The new Cyberpunk FPS game on Steam is my classic Halo fix after just one demo

I just finished playing what is truly one of the best Steam game demos I've been playing for a very long time and I'm here to recommend you as is and whatever this game has to offer once it finally launches. SPRAWLE Zero is one of those indie gems that I truly believe has the potential to be a knockout hit, and his Overwhelmingly Positive Steam demo seems to agree with me. Inspired by the golden age of 2000 FPS games, SPRAWLE Zero pulls from games like FEAR and Half-Life 2 make it old school Halo feeling like new again – which is aptly timed Halo: Campaign Evolved it's just around the corner and I'm trying to play.

My Steam backlog has three backlogs and yet SPRAWLE Zero he had somehow avoided it until now. But the interesting thing is that I don't generally consider myself someone who prefers retro games to modern ones. They are often too clunky for my taste and there are too many industry standards that these games don't meet. Because of this, I usually don't get the same level of appreciation for them as many others. However, even for that reason, I cannot recommend it SPRAWLE Zero enough, even so early in its life. In a way, it takes the basics of classic shooters as Halo and makes the foundation feel like it was laid yesterday. Consider this your official recommendation to follow SPRAWLE Zeroand click the Wish List Like Me button.

SPRAWL Zero makes classic Halo shooting faster, sleazier and weirder

Let me make this clear SPRAWLE Zero there is no individual Halo clone, and that's ultimately what makes it as exciting as it is. From what I experienced in the demo, it's more like someone took the general old school feel Halo's gunplay, pushed it into a cyberpunk world, gave it some Half-Life 2 mechanics, and then sped it up until it started to feel borderline ridiculous. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Place the consoles in the correct order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)heavy (10)

Start

Players take on the role of FIVE, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier controlled by the Junta, ordered to take down SILAS, the leader of a radical techno-religious group called IMAGO-DEI. He already gives it SPRAWLE Zero the kind of sci-fi premise I want from a game like this, and it almost reminds me a little Crysis in some respects. There are factions fighting for control, a city falling into chaos, and a central character who feels like a kind of unstoppable weapon that these worlds always think they can control until they quite obviously can't.

Key features of SPRAWL Zero

• Cyberpunk FPS combat inspired by the 2000s

• Smart enemy units that bypass and communicate

• Gravity gauntlet for object manipulation

• Gravity Shield to intercept and return fire

• Bullet-Time to control a missile in the air

• Rushdown attacks with invulnerability and destructive power

• No traditional overcharging; throw empty weapons instead

• More than 40 weapons with different roles

• Powerful melee controlled melee combat

• Handcrafted levels with verticality and alternate routes

• Multiple factions with organic and mechanical enemies

The real selling point, though, is the shooting. SPRAWLE ZeroThe Steam page describes its combat as fast but grounded, and I think that's exactly the right way to put it. This is a very fast game – much faster than Halo— but it's not the kind of FPS game where everything is weightless or where weapons can be laser pointers with damage numbers attached.

The gun was the first thing that really sold me. Any FPS that gives me an absurdly satisfying gun is halfway to winning me over, and SPRAWLE Zeroit immediately got me thinking Halo: Combat Evolvedpistol. It's powerful, it's great to use, and it gave me exactly that “why would I even give it?” the feel every great FPS gun should have. Unfortunately, SPRAWLE Zero it forces you to put down your weapons because once you run out of ammo, you either throw it at an enemy or grab another from the ground. I had to break my habit of constantly loading FPS games, but in the end, the frenetic pace of the whole experience made it that much better.

Instead of sitting behind cover and waiting for the reload animation to finish, I was constantly looking for my next option. Should I throw the empty gun? Do I rush into melee? Should I attract something to myself with Half-Life 2-esque Gravity Gloves? Do I just grab whatever weapon is nearby and hope it gets me in the next few seconds? That's basically it SPRAWLE ZeroA fast game loop in a nutshell, which is why the demo never felt like it was slowing down just to let me catch my breath.

SPRAWL Zero's Powers keep him from feeling nostalgic

And then come SPRAWLE Zerogravitational forces, which is where the game really starts to build its own identity. The Gravity Gloves allow players to pull objects closer, which instantly adds a little something to the game Half-Life 2 and BioShock taste. I realize that “you can pull objects towards you” isn't exactly a new idea in video games, but when it's thrown into a shooter that moves this fast, it changes the whole feel of the combat.

The Gravity Shield can be even cooler as it allows players to intercept enemy fire and throw it back. Bullet-Time allows FIVE to bend bullets in mid-air with absurd accuracy, while Rushdown allows players to pounce on enemies with invulnerability and devastating power. Put it all together and SPRAWLE Zero it's starting to feel like a console FPS from the 2000s that somehow got its hands on every modern power fantasy it could find. In fact, I feel like this might be my new favorite recipe.

And luckily, enemies don't just stand around waiting to be shot across the room. They move enough, push you enough, and push you out of cover enough that all of FIVE's absurd tools actually feel like they have a purpose. That's what makes the fight as good as it does because SPRAWLE Zero it's not just giving players a bunch of weird abilities and then forgetting to build encounters around them.

The levels also help sell it because SPRAWLE Zero it gives you enough space to really use whatever you can get your hands on. I wasn't just running around the halls shooting whatever appeared right in front of me like in some arcade shooter at the local pizzeria. I moved through space with enough verticality and alternating paths to make shooting, melee, throwing weapons, and gravity feel like they were part of one coherent loop.

I think that's ultimately what caught my eye the most about the demo. SPRAWLE Zero it very obviously pays homage to early 2000s gaming, from its Y2K aesthetic to its sound design to the way it builds combat spaces, but it never feels like it's just about reminding players of a game they already love. It takes the parts of that era that we all loved the most and twists them until they feel as dangerous as they do nostalgic.

Of course, the full game has yet to prove it can keep it up. A must-play demo is one thing, and a full campaign with enough enemy variety, weapon variety, level variety, and story momentum is quite another. SPRAWLE Zero he may still stumble once the full release arrives, especially if his best ideas start repeating themselves too often.

However, based on what I've played so far, this is exactly the kind of Steam demo I wish I could find more often. It sold me on the world, it sold me on the combat, and it made me want to play when it was over. If Halo: Campaign Evolved is a return to one of the games that helped define classic console FPS games, SPRAWLE Zero It feels like the kind of game that could remind everyone why this style still works.

SPRAWLE Zero is currently without a release date Steambut it is available to wishlist and has a playable demo.