Prefer to watch or to listen to a long review rather than read one? You can view this review down below; I aim to please everyone when it comes to giving out reviews.
[Since I cannot link the video at the proper time-stamp, you will have to check the Table of Contents in the description to start the video at the following time: 20:25. Also, for the sake of simplicity, I have referred Pit: Infinity as The Pit of DOOM to avoid any confusion in the video.]
Infinity, a Concept Defined by its own Limitations
Compared to the original, Pit: Infinity, or The Pit of DOOM if you want to use its original name, is an interesting case-study of the problems associated with transitioning rogue-like elements into a rogue-lite experience. If you recall the discussion from long ago about the importance of genre expectations, The Pit of DOOM is why that tangent was necessary. Unless you are already an avid fan of the Pit, or you want to try out what is the most rogue-like first-person shooter out there with your friends, this game is a hard sell to newcomers—but it is an absolute steal if you get the bundle for both games. Ironically, it’s the limitations of its rogue-like foundation that hampers what could be a more satisfying first-person, rogue-lite dungeon crawler, although the game is perhaps too simplistic when you compare it to its competition.
You would be forgiven if you thought The Pit of DOOM is a similar 2D-to-3D transition like Risk of Rain 2, but the game is more like playing The Legend of Zelda VR mod as the 3D transition masquerades its two-dimensional simplicity. This statement is not a criticism levied at the game but more so the rationale as to why I thoroughly enjoyed this version as much as the original. You might even argue that this immersive quality was the intended goal because the game goes for a more atmospheric soundtrack and there is a greater sense of scale provided by the 3D models. All smoke and mirrors aside, The Pit of DOOM may not excel as a first-person rogue-lite but it does enough right to be an acceptable first-person rogue-like, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that it’s essentially a total-conversion mod of the original release of The Pit.
”You Can’t Go Home Again,” Said a Terran. “That’s What the Empire Said, Except They Spoke with Bullets,” Said the Hiver.
Now we’ve previously discussed how The Pit plays, so there’s no sense in regurgitating the same information; it would be more useful to mention what is different and what are new problems for The Pit of DOOM. Afterwards, we can break down the mechanics and how they function when put into the first-person perspective. Unfortunately, there is no active player-base who is interested in queuing up with strangers, so, if you want to play cooperatively, you’ll have to bring friends with you.
Anyway, the first thought that comes to mind is the question, “How much did Kerberos recreate from the original?” Similar to the original release of The Pit, The Pit of DOOM currently has the main three human classes—the Marine, the Scout and the Engineer—who all have the same load-outs and builds. It’s important to highlight this information because there are alien weapons in the original Pit, which means you’ll suffer a racial debuff to your accuracy. This regression from the original’s thirteen classes is a necessary step in order to balance the game during its Early Access development—as well as share similar assets—but I do hope Kerberos adds all five races. Who doesn’t want to play as giant, telekinetic space dolphin that can use its tentacles as whips, or who doesn’t want to team up with a quirky humanoid ant-man wielding a flamethrower?
Speaking of gameplay regressions, this version is before the Mind Games expansion, so the game ends on floor thirty, if there was a final floor and not an infinite loop, and there are no Psionics. The devs haven’t denied the possibility that these features could return—they have stated the road-map is to take bits and pieces of the Osmium Edition—but if there isn’t a human Psion, then you can be certain that the other classes won’t come back because they all have one or two Psionic branches. Finally, there are no Safe Rooms, so you cannot exploit the game in your favor like before, although they may bring this feature back for single-player mode only. While you would normally expect a total-conversion mod to include everything from before, this game still is jam-packed full of content to avoid feeling like a downgrade.
As far as FPS conversions of games often turn out, the gunplay and the underlining stats of the original rogue-like works enough to get the job done. If you recall what I had said about the stat system, then you’ll remember how it’s comparable to Oblivion; the combat system of The Pit of DOOM, funnily enough, best resembles Morrowind.
At least that conclusion is what I can take away from the developer’s response, so let me explain how and why: If you recall from the original, stats affected skills and skills could be affected by continued usage, successfully or not—this RPG system is analogous to every modern Elder Scrolls game. There are vital deviations such as the fact that all normal skills can naturally level-up to level forty-five (grey-text) and leveling-up only influenced how many skill-points you needed to invest to improve one skill based on what you have recently used. Damage calculation, however, was also tied to skills, but weapons had a minimum damage-threshold (and requirements to wield them.) The Pit of DOOM, however, combines this number-crunching method with first-person combat and zero location-based hit-boxes. Aiming is only one component for how much damage you can deal; skills, aiming down sights versus hip firing, movement, crouching, and tables with normal, critical and glancing damage-values all play some small role when factored into the overall calculation.
What this conclusion means is The Pit of DOOM’s gunplay is analogous to firing a bow or swinging a sword in Morrowind where damage and accuracy are dice-based, which the only two things that determine if you hit the target is if you are aiming within the general vicinity as well as RNG. You can see this consequence more pronounced with melee weapons as you often find yourself missing. If you pay attention to where your shots land, you’ll also notice your critical shots strike the same area you last dealt a glancing (weak) shot. Given how difficult it can be to gauge the hitboxes of an enemy such as the worms, this system does have its merits to prevent the gameplay from interfering with the zany enemy design.
