There’s a reason games from smaller developers have increasingly embraced roguelite mechanics. The repetitive core progression allows lots of gameplay to be wrung out of the same or similar level structures while still giving players the feeling of progression and empowerment. Huntdown: Overtime, coming soon in early access, is the latest to graft roguelite hooks onto a familiar genre. This time, it’s a new take on the classic arcade run-and-gun shooter. And similarly to Absolum, the combination works well, even if I am admittedly starting to feel some roguelite fatigue.
Huntdown: Overtime is a sequel to 2020’s Huntdown, a stylish dystopian shooter modeled after classic arcade shooters like Contra, ESWAT, or 1988’s Robocop. Huntdown used a traditional level-based design, which makes an easy comparison between the two. I may still prefer the original approach for this genre, but the homage to arcades softens its more repetitive nature. Whereas plunking in quarters to play the first stage or two over and over was commonplace in arcades, it doesn’t feel all that dissimilar in a roguelite.
Like the original, Overtime takes place in a gang-infested, neon-soaked hellhole of a future. It’s a vision of the future where all of the big hair and fashion excesses of the 1980s got even more amped up. As a child of the ’80s, this is very effective on me: a kid who thought of “gangs” as groups of ruffians with gaudy themes and baseball bats. Overtime nails this aesthetic not only in its visual style, but also in the way it captures this vision of the future that was actually presented in arcade games in that era. Faceless, pixelated mobs of goons prowl the streets, but this time they’re accented by a vast array of animations that make them feel more reactive. At one point I kicked a thug away, only to have their body half-hang limply off a fire escape. That attention to detail is a lot more than I had come to expect from a shooter like this and shows a clear focus on modernization.
That stylistic choice is further punctuated by your own protagonist and the brief interstitial story sequences that explain his existence. You’re essentially a trenchcoat-wearing cop, almost a cliche, but early on your jaw gets replaced with a mechanical one to give you a monstrous cyberpunk look. The mad doctor who patches you up each time you die and gives you a little shove out the door to hunt down more criminals treats you like a lab rat, commenting on how your body seems to be getting addicted to the endorphin release of your augments. They don’t really think of you as a person–more a weapon to point at the criminal element. It’s a dynamic we’ve seen before, in movies like Robocop.
Like the original Huntdown, Overtime’s movement and shooting is deliberate and stiff, accenting strategy and precision. Enemies approach in relatively small groups, usually just three or four at a time, but they utilize cover and are smart enough to aim down or close in on you in a moment of vulnerability. You’ll run out of bullets if you just spray them willy-nilly, so you need to pick your shots or close the distance for a melee attack. The environment is just as friendly to you, though, permitting you to do things like make your own cover by kicking down a vending machine or throw an air conditioner at an enemy to create an electric hazard.
Street punks vs rocket launchers in Huntdown: Overtime
Sometimes stages are populated with tougher enemies who have bounties on them, and those introduce another wrinkle. The bounties are worth more alive than dead, so once you’ve drained their health enough, you’ll have the option to cuff them. But this is risky, requiring you to mash on a shoulder button until they’re detained, so if other enemies are still prowling around, you’ll almost certainly get interrupted. That means you either need to clear the field, be remarkably quick at cuffing the baddie, or just shoot them dead and accept the reduced reward.
This being a roguelike, your loadout is randomized when you start back from the beginning, and draws from a pool of weapons you’re previously unlocked: a firearm like a pistol or rifle, along with a melee weapon like a baseball bat or sledgehammer. You pick a path based on which rewards you want to pursue, which also determines which bosses you’ll face. So far I haven’t seen a great deal of variation to the level design in the early areas, exemplifying my biggest issue with the roguelite genre. But I do already feel my character getting stronger as I buy new upgrades, so each run has been a little easier than the last.
Huntdown: Overtime could probably benefit from advancing your character a little faster at the outset to see a greater variety of stages and bosses more quickly, but that’s the kind of thing I would expect to be tweaked during its upcoming early-access period. What’s already here is a visually impressive retro shooter with satisfying combat and inventive ideas like its risk-reward bounty system. That’s a promising foundation for this side-sequel to build on.
