Intravenous - When you studied Hitman and work as John Wick

The pixel top-down shooter from developer Roman Glebenkov (Explosive Squat Games) is greeted with rather curious words about how the author does not advocate violence, and that the game can be passed without killing at all. The last game that started with such justifying words was Postal 2...

...And indeed: both Postal 2 and Intravenous can be played without killing, and you can drive a BMW at 60 kilometers per hour around the city...

Can Hotline Miami be passed quietly now?

If you've seen the trailer, the comparison is obvious to you. But unlike Hotline Miami, Intravenous focuses a lot on the silent passage. Roman Glebenkov affectionately refers to his brainchild as "a love letter to the old Splinter Cell games." And he wasn't lying.

For those unfamiliar with Hotline Miami, this paragraph is for you. Hotline Miami is a hardcore over-the-top shooter whose action takes place in alternate eighties Miami, USA in a recognizable synthwave style. Loved Hotline Miami for the dizzyingly fast gameplay and a slice of the story. The player was launched on the location, where he was waiting for a lot of armed opponents. The trick was that both the player character and the bots were killed with a single hit. Often a single hit from a firearm was enough to kill.

Of course, with such strict rules to replay the level had dozens of times, but Hotline Miami managed to keep the complexity of the balance. Passing the level took up to 10 minutes, the restart was instant, and for a positive result it was necessary to learn the level almost by heart. But when the player managed to pass a level without any deaths, he felt like a killing machine. To put it crudely, Hotline Miami was and still is a skill-dependent, high-speed game.

The success of Hotline Miami has been repeatedly repeated by other projects. Esse Proxy, which almost succeeded in replicating the experience, has not completely forgotten yet, but the game seemed to lack something. Intravenous decided to go the roundabout way: this game is not trying to reconstruct a formula for success, it is trying to create its own formula. Hotline Miami didn't have any sane stealth, but Intravenous pays a lot of attention to it.

For example, lighting is important on every level. In dark corners and in the quiet course, you can neither see nor hear the character, but almost all light sources are connected to shields, can be turned off by a switch or, at the very least, destroyed by a gunshot:

Despite its budget, Intravenous combines all the stealth mechanics of the last 15 years. The only thing missing is cross-dressing and merging with the crowd - it's not Hitman. Bottles are generously scattered throughout the levels, and can and should be thrown into corners for distraction. Each level has trash cans - you can hide either corpses or unconscious opponents in them. All glass breaks, the sound of breaking glass attracts the attention of the guards. The protagonist has 5 types of movement, from sneaking to running, and each type affects the risk of detection. Of course, there is also a pre-planning of tasks, where the player chooses his own equipment for the upcoming task. Unlike Hotline Miami, each weapon has its own characteristics, but often only the presence of a silencer is important for a quiet passage.

In addition to the notorious throwing knives and mines, you can take on a mission and interesting gadgets, such as a vest that briefly turns off the surrounding electronics. The EMP vest turns off the lights and surveillance cameras, which in a silent approach is mandatory, but all of the above - the standard set, it will not surprise anyone ...

...Surprise comes from the intricacies of stealth Intravenous, let's start with the basics - with the difficulty setting. Everything is adjustable, from the noise of the shots to the inclusion of the golden rule of Hotline Miami "One shot, one corpse".

The standard difficulty level with the standard settings gives you exactly the experience you expect from a game of this type. At times it's not sweet, at times you can't pass the level on the spur of the moment, and at times you have to learn the map. Especially the difficulty level affects during those missions where the main anti-hero is caught off guard by the plot...

...But that's not particularly impressive either. Then how about this mechanic: after a murder with a firearm on the ground remain bloody footprints. Passing guards will walk on the bloody trail, and even if the player hid the body in a secluded place, but covered everything in blood, the body will be found sooner or later. When the body is found by only one bot, everyone else on the map will not know until the same detective reports it on the radio. But whether the guard has a walkie-talkie - this can be adjusted by the settings.

...And that's not impressive? Then how about this mechanic: bots can be distracted by shouting something into the microphone... Yes, the bots here respond to the player's speech.

...Well, you're not impressed! And how do you like the fact that every time you start a level, the opponents change their patrol routes, and sometimes after restarts. That is, the rote positions will give you nothing, only the ability to quickly adapt to the situation, and if things do not go according to plan ...

Are you sure stealth?

What repulses people in stealth games? It's often frustrating when a solid plan goes to hell, an alarm goes off, and all the effort goes to waste. In Intravenous, there's no such thing as "Defeat by Alarm," it's just a stealth game turned into a shooter. You don't have to resort to the silent approach at all if you want to. But the game with each passing level as it would hint to the player not to think of himself as Rambo and play more carefully. Mandatory stealth miserable, it is only in the aforementioned missions, when the hero is caught unawares. Moreover, the disease of many stealth games was cured: if you are detected by an enemy - do not worry, he is not a telepath, just have time to deal with him. The variability of passing hints at the table of results after the passage of the level. The rating "Bloodthirsty" is given for Manhunt cosplay, "Soldier" - for a relatively non-dusty game.

However, Intravenous's stealth is not perfect. Quiet walkthrough is implemented here more as an additional challange than to simplify it. When the night vision device is on, the bright areas are too often obscured by light...

Intravenous stealth itself is a very fragile thing. You won't even be notified that you've been exposed, only the background music will change from measured to dynamic with Synthwave notes. Only perfectionists need to start the level on alarm first, the loud passage is no worse.

Is it worth it?

Intravenous is a great game at a discount and a guaranteed enjoyable evening. The game is a must for Hotline Miami fans. But for those, who are not familiar with the top-down shooters or not a fan of them, Intravenous is unlikely to offer something that will change their opinion by 180 degrees. As a pleasant bonus - constant updates from the developer after years of release. Roman Glebenkov treasures his creation very much.