A melting pot of diverse influences, Paradox Vector liberally pinches from the original Doom, the Metroid series, an assortment of ‘80s arcade releases, cosmic horror literature, and most intriguingly, the perspective-distorting works of famed artist M.C. Escher. As such, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the FPS throwback has little ambition beyond simply recycling old ideas and well-worn tropes. Yet whilst none of the basic components are especially ground-breaking in their own right, the way in which lone developer, Mike Schmidt, has packaged them together is undeniably unique.
In the indie title, you play as an interdimensional explorer who has been marooned on a hostile alien world populated by eldritch creatures, ancient gods, and the mechanical remnants of a bygone civilization. Suffice it to say, it is an incredibly perilous region and that’s without taking into account the devious booby traps that have been left behind by the previous inhabitants. Not to mention the nonsensical geography that flies in the face of normal scientific logic (more on that later).
To escape from this oppressive nightmare realm, you’ll have to brave a number of increasingly treacherous dungeons and pillage them of mysterious artifacts. Naturally, this is easier said than done, as there are a bunch of environmental obstacles along the way that will hinder your quest, including vast chasms that cannot be leapt, structural blockages that can only be dislodged with powerful explosives, and locked doors that require specific, color-coded keys to open. In other words, it’s your typical Metroidvania adventure, with all the usual backtracking and hidden shortcuts you’d expect, as well as obtainable abilities that help you progress deeper into the subterranean network.
This sense of exploration is pulled off remarkably well, given that each of the levels is meaningfully delineated and the pacing is so blisteringly quick that you barely have time to check your map before you’re already revisiting a familiar area. In fact, you can polish the whole thing off in just under a few hours, making it easy to remember all the important locations and secret paths that must be uncovered. Because it’s such a concise experience, you’re unlikely to forget where the various red gates are – once you’re in possession of the corresponding key – or the location of that unscalable ledge you can now reach with newly-acquired jump boots.
With this kind of game, there’s always a risk that the complex interconnectivity will threaten to overwhelm the player and that you’ll lose track of everywhere you’ve already been – especially if the developers neglect to dole out traversal upgrades at regular intervals. However, in Paradox Vector the links between dungeons have been perfectly judged so that every maze furnishes you with either a new power, a new weapon, or a new piece of equipment that will keep forward-momentum up. Rather than getting hopelessly lost or frustrated then (as can so often be the case in these things), you will instead find yourself caught in an addictive rhythm, gradually peeling back more and more layers of the dense overworld, to the point where you might end up finishing the campaign in one uninterrupted sitting. In short, the level design is very rewarding and strikes a good balance between feeling sprawling and feeling manageable.
The firefights are also highly satisfying, recalling the old-school flavor of Quake or Doom. Like with those games the emphasis is on constantly moving, seeing as there’s not much cover to hide behind, and defeating creatures in close-quarters is the best way to hoover up additional HP. Getting into the dexterous flow of combat is therefore of paramount importance and you’ll need to master the holy trinity of: running-and-gunning with precision; cycling through weapons on the fly, and deftly weaving between projectiles in an instant. The arcadey playstyle is fast, kinetic, and, above all else, extremely fun.
The enemy roster is pretty diversified too, consisting of giant jellyfish that loom ominously in the air, tiny spiders that scuttle along the ground, and celestial entities that bear more than a passing resemblance to the Elder Things from At the Mountains of Madness. They all have their own idiosyncratic attacks (some ranged, others melee) and differently-scaled hitboxes, forcing you to constantly adapt your strategy and learn which weapons are ideally suited for taking each of them down.
Honestly, the only noticeable shortcoming – in what is otherwise airtight gunplay – is the poor audio-visual feedback. Half the time you won’t even realize that you’ve been taking damage until you’re suddenly on your last legs and there’s a frustrating absence of on-screen indicators to alert you of this – other than a health meter that silently drains away in the corner of your HUD. There really ought to be a pained sound-effect or directional arrows that signpost where the bullets are coming from because ambushes feel less panicking here than they do mildly confusing.
Aesthetically the game is purposefully minimalist, utilizing wireframe assets, sleek black textures that are segmented by bold colored lines, and polygonal NPCs that appear as though they’ve been ripped straight from a Tron movie (on that note, the ultra-cool soundtrack has a nice Daft Punk vibe to it). These vector graphics lend the world ethereal atmosphere and a sense of charm that stands out from the other ‘’retro shooters’’ on Steam. Whereas those nostalgic callbacks all seem to plump for the same uniform art style as one another – with pixelated sprites and low-res backgrounds- this is a lot cleaner and frankly just more interesting to look at.
