Impressions of Warstride Challenges. DOOM mixed with Ghostrunner, but not everyone will like the result

What are Warstride Challenges?

Warstride Challenges was announced at E3 2021 – many shooter fans have been paying attention to the title since then. The trailers looked great and the concept felt original. Still, it’s not often that DOOM is crossed with something like Ghostrunner.

From the commercials, it looked like the shooter mechanics were taken from the hit DOOM. The hero does not know how to brutally kill enemies, but in battle he often has to juggle guns, calculate the ideal order for eliminating reptiles and destroy them with volleys. In addition, the character races quickly through the locations in the style of Doomguy.

But from Ghostrunner, platforming and the need for verified actions migrated to the novelty. In the trailers, the hero deftly jumped onto the platforms, avoiding falling and delivering headshots directly to the monsters.

And now Warstride Challenges is available in early access. But how did she become? Well, there are few other games that fit the definition of “hurricane” better – the gameplay in the shooter is truly stunning. Those are just a few connoisseurs of the novelty of DOOM and Ghostrunner who are still upset.

Story

There is no plot in Warstride Challenges. Maybe the developers are getting closer to release with some sort of story or at least some curious knowledge, but so far they’ve focused entirely on the gameplay.

In DOOM, the plot was primitive, but Doomguy still had a motivation and he followed it. In Ghostrunner, the hero also had a clear goal. But in Warstride Challenges, the character just runs through the locations and tries to reach the final as fast as possible.

The only goal is to reach the end of the level and meet the timing. At the same time, when you break someone’s record, you can feel a sense of pride and smile, looking at the nickname of some Asian you just surpassed. The game gives no other motivation.

Story game connoisseurs will probably be surprised at such an approach. It’s always nice to have an adequate aim, learn more about the world and hate some bad guy. This is not the case in Warstride Challenges – it is purely a competitive game that relies on gameplay. However, the process of passing turned out to be so moving that you quickly forget everything in the world.

Gameplay

Structurally, Warstride Challenges are a series of locations that you have to run from start to finish. At the same time, the hero basically has two tasks – to meet the allotted time and kill all the monsters along the way.

In the beginning, the levels are simple and resemble a flat stomach, but over time, the developers throw in a serious challenge. As a result, it takes dozens of passes to pass more than once, even from experienced players.

The locations are always full of chasms, traps, platforms, narrow openings, closed doors and aggressive monsters. At the same time, the dynamics are unusually high: if you slide down a ledge or fly past an enemy without headshotting them, there’s no point in continuing – you’re not meeting the timing. So click on the key that will reload the level.

Fortunately, the hero has a formidable toolkit to efficiently progress through the levels. Different weapons, fast jumps, slides for narrow places, cool skills like power punches and time delay. But there are also limitations: the use of ammunition and extras is limited and the number varies by location.

But the enemies along the way are very different – they can easily cause a lot of inconvenience. There are monsters that fight hand-to-hand, shoot from a distance or explode when they get close. Along the way, armored big men with powerful weapons can even stand up, which is the place in DOOM. Well, at least the hero doesn’t die from the first shot, like in a good Ghostrunner – health-wise, he’s more like Doomguy.

Unfortunately, unlike the Executioner of Doom, the hero cannot circle around the enemy and shoot until the target dies. Or the treasured door could be guarded by five enraged creatures, who take too long to shoot individually. However, delaying means being late.

Only for such cases does the hero have the opportunity. On an armored enemy, you can quickly collapse from above, leaving porridge in place. The crowd is easily scattered by a power wave. Flying past regular enemies, there’s an option to turn on the slow-mo and do a few headshots.

Since the amount of skills and ammunition is limited, the levels are like puzzles. To pass the test as quickly as possible, the arsenal must be disposed of wisely.

Here the hero started the race. We jump over some chasms, on the way in slow-mo mode we kill gunmen with a pistol, switch to a shotgun and knock down a strong monster, break the door with a power blast, immediately slip under an obstacle, jump on the head of an armored big man, return to slow mo and kill everyone, shooting exploding barrels. And finally, we clear the way to the finish with a power strike.

This is a rough description of the simplest level. In short, the passage is much more confused.

It’s cool to find out how to quickly pass the level. The only problem is that there is often only one successful combination. Sure, speedrunners are sure to find a thousand and one ways to beat records and come up with unusual ways to reach the finish line, but for the average player there isn’t much variety.

As a result, during the passage you have to constantly experiment with skills and look for a suitable option. At first, not very inventive shooting of everyone in a row, but in the future you have to look for the only real way of fitting, which the developers originally came up with.

The search for the ideal path is facilitated by the mind of the player himself, who repeats the last run. Moreover, you can add the ghost of a speedrunner by nickname and see how he coped with the task.

However, if you do not intend to break world records, but just want to have fun and pass the available levels, the gameplay will leave a pleasant impression. Each new location always has its own chips and it is curious to deal with them.

Graphics, System Requirements and Sound

Warstride Challenges looks nice. The budget was thought to be limited, but the artists tried to squeeze everything out. The levels are nicely drawn, effects like explosions look good and the quality of the textures is fine too. The authors didn’t use any fancy technologies, but this game doesn’t need it.

Of course you can also find errors in the photo. Perhaps the biggest problem is that the action takes place in some caves – this makes the levels look similar. After passing, you can remember how the hero ingeniously shot enemies, but the locations themselves are instantly forgotten.

In addition, the design of the samples was found to be mediocre. Whatever creature gets in the way, it’s like it’s already been in a dozen other games – either in DOOM or in the recent Shadow Warrior 3.

However, since the hallmark of Warstride Challenges is speed, you don’t get stuck in such troubles. There’s just no time to look at locations or look into the textures of enemies.

With the optimization of the novelty, everything is in order. To run the shooter you need a PC with a GTX 660 graphics card, 8 GB RAM and an Intel Core i5-2500K processor – this is enough for 60 FPS on low settings. I played Warstrider Challenges on a laptop with a GTX 1650 Ti, 16GB RAM and an AMD Ryzen 5-3550H processor. As a result, the FPS on high settings mostly stayed around the same 60, even if there were drawdowns at tense moments.

The sound was great. The authors were clearly inspired by the music of Mick Gordon (Mick Gordon) for DOOM. The result is impressive: driving metal creates the right atmosphere and is remembered.

If you like gaming, don’t tolerate sluggishness and enjoy watching monsters smash into pieces, keep an eye out for Warstride Challenges. There are flaws in the shooter, but the benefits clearly cover them.

Are you going to play Warstride Challenges?