Let Them Come
Preview
Gamescom 2016: Die and die again
by Ingvi Snædal
previewed on PC
Simple and short
One of the most unique games we saw at Gamescom is a simple pixel art shoot’em up called Let Them Come. We went hands-on with the title and, while it sounds simple and short, it will be good to have installed on your computer if you are one of those busy, stressed out people who don’t have a lot of time to spend on gaming but just need to shoot some shit after a tough day at work.
Survive alien monsters
Let Them Come puts you behind a machine gun on a subway platform where you will have to survive wave after wave of alien monsters flooding down the tracks intent on killing you. The longer you survive, the more money you get and the more money you have when you die, the better equipment you can purchase.
The equipment available falls into three categories; throwables like grenades, EMPs, and Molotov Cocktails; mêlée weapons like knives and baseball bats; and special ammo like armour piercing bullets. Predictably, the left mouse button fires the weapon, the right throws the grenade, the space bar performs the mêlée attack, and the middle mouse button fires the special ammo. These controls will hopefully be customisable, as I found them to be unintuitive during my time with the game.
The pixelated aesthetics look really cool with their dynamic lighting effects and the variety of enemies makes for some interesting challenges, but in the end, you are a guy behind a machine gun trying to survive as long as you can. The further you progress in the game, the more music you unlock, so you will be able to blast more and more heavy metal music through the in-game boom box as you continue to mow down alien monsters and their bosses. Your health is displayed in the form of a Doom-esque portrait on the bottom of the screen which gets progressively more bloody as enemies manage to land more hits on you.
Die and die again
Although the game features an online leaderboard and daily challenges, one cannot help but wonder about the longevity of the experience. After all, you are just crouched behind a machine gun shooting down one edge of the screen at a seemingly endless horde of monsters. Eventually you will die, which will present you with the opportunity to buy more powerful weapons and start the level you died on again.
The new weapons should get you a bit further, at which point you will die again, rinse-repeat. Regardless, if you’re the type of person who does not have three hours to spend on a game, this might prove to be exactly the quick-fix stress release you need.
