Dread Templar review

Keep (internal temperatures) cool, shoot demons, and made few mistakes while doing it might be Dread Templar‘s mantra. 

There’s a sure-fire recipe for first-person shooter success. Keep the pace quick, the firefights intense, and the ‘game overs’ from feeling excessively cheap. Pleasingly, all of those ingredients are found in Dread Templar. After spending over a year in Early Access, the retail build has arrived, extending 25 stages of taut, nostalgia-inducing action. With skillful level design, plenty of hidden objects to find, and the ability to perform smoothly on modest rigs, Dread Templar also excels with the seasonings.

Many first-person shooters send you into their campaign with an ineffective melee device. But Templar’s dual katana are better than most preliminary weapons and able to dish out an endless combo that can quickly cleave an opponent into viscera. Enjoyably, there’s an alt-fire mode that will affix the two swords, resulting in a ranged weapon that can be thrown right through multiple enemies. Although a cooldown timer that prohibits you from going completely Jason Voorhees, I was able to stalk enemies through quite a few sections.

Expect the rest of your arsenal to be effective but conventional. There’s a pair of .45s that are wielded akimbo, Uzis with silencers, shotguns that pack a flesh-severing punch, a bow, and the requisite rocket launcher. One bit of peculiarity is trap launcher that can drop devices to stun enemies. But other than that, you’ve probably brandished most of these arms in other FPS titles. Although there might be a lack of offensive novelty, the upside is each weapon handles as you’d expect. Really, the only issue is that some elevated enemies can be a bit spongy, which diminishes the sense of strength across your armory.

Another trait that helps offset your overly ordinary ordnance is the navigational prowess of the protagonist. Beyond a powerful leap, you can combine a jump with your dashing ability, which lets you cross some wide gaps. Dread Templar also has a bullet-time mechanic, but don’t expect Max Payne in Quake’s citadels. Meter-filling occurs slowly from killing, keeping you from relying on the ability.

Instead, Dread Templar expects you to race through the empty spaces you’ve cleared of foes and approach unexplored areas more methodically. Pleasingly, the game balances corridor shooting with gunplay positioned in larger, more open environments, cultivating a satisfying sense of uncertainty. Like the first-person shooters of old, there’s no cover system. Ranged adversaries that fling everything from lead to venom are common. As such, you’ll habitually take precise shots from behind choke points rather than run recklessly into an arena swarming with opposition.

Exploration rewards players with several types of benefits. The game’s resilient foes mean that you’ll quickly devour ammo, but it’s bountiful and stashed in most breakable objects. Two types of resources are needed for upgrades, one for opening up a slot and the other for applying an upgrade. While the tech tree isn’t quite as extensive as most of Templar’s modern competitors, it still provides perks that can complement your play style. From shortening cooldown lengths, increasing your ammo carrying capacity, or intensifying your damage output, expect the customary rewards. Gold runes even upgrade your firearms, turning them into different kinds of guns. But you’ll really have to sniff them out; Templar hides its best bonuses quite deviously.

When it comes to visuals, Dread Templar is competent. Sure, textures are unambiguously pixelated and both enemies and environments are crafted from an economical number of polygons. But since you’re almost always in constant motion, it’s easy to overlook the distinctively retro aesthetic, especially if you’re a fan of older shooters. Best of all, the graphical efficiency means that Templar runs superbly even on low-end systems. Steam Deck owners can expect nothing less than flawless 60-frame-per-second performance for at least three and a half hours of play. Meanwhile, John S. Weekley’s soundtrack has several proficient industrial-metal tracks, but you’ll also find a bit of aural filler across the game’s ten-to-twelve-hour campaign and wave-based Guardian Mode supplemental side-game.

When it comes to weaknesses, Templar commits only a few minor transgressions. Mouse and keyboard controls work expectedly well, but those who use analog sticks might wish the game had a bit more aim-assist. Occasionally, hitting far-flung foes on a smaller screen can be overly challenging. While the protagonist emits a grunt when taking damage, in open areas it can be tough to identify the direction of the threat. Lastly, the game’s narration needs to be voiced by a professional voice actor. At present, the commentary still sounds provisional.

Dread Templar biggest weakness is that the game lacks distinction. You’ve probably seen most of the game’s mechanics in other first-person shooters. But genre devotees might be a bit more forgiving, especially if you’re looking for engaging firefights that won’t skyrocket the temperatures of their laptops or portable PCs.

Dread Templar was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.