Dark Storm : Ascension is a stealth-action game which was planned by Fenrir Studios but regrettably failed on kickstarter. Not a developer to be deterred, Fenrir is determined to prove commitment to the project by releasing a mini-version of Dark Storm : Ascension in the form of Dark Storm : VR Missions. There are currently 10 weapons and 10 stages to play around in, but no objectives to be seen. Is it a promising Early Access title? Partially. You can go through killing everything, or turn on a stealth mode that ends the simulation once you’re caught.
The stealth aspects still need to be tightened, and the hip-fire needs to be loosened. Enemy AI is hardly consistent and they will stop chasing you to follow a thrown noise-maker even while you’re still in sight. I find it hilarious to treat the enemies like a dog, who is endlessly tricked by a fake throw of a ball, but it doesn’t make for very engaging gameplay.
I like the colorful design of the levels, as well as the realistic gunfire and spot-on voice-acting. Depending on the story we could be looking at the next Deus Ex, or the next Solarix. If you haven’t heard of Solarix (or read my review), there is a very strong reason for that. This game is leagues ahead of Solarix in terms of the stealthing and combat, and while there are still a number of screws to tighten in the form of hip-fire, stealthing, and enemy AI but overall I experienced no crashes, had a fair bit of fun, and remain quite hopeful.
Dark Storm: VR Missions was released on Steam Early Access August 19th 2015.
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