you are meant to be taking and it reduces tension. Saving in this game requires ink which is limited but you can buy more. However this will waste the currency (cigarettes) better spent elsewhere and the merchant isn’t carrying an endless amount. Removing this cuts out the thinking and pressure that is involved when you can’t constantly save. The ‘survival’ here is done really damn well so it is worth trying to get into it.

Conscript has limited inventory space that feels just right but I have seen complaints about this and backtracking. Conscript does not have excessive backtracking; it is just the result of not making the hard decisions that are necessary, which is kind of the point here. Don’t bring health, don’t bring spare ammo, and don’t bring multiple guns. Make sure to spend your cigarettes on expanding your inventory size and make sure to have an idea of what you want achieve during each trip from the item box and bring only what’s needed. You can choose not to pick everything up and non vital items can be discarded at anytime. The backtracking is the punishment for trying to wiggle out of hard decisions and for trying to make things easy and this will potentially expose you to more combat too. On top of this the locations here are well designed and not that large. I like the maps and enjoyed getting to know the layout. It’s all fitting for this setting and genre.

Resources are limited, as they should be; forcing the player to be careful, consider risks and their consumption. The issues I had here were that ammo and cigarettes are a bit too abundant, at least on standard and mainly nearer to the end. Lots of resources aren’t only found but can be crafted and bought too. Crafting comes with the tough choice of what to make. Of course the cigarettes you buy stuff with are limited. You won’t be able to purchase everything and don’t forget to save some for your pal Gaston. Comprehensive exploration, particularly because there are valuable items to find and sell, will net you more cigarettes but that’s balanced by the risk that comes with extra time spent wondering these trenches.

Dealing with those risks lurking in the trenches and patrolling the map is exactly what you would expect from survival horror. Combat is not ‘clunky’ or ‘outdated’ which I often see directed at not just Conscript but survival horror in general, and not even just that genre but often older games or older style games as a whole. Conscript has restrictions and friction. The main criticism I have is that due to the top-down perspective it isn’t immediately clear if you’ll be safe from a shot or hit until a little time is put into the game. Combat involves spacing, repositioning, interrupting your enemies and out manoeuvring them. It is about learning the movement and attack speed and range of your own character and the enemies. You need to know exactly when you can reload or attack. You need to know when to do a runner. You can bait enemies into attacking or being attacked, lure them into traps and try to group them. You need to wait half a second to steady your aim or charge your melee hit. You need to consider each encounter and your resources but still be prepared to adapt on the fly. All of this is done under pressure and the result is combat that is engaging and visceral. Conscript gives you options and consequences too.

Killing enemies leaves behind bodies that attract rats. Those hungry little demons have grown large and numerous on all the available food but they still prefer the taste of fresh flesh. So it is a good idea to burn the bodies but this requires fuel which is a limited resource and takes up inventory room. You can throw a grenade into rat nests to stop them too but grenades are valuable and take space as well. Enemies can also be reduced by patching up areas of the trenches with barbed wire but again that is inventory space. Trying to be a killing machine in Conscript makes places safer to get through and come back to but it uses resources, carries risk and has consequences if you don’t clean up after yourself.

The other option is to avoid combat and there is a trophy for getting through the game without any direct kills. Stealth can be used for killing by walking up behind unsuspecting foes and introducing your shovel to the back of their skulls. But it can also be used to get by unnoticed. Just be patient, wait for openings and use the little convenient hiding spots. More fun than that though is running through avoiding them. Go around if you can or jog up to an enemy, draw them to attack, then dodge roll past and keep running. This requires a careful use of your stamina bar though and might not be so breezy if there are multiple of them around. Of course if you don’t get rid of enemies they’ll be there whenever you come back. There is a good amount of choice in your approach and making use of everything while taking into account limited resources is going to be best. How you engage with the game and some choices you make impact the story, your experience and final rank.

When not dealing with enemies and rats you’ll be exploring for resources, key items and solving some puzzles to progress through. You’ll need to stop by the item box and make some deals with the merchant every now and then too. Exploration is rewarding and tension builds the further you get from your last save. But it’s not just about getting resources and learning the layout. It also rewards you with pieces to the story and the experience. The environmental detail and storytelling is impressive. There were times when I stopped and just went ‘oh shit’ and there are documents to find as well. Exploration has some limitations placed on it that also need to be factored in. There are dark places where a light would come in handy but that takes an inventory space and requires new batteries from time to time. There are also places hit by gas which there is a gas mask for but yep, you guessed it, another inventory space taken up.

The puzzles you find along the way are satisfying but not head scratchers, they just require a bit of observation and remembering details. Finding the key items and progressing further along is enjoyable in that ‘oh now I can go back there’ kind of way and it is well designed. It sometimes creates shortcuts and had me planning how to tackle things now I could go back and open some previously locked places while not forgetting to work in an item box and merchant visit. The merchant is such a reliable, helpful fellow I was always happy to see and the more you explore and solve the more you’ll be able to make some deals with him. He has variety of items and weapon upgrades so there are more things for you to mull over in your attempts to stay alive and make progress.

