Selaco (2024)

What makes a shooter good? Tons of guns, tons of ammo, tons of enemies, and full control in your hands. What makes a shooter dynamic? Tons of action on the map, different enemy types with unique tricks, and surprises up the sleeves of both enemies and the player. What makes a shooter spectacular? Blood, explosions, objects flying into pieces, and of course - a shotgun in the player’s hands.

That’s Selaco: a good, dynamic, and spectacular shooter. The developers clearly knew their audience and gave the player:

A shotgun that lets you shred your enemies.

A revolver that blows heads clean off, a nailgun that literally pins enemies to walls, and six more weapons of destruction.

It’s all flashy, satisfying, and just a blast to play.

The only thing I can really criticize is the boredom between the “arenas.” The devs clearly put in effort to fill the locations with tons of detail, colorful decorations, thematic environments, everything feels lively. But for crying out loud, how many, hooooow many, secrets can you cram into a single level?

Very early on I realized that if you try to find all of them on your own, you’re looking at hours of pixel-hunting across every corner of the map. And these aren’t just cosmetic collectibles, sometimes they’re actual weapon upgrades, which in my opinion is just unforgivable.

To be fair, the devs did add the option to revisit completed areas, which helps. But the levels often feel like labyrinths, and I had at least three cases where I was wandering for (!!!) 15 minutes trying to figure out "where the hell do I go next…" That caused a lot of frustration. Even the green markers that are supposed to guide you sometimes just confused me further.

Still, despite those flaws, I absolutely recommend this game.