At Sundown: Shots in the Dark
Developed by: Mild Beast Games
Published by: Versus Evil
Genre(s): Multiplayer Shooter
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam PC, Xbox One
Availability: Out now
Synopsis: At Sundown: Shots In The Dark is a top down stealth-based arena shooter in which up to 4 players compete in online and local death match games. Players are under the cover of complete darkness and can only see themselves and be seen by their opponents when they shoot, dash, walk into or trigger a light source.
Note: This copy of At Sundown: Shots in the Dark was reviewed on the PlayStation 4 with a code provided by the developer, with no obligation to review it.
To start off, if there was a bit more variety in At Sundown: Shots in the Dark, I believe that this game is one of those indie darlings that could have been one of the more memorable games of 2019. But because the game does start to get a bit repetitive in terms of maps and gameplay. And that’s too bad because from my time with the game I had a real blast – especially as the game became really competitive with my kids. But let’s go back a bit here.
I wanted to play this game for this review online, but after twenty minutes of waiting for other players to show up on the server, I got impatient and decided that I would play some practice rounds before I tried the local play when my kids got home. So, playing against three bots was pretty interesting because it seemed that no matter what difficulty level I set the bots to they always seemed to find my character and kill me before I could really get going. In fact, in the two hours that I played against these bots, I only won three games – and that was with the bots’ difficulty set on easy.
Finally, my kids got home and I was able to get all three of them to play with me so we could get a full four-person game going so I could do this review. And boy, did we have some fun. I mean, we really went at each other and it got really, really heated at times as we took shots at each other, trying to rack up kills to win each round. And that reminds me, I haven’t told you guys about the gameplay for this game, have I?
At Sundown: Shots in the Dark is a top-down stealth shooter where four players are put into a map with obstacles and limited lighting and must use the cunning and skill to track and find the other players and eliminate them. The players have their choice from a variety of weapons to choose from – from pistols to SMGs to sniper rifles – each with their own strengths and weaknesses… each that could suit each players style of gameplay. Personally, I seemed to do better when using the pistols and shotguns as I found that their range and versatility suited the way I run and gun in games like this.
Which brings me to something that I really enjoyed about the game on a visual aspect. Because the game is set in maps that are almost completely dark, when the players utilize their weapons and their dash moves, the lighting effects that are displayed can be quite mesmerizing. Using these lighting effects is really the only way to find your opponents in the dark to eliminate them. It’s funny how you use something so pretty to do something so ugly to your opponents – but it makes the game that much more fun.
Unfortunately, after a few hours playing with my kids over a couple of days, the game got repetitive. I think At Sundown: Shots in the Dark got repetitive faster for my kids than it did for me, but that is because of the differing kinds of games that we like. Still, as much as I love indie games with cool and interesting gameplay concepts, if the game doesn’t have enough to capture your attention for more than a couple of days or a couple of hours, it kind of makes it hard to really hard to keep playing. And I feel bad for not being more into the game than I am because it really is an interesting concept and is presented in such a way that it could be a really appealing game for most gamers.
As it is, At Sundown: Shots in the Dark is a fun game that just falls a bit flat at the end. I mean, when I had fun with the game, I had a lot of fun with it. But when the game got to be just a bit too repetitive for my own taste, there’s not much more that I can say about it for a review. The point being here is this: is At Sundown a fun game? Yes. Is it worth the price of the game? Well, that depends. For me, I would say that the game is worth playing at the very least. But if you know that you get bored of games fast, I honestly couldn’t recommend the game to you. But, personally, I would be comfortable with the price. All in all, At Sundown is a fun game, but it doesn’t go too much past being a good game.