Of course, the real USP here is how the game takes inspiration from conceptual artist M.C. Escher, by thrusting you into mathematically impossible, funhouse arenas to duke it out with Lovecraftian monstrosities. To provide a little context, Escher was responsible for some of the most striking and inventive pieces the 20th century had to offer, although this recognition was sadly not afforded to him until quite late in life. Playing with ideas of perspective, dimensionality and the artifice of his own medium (he famously said of sketching that it is: ‘absurd to draw a few lines and then claim ‘’This is a house.’’): the Dutch trailblazer didn’t concern himself with capturing reality as seen through the human eye.
On the contrary, instead of producing naturalistic depictions of everyday objects and believable situations, Escher’s revolutionary work was almost a precursor to those optical illusions you occasionally see doing the rounds on Facebook. His pioneering output is associated with irrational cubes that defy the laws of geometry, absurd architecture that bulges out of the picture frame, and flat illustrations that are seemingly rendered three dimensional through clever visual trickery.
Utterly mesmerizing, these surreal images were lightyears ahead of their time and went on to galvanize the imaginations of cinematic auteurs like Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, and the Wachowskis. Yet whilst films, comic-books, and even album covers have all embraced the mind-bending aesthetic, videogames have been much more reluctant on the uptake. Presumably, this is due to the fact that we have to navigate their virtual worlds ourselves and so they need to make a lick of coherent sense if we’re to even stand a chance.
Mike Schmidt has decided to take it upon himself to plug this gap in the market, by creating his own interactive versions of Escher’s zany landscapes. Ones which the audience can inspect up close, roam at their own leisure, and yes, use as ingenious backdrops for shooting up bad guys. Merely attempting to comprehend the long hours and painstaking attention to detail that went into constructing these intricate blueprints is outright dizzying. But the end result was undoubtedly worth it.
Corridors will intersect in ways that don’t quite add up, huge spaces will be nestled within tiny rooms that cannot feasibly contain them, ceilings will merge into floors without you even noticing, and staircases will endlessly loop in circles without going anywhere. It’s never immediately obvious how you’re supposed to orient yourself and the effect is enough to make anyone’s head spin. That being said, once you get to grips with the abstract rules (or lack therefore) that govern this warped landscape, then it becomes very enjoyable trying to figure out how to exploit them to your advantage.
Speaking of which, although it is ostensibly a shooter, Paradox Vector shares far more in common with puzzle outings like Superhot or even Portal. As with those titles, it has the perspective and basic mechanics of your average FPS, yet the main focus is on solving enemy encounters rather than conquering them with brute force. In Portal you had to decide upon the ideal placement of inter-spatial gateways to redirect missiles at hostile turrets and avoid getting dragged into kill boxes. Meanwhile, in Superhot it was necessary to master the time dilation ability in order to outwit foes in a strategic game of chess.
Paradox Vector belongs in the same ‘’action-puzzler’’ category, thanks to the impossible geometry gimmick, which smarter players will be able to use to gain the upper hand in combat. For instance, you can exploit Penrose steps to circle around a droid and get at them from behind – ala Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Inception – or you tactically position yourself on an inverted ceiling for a better angle on a target. There are so many different ways that the multi-layered scenarios could play out and looking at this as a case study in game design, it’s a truly extraordinary accomplishment. Particularly for a solo developer.
Alas, with the game currently residing in early access, there are inevitably some flaws and the technical execution is certainly a little rough around the edges. Not only does the audio-visual feedback need refining, but the item drops don’t always work as intended, bombs have a vexing tendency to clip through walls, and bosses will abruptly shut-down mid-fight. All of these niggles can be fixed in time, however, and once they are addressed there will be very little to complain about here (aside from the bloody first-person platforming, a concept that should be totally outlawed by now).
Minor irritations aside, Paradox Vector has a lot going for it and successfully distinguishes itself as a welcome breath of fresh air. If you’re hungry for a more daring entry into the FPS genre, then it’s definitely worth your consideration. Maybe exercise some caution if you suffer from vertigo or motion sickness though.
Paradox Vector preview code provided by the publisher.
Paradox Vector is out now in Steam Early Access.