STRAFE

Critic reviews

• GameSpew

  Kyle Bradford · May 20, 2017

  5.0

  Strafe attempts to walk the thin line of being harsh but fair but unfortunately falls off it entirely. Because of the variable randomness to each level, there’s very little you can do to improve on each run. Deaths often are at the hand of level’s own unpredictability, making it next to impossible to improve from run to run. Even worse is that, if Strafe was judged solely on its shooter mechanics alone, it fails to be a strong selling point on its own.

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• Hey Poor Player

  Jeremy Johnson · May 17, 2017

  7.0

  STRAFE is a game lost in time and space. It might have been revolutionary in 1996, but today it is a stark reminder that nostalgia can only carry a game so far. The game is polished like a fine jewel, but lacks ambition—a shine that might place it among the classics.

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• COGconnected

  James Paley · May 16, 2017

  7.2

  Then you get to watch the blood stream down your screen before you start the whole ordeal over again. Perhaps this masochistic dance will light a flame in your heart. You’ll think to yourself, “Finally! A game with some real challenge!” To you, I say good luck, godspeed and always be reloading. You’ll run out of health long before you run out of ammo.

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• Cultured Vultures

  Brandon Leek · May 15, 2017

  7.0

  The core gameplay of running through fun levels while causing as much gore as possible is very rewarding, especially with a backing soundtrack that pushes the player to kill more. But the little things do add up over time to detract from the flow of the game. As it stands, I can only recommend STRAFE after a few more patches or when it’s on sale for under $10.

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• Hardcore Gamer

  James Cunningham · May 15, 2017

  7.0

  Strafe falls short of greatness, but is definitely great fun.  Each of the three main guns feels good to wield, and if some of the mods aren’t as useful as others, there are still ways to use them effectively.  The secondary limited-use guns provide a welcome opportunity to change tactics when necessary and grabbing an exploding bug off the wall to use as a makeshift grenade somehow never gets old.  The bloody violence is particularly well done, because not only is it fun to get your carnage on, but the bloody trail you leave in your wake is surprisingly helpful in keeping your bearings.  Plus you can always shoot an enemy on a toxic orange spill and use their blood to make the floor safe again, which is awfully helpful in a gory kind of way.  There are plenty of secrets, occasional hidden levels and many other goodies and bits of weirdness to find amidst the carnage and mayhem, making Strafe a fun and highly replayable action roguelike FPS that wears its love for the 90s on its blood-soaked sleeve.

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• Gaming Bolt

  Alex Jackson · May 10, 2017

  7.0

  STRAFE gets a lot of presentational things right, and even though it undermines and contradicts its own mechanics in some places, the singular sense of style the game exudes is fantastic. Running through the swarmed halls of the dilapidated space station has a lot of appeal for classic shooter fans.

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