Conscript Review: Classic Survival Horror at its Finest

Conscript is ugly. With its impenetrable darkness, muddy terrain overrun with blood and piss, relentless artillery shelling overwhelming eardrums, the foul stench of carcasses permeating through the air, and half-dead human shapes wailing and sobbing uncontrollably, Conscript waste wastes no time in setting up its tone. Conscript is ugly. Here, the only monster is man. Conscript is ugly. It revels in its explicit, unhinged depiction of the Battle of Verdun, one of the darkest battles of mankind. Catchweight Studio’s sole developer, Jordan Mochi, skillfully combines this ugliness with masterful game design to make Conscript one of the best indie games of the year. Conscript is ugly, and it’s beautiful for it.

Wartales

The WW1 survival-horror game set in 1916 tells the horrific tale of Andre Poliu, a rural Frenchman turned unlikely soldier. Set in the early days of the Battle of Verdun, the game follows Poliu’s struggle for survival and the search for his brother Andre in the blood-swept trenches of the Western Front. The story is easy to follow and takes place across six grueling chapters, with flashbacks in between. If it were any other game, I’d call out the flashbacks for being nothing more than filler padding. But, in the case of Conscript, these flashbacks made for brief moments of respite as I found myself taking long breaks in between chapters. This was in no small part due to the game’s unapologetic imagery of war, which made me so uncomfortable and tensed to the point that my heart was thumping against my ribs.

Like Spec Ops: The Line before it, Conscript’s war is its horror. It leaves no stone unturned in asking about the philosophical, moral, and humanistic ramifications of war on both sides of the conflict. Even if such themes have been done to death in the media, Conscript’s survival-horror take on WWI is both refreshing and nuanced. What’s more impressive is that the developer succeeded in depicting war with such conviction using low-res 2D retro aesthetics. The crisp, jagged art design with muted colors, combined with an oppressing background score, results in creating the unsettling atmosphere of Conscript that’s better experienced in person.

Back to the Roots

Conscript wears its inspiration on its war-torn sleeves. From the moment you boot up the game, the influences of past survival horror juggernauts are evident. From the PS1-inspired aesthetics to the intricate level design and inventory management, Conscript is classic survival horror at its finest and proves that the old-school sensibility of the genre still has a place in 2024.

Anyone even slightly familiar with the OG Resident Evils will feel right at home in the dirty trenches of Conscript. Sticking true to tradition, the game follows a tried-and-true design philosophy. The concept is simple — navigate your way around increasingly dangerous levels with limited supplies. Killing surviving, and puzzle-solving are included, free of charge.

Conscript is unapologetically old-school in its design. When starting anew, players are given four difficulty settings with the ability to turn ON/OFF unlimited saves and automatic checkpoints. I highly recommend first-time players turn both of these off, pick the third difficulty setting, and play the game as it was intended, using manual saves that require one-time use of resources like the classics of the genre. While newcomers to the genre will find the backtracking a bit excessive, these options provide the perfect balance between challenge and fun.

Conscript has been in the making for over four years, and it shows. Both the melee and gun combat feel weighty and methodical, the level design is tight, and the sense of progression is well-balanced. In the course of 10 or so hours, Poliu will go from a scared, scarred soldier barely clinging to life to a scared, scarred soldier disrupting the German forces one bullet at a time (quite literally). The level of challenge at default settings feels just right, and even with a fully decked-out Poliu, Conscript still manages to throw mental and physical challenges at the player that just make the player stop and gather their wits.

Conscript won’t hold anyone’s hands. Players are required to make mental notes, remember key locations and item placement, memorize map layouts, make occasional visits to the safe room, and be good at inventory management. Poliu also has to stay stationary and steady his sight when firing to land a clean shot. It goes without saying that people used to nu-Survival Horror games will find the old-school nature of the game frustrating. This isn’t to say that Conscript doesn’t have any modern game mechanics. It features a vendor and upgrade system similar to Resident Evil 4, and players can store up to 100 items in Poliu’s container. Heck, there’s even a dodge-roll that has saved my Poliu’s life more times than I can count. I’d say that there’s just the right amount of modernization going on.

Anti-Frustration Measures

As much as I loved (I cannot overstate how much) facing the horrors of war in Conscript, there are some rough edges and a few things that need improvement. For a game with a lot of combat, the aiming can be a bit wonky at times, especially when targeting smaller hitboxes. Man-eating rats (take that, mice lovers) are a pain in the ass to take down with anything other than the shotgun. You’re much better off outrunning them. The enemy AI can also be a bit unpredictable, causing them to ignore Poliu completely at times. The melee stagger trigger feels very RNG and the Map could see some work (like more accurate player location, the ability to zoom in, etc.). While the gamepad, keyboard, and mouse controls can be tweaked, not all keys can be bound. This led me to play the game on the Steam Deck from start to finish, and it runs amazingly at 5W TDP!

That being said, these are all minor issues that unironically made my playthrough a more tense experience (as it should be). But there is one issue I have with the game that is quite significant. I love the classic Resident Evils, and I know that the limited inventory slots of Conscript are a throwback. But I do feel that it’s a bit too limited (considering the number of items in the game) and makes for some tedious backtracking. Even with an upgraded, inventory, I felt that some of the item slots could be better organized without taking away from the survival experience. For example, it would be a godsend to have the option to purchase a keyring that occupies a single slot to which you can attach various keys. Things like the torch, the body armor, and the various stat buffs the player can purchase would do well if they didn’t need to be actively equipped and be attached to the uniform, like the ammo bag upgrade. But this is a highly subjective complaint, and I feel like most survival horror enthusiasts would love this system as it is.

Survival Horror at its Finest

At a time when big IPs with millions upon millions of dollars in backing fail to deliver, Conscript is an inspired yet fresh take on the classic Survival Horror formula. Its old-school sensibilities might turn off some players, but Jordan Mochi’s grounded take on WW1 is slated to become a favorite for fans of the genre. Conscript is ugly…and all the better for it.

FINAL RATING: 90/100

Conscript Review: Classic Survival Horror at its Fines

CONSCRIPT is a top-down survival horror game inspired by classics of the genre - set in 1916 during the Great War.

Price: $19.99

Price Currency: USD

Operating System: Windows

Application Category: Survival Horror

Editor's Rating:
9