That summary is the simplest explanation of how the first-person mechanics work, and it’s not a system that I find makes the gameplay worse; it does, however, make the gameplay come across even more streamlined than the turn-based tactics the series is built upon.
Space, the Final Frontier—Oh, We Already Charted It? Well, Then What’s Next?
Not to open a crate full of Zuul Worms, and the topic is inevitably going to be brought up by someone else, but this regression makes me wonder what the Sword of the Stars fanbase thinks about a series once known for its 4X roots now being made into a first-person-shooter albeit one rooted in rogue-like mechanics. Granted, there is the tabletop game to satiate the fanbase’s needs and there is Stellaris, another controversial subject that I will save for another day, so I am not bothered by what some may view as a gross simplification from a franchise that often seems to dream bigger than what it can achieve. Regardless, The Pit of DOOM can be a great time, alone or with friends—if you have any willing to share your misery—and it should be obvious this game was never meant to be the successor to The Pit. (Kind of like how The Pit was never meant to be a successor to what was the Sword of the Stars series now that I think about it.) While The Pit of DOOM may become its own entity worthy by its own merits, there is always the original that you can call home—one where you’re more likely to die come the next family get-together.
Early Access Rating of Completion/Competence
For the 99.9% of people around the world who don’t know what this metric means, this rating does not reflect the game’s merits like IGN and Gamespot reviews. What this rating does provide, however, is a way to express the game’s state of completion at the time of the review as well as its development throughout Early Access. To determine this rating, my process is to break down a game’s promised features and value proposition (Content), the quality of the experience, gameplay, audio or visuals, from what would be acceptable for a finished state as well as stages of development like Alpha or Beta (Quality), the performance and technical issues (Optimization) and the overall production schedule, communication and time spent in development all with respect to the dev team’s size (Productivity.) These values should be treated as qualitative rather than quantitative measurements, but the metric does give a numerical score to reflect how far a game is towards its completion.
Now, to see this metric in action, here is the list of all qualitative values including these categories (with colors to denote their specific category):
These statements, on their own, are what the simple rating reflects, but it’s the bits and pieces throughout that help further define what each metric means for the complex rating. Afterwards, I will then provide a brief synopsis of each category with any details or relevant facts to help substantiate my decisions. You shouldn’t treat my evaluation as gospel but more like one series of experimental data to better formulate a conclusion, which I would encourage others to use this method or a similar system to evaluate Early Access products. If you want to know more about why this system is a necessary evil for Early Access products as well as for their own benefit, you can read more about why I made this system. As for now, let’s move on with the analysis.
Content: 3/5
As far as delivering what Kerberos Productions promised, a cooperative first-person take on the original Pit, the devs have already delivered on that goal. In addition, the Crafting system has most of the recipes that I can recall from the original game. It’s more difficult to compare how much is available if you don’t separate the items from all the expansions. There still is the omission of the final floor, bio-mods and other former mechanics listed on the Features List, but nothing that you would expect to be canned in the future (with the exception of the Safe Room.) The only concern I have with the road-map is that you have to dig deeper to figure out what content made be included, but after digging further into the forums I found that the plan is to release the "original" version of the Pit and then implement the expansions AFTER its Early Access period. As a result of this confusion, my decision is to give this section a lower rating than it probably deserves.
Quality: 4/5
In this category, Kerberos nailed not only its presentation but specifically its sound-design, which this latter category shouldn’t be surprising since they have reused their sound assets. (Not to imply that they were lacking to begin with.) There is far more care and attention to detail put into the recreation of every model, and the added sense of scale is appreciated. Also, the intractable animations, which you can turn-off just like in Far Cry 5, are another little touch that goes a long way. The only blunders that can take you out of the experience include procedural glitches with the exits such as a hole in the ceiling sending you (down) to the next floor as well as when the AI goes brain-dead or they get stuck on the walls. Also, as one more gameplay-related problem, grenades need to be better designated on the UI because you cannot tell one type from another, which is only a problem in this game because you cannot pause the game in the middle of combat. Finally, despite the art-style being more washed out compared to the colorful 2D sprites, the charm is still there to match the dark comedy of the original.
Optimization: 3/5
Now I alluded to this section way back at the start, and there are a couple of things to say. First, the default settings are helpful enough for most users who may struggle with the shadows and the heavy fog effects. If you are still suffering from performance issues, then you can also apply some general Unreal Engine 4 tweaks such as resolution scaling currently not configurable within the in-game options menu. The real issue is how much the game will overheat most hardware if you don’t tweak these settings, which can turn some people away, but that seems to be a common Unreal Engine 4 problem. Finally, as I was unable to test the multiplayer servers, I cannot say anything about its net code or any possible issues.
Productivity: 4/5
Similar to nailing its presentation, Kerberos has also been transparent and responsive towards player feedback as well as providing multiple updates each month. From its Early Access release on October 26, 2018, Kerberos has released two major content patches, one for the crafting system available since November and the multiplayer mode since March of 2019. Throughout these months, minor improvements and quality-of-life fixes have been made, which the last one was posted May 1, 2019. All of this information leads me to trust that Pit: Infinity will be released within the Q2 and Q4 time-frame of this year, which the devs have stated upfront the full-release date and state of its features are based on the level of support through Early Access.
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