All the different elements of the game work well together. However, it is just slightly too much. Maybe there are too many guns and weapons. Maybe crafting or at least ammo crafting could go. Is the weapon upgrading necessary? Although when I think on this stuff I always go ‘but that balances the other thing’ or ‘that is a reward for taking that risk or exploring more’ or ‘that brings more choice and consideration’ but still there is a lot going on here and it could have been tighter which brings me to Conscript’s biggest flaws; the pacing and the length. It is just too long and can start to drag at times. My play through was around 14 hours. The runtime can make small flaws stand out more and highlight how it doesn’t perfectly excel at everything. Most importantly though is that as much as I have praised the combat it could have used more depth or enemy variety for this runtime plus replays. I did still enjoy combat to the end though and subsequent replays will be much shorter. Looking back at the journey I don’t want any chapters or sections cut. I think what was needed was a few minutes cut here, 30 seconds saved there and a little less combat sprinkled throughout. Just tightened up a bit to make first plays one or maybe two hours shorter would have made for a better experience. Maybe it is meant to be a bit gruelling though and despite these flaws this is a bloody good survival horror game to play. It is oppressive but purposeful in its design and it is rewarding to make your way through and get better at.

That’s not the only thing that’s oppressive. The depiction of World War I and the atmosphere here is phenomenal. Conscript does not hold back and presents war seriously, with all the horror, suffering, loss and destruction you would expect. Death is everywhere; bodies are left where they dropped or piled up or put into unfinished mass graves. The physical and mental destruction is seen in every inch of the game. It is dark, heavy, suffocating and disturbing and it pulls you in. The retro style and the perspective work well for the setting. Maybe it is a good thing it has this retro style too because seeing this game rendered with the realism of a modern AAA game would be deeply uncomfortable. Although things often get lost in the pursuit of realistic graphics as well, not that it matters though because the AAA space would never produce something this bold. Conscript visually achieves exactly what it was going for and there are so many details that are important but I’ll just mention one. I am grateful that there are some propaganda posters to find. The images in these posters in comparison to the absolute terror around you are perfect. The soundtrack is fantastic as well. So are the sounds like the gunshots, screams of pain, the thunder and rain, even just the movements and breathing. The way this game sounds elevates and amplifies everything the game is trying to accomplish with the visuals, the atmosphere and the gameplay without ever being over the top.

Conscript doesn’t scare in the same way as other survival horror games. It horrifies and creates discomfort by using a real setting and through its events, sound and imagery. If you stop to think about what you’re being confronted with it gets psychological too. Forget zombie dogs jumping through a window, how about you question what is wrong with your species. What about the real horrors of war and being conscripted? What about your own potential darkness? Would you go along with everything, would you resist and what would happen to your family and home if you and thousands of others didn’t go to the front line? Would you lose yourself, your humanity or your sanity? Would you choose to go over the trenches or face execution? Would you develop an appetite for driving a bayonet into flesh? Is it inevitable that humans will be here again and again and again?

Conscript does not ignore this; it puts you right in the thick of it. I won’t say too much here to avoid spoiling it but Conscript never felt like glorification or much of a power fantasy despite being videogame-y and giving you the ability to get a lot of kills. The enemies are presented as being just as human as the main characters and your comrades. The psychological impacts are seen throughout the game. There is more than just a reluctance to fight depicted here. There is refusal, abandonment and executions. The player is even given some agency and choices. You can try not to kill and there are opportunities to do good things and help others. The gameplay actually goes beyond just trying to do what’s best in a survival horror and asks a bit more than that. How much the player explores and does also impacts how much of this story they can put together and the ending they get.

We’ve seen stories like this before; stories that drive home how horrible war is on both a personal and wider level. Conscript is about two brothers that have already suffered loss trying to look out for each other during the First World War. It takes place in Verdun in 1916. Maybe we’ve seen something like this before and maybe it is a bit simple. It’s well done though, it resonates and I’ll never get tired of hearing ‘war is bad,’ when done properly. We need to keep telling these stories. We must remember the death, the damage, the disease, the gore, the gas and the gut wrenching grief. Thankfully though there is some light in Conscript too. There are soldiers that haven’t lost their sense of humour, there is camaraderie, there are people in leadership positions that show appreciation for your efforts and there are people trying to help and make a difference.

Conscript has some minor flaws and doesn’t do everything perfectly but it is such an impressive, rich, rewarding, and absorbing experience. This is why it is now my game of the year. It is a must play for every survival horror fan and anyone that has the patience to enjoy it. Even if you don’t I would still try it with the difficulty and survival elements dropped down. What I’ve been trying to say this whole time is that this one of the best depictions of war ever seen in a game, if not the best. It is also the best survival horror experience since the glory days of the genre.

9.1/10