Finding items needed to repair your ship on a hostile alien planet was going to be hard enough, third person shooter Rail Theory takes it one step further with enemies that adapt to your play style on the fly. Rely on any one weapon or combat style too much, and minutes later, you’ll be inundated with creatures that have been designed to counter it. Possibly even during the same fight.
All enemies are designed as the game plays, with pieces of armor, weapons, and body types all decided as the creature comes into combat, built around countering how the player has been fighting. Not only this, but the mutating enemies will change as players attack them, with icy enemies taking extra damage from fire at first, only to shift to a fire-type enemy as the battle progresses. They can also change over the course of the fight by having weapons break from taking bludgeoning damage, or tear off pieces of their own body to use as weapons should theirs become destroyed. Each fight with these vicious creatures is designed to keep you on your toes, constantly shifting how to best approach battle.
You also have to keep an eye on more than just your health throughout Rail Theory. Heath is shown through armor, but players also take Trauma damage as armor decreases. Trauma fill fill up your available Stamina gauge, which is used for attacks and movement, so as health decreases, players will quickly notice their capabilities getting weaker, including slower movement and shakier hands when aiming. It means taking damage is a big problem, and gives you a lot to worry about on top of the crafty creatures.
Rail Theory is currently in development, but there’s a demo available through Itch.io for those who wish to try out its brutal, ever-changing combat now.
For more information on Rail Theory and developer Tryconic Studios, you can head to the game’s site or follow them on YouTube and Twitter. The game is also raising development funding on Kickstarter.
