Why’d it have to be an extraction shooter?
If this were a video review; and for the record I don’t even smoke cigarettes, but I would start this off with me holding a lit cig with a face palm and a long drawn-out sigh. “Why so dramatic,” I hear you asking; and it’s because No More Room in Hell 2 presents as a zombie horde shooter, which I was excited for because I love those games. But alas, it was all a ruse; as this game is actually an extraction shooter with zombies.
Before you even say it, I already know this is my fault. I should have actually looked into this game instead of taking it at face value. But, let me tell you about No More Room in Hell 2, as it may just be the game you are looking for. As I said, it’s an extraction shooter that will see players looting and scavenging in a world overrun by the undead. I have never played the original but as a fan of Torn Banner’s other game Chivalry I was willing to give the sequel a shot. The think I loved the most about the sequel is how well the game makes you feel like an everyday person. Players aren’t the ‘Leon Kennedy’ type, but just an average person trying to survive.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: XBOX (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
One way the game excels at this is the audio design. There aren’t musical queues or tracks that begin to swell as the danger ratchets up, instead there is silence. Just the sound of the world, which in my opinion lends itself to a way more atmospheric approach that really makes the game a lot scarier than some of the other zombie shooters. Levels are appropriately dim and eerie; locations run the gauntlet between run down buildings with hollowed out rooms to hospitals that look like the staff ran out mid shift. And of course, all of these locations are jam packed full of loot to find and put to use.
Combat is another area where No More Room in Hell makes players remember they are just playing a normal person. Unlike games like Left 4 Dead that allow players to just swing their melee weapons with wild abandon; here they will have to contend with a stamina bar. Weapons have a weight, and swinging them requires players to use combos, so using the RT will swing to the left and at the end of the curve press RT again to combo back with a swing to the right. Placement and strikes matter, the enemies here are dangerous and while there is a mostly risk-free single player; if players are playing with a team that means there is permadeath to deal with.
Missing melee strikes might alert a horde if you strike a surface. Noise can bring lots of enemies and at that point its time to pull out a gun. For the most part the gunplay in No More Room in Hell 2 is pretty standard as far as controls. Players can find various attachments for weapons like scopes and things that will augment how the gun handles overall. I was surprised to find that the game has crafting mechanic as well, which allows players to make health kits and more. There is also a pretty decent mix of gun types that players can find in the environment, of course the trick is being able to make it out alive with the weapon in order to use it another day.
But listen because my biggest issue with this game is the controls; there is really no excuse for the way the controls are handled on console. Playing on Series X the first and in my opinion biggest sin is the fact that the controller buttons cannot be changed. Sigh, I don’t know how many times we have to do this but if you are making games and you are thinking that you want to make your controls go against the grain of what’s normal then please just give us the ability to change them. In what world do they press Y/Triangle to reload?! Those people are mad men; they have to be because it makes no sense otherwise. There are some other weird choices with buttons too and of course you can’t change them. I am so sick and tired of having to retrain my brain on how to control a new game just because a developer thinks they know better. Bruh, just keep it simple and familiar!
In the end, I actually enjoyed No More Room in Hell 2 more than I thought I would’ve. The atmosphere the game presents is tense and palpable, the fact that you spawn in alone and have to find your teammates makes those early moments feel frantic as you desperately search for a way to defend yourself until you can find your mates. There is some fun to be had but mileage is going to vary, if you don’t have a dedicated group to play with then you may struggle. The game has a steep learning curve due in no small part to the tutorial being an optimal activity; DO NOT SKIP IT. I wish the main mode wasn’t an extraction shooter, because I am already tired of this sub-genre, but there is a ‘horde’ type mode that players can find some fun in. For fans of this genre though, I think this is a genuinely good co-op horror experience that can deliver some scares and laughs to a Friday night gaming session.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.