Video Game Review: ‘GTFO’

Horror shooter game challenges players to use teamwork to win

Scared of the bump in the night and of social interaction?
Then “GTFO” will provide the most horrifying cooperative first person shooter
experience you’ll have in a while. The only question is, how relevant is it in
the modern gaming space?

“GTFO” is a first person cooperative horror shooter
developed by 10 Chambers Collective. Ten Chambers Collective is comprised of
nine people, mainly previous developers of the “Payday” franchise and Simon
Viklund, a well-known DJ who composed the majority of the “Payday” franchise
soundtrack. With this previous experience, they are well-versed in making a
good co-op game, but “GTFO” is a ways off the beaten track of previous co-op
shooters like “Payday” and “Left for Dead 2.”

You play as one of four prisoners sent by a mysterious
warden to complete various tasks while not trying to get killed by the various
monsters within the depths of the complex. While it’s in Early Access right
now, most of the main gameplay loop is there, with only some UI elements and
game functionality missing.

In “GTFO,”  there are
no AI teammate substitutes, nor are there any plans of creating any from 10
Chambers Collective. “GTFO” is built from the ground up with four players in
mind, and that’s because it requires extreme precision and teamwork throughout
the entire gameplay loop. Players will have to stealth through the various
zones on a map, silently killing the monsters while conserving as much ammo as
possible. Waste ammo killing too many creatures, you’ll run out of ammo for the
required alarm horde waves, and then your whole team dies. These monsters are
all vaguely humanoid mutant creatures, with melee and ranged variants. Key
doors are protected by a security alarm that must be disarmed by the team while
fending off an oncoming horde of monsters with a varied arsenal. Once the main
objective is achieved, players must perform the titular action, and return to
the entrance of the level.

Levels are organized by the Rundown, a constantly changing
set of levels ranging in difficulty. The Rundown is essentially a work order
from the warden, with more difficult expeditions located deeper into the
complex. Players can play the same levels of the Rundown repeatedly until the
Rundown is refreshed. The Rundown has a timer, changing levels with an average
time of a month depending on the complexity of the levels created. Each level
is handcrafted by the team to be a different experience, not randomly created,
and so players can experience and learn about new layouts and tactics every
time they dive into the complex. There are currently up to four levels, from
areas A-D with multiple expeditions on each tier depending on the Rundown that
is currently released. Ultimately, there is no goal but to complete the
objectives of the various expeditions and get out alive, but this will most
likely change as development continues.

To dive into the complex is no easy task. The developers
have stated that this is not an easy game, and it’s easy to see why. In an
early access state, there is no tutorial, only YouTube videos from various
community members. Players need to get acquainted with how the monsters react
to light, movement and what it takes to kill them. The patient stealth gameplay
that comes with trying to quietly kill most of the enemies can be very
stressful; not only do you have to have a good grasp of the stealth mechanics,
but the rest of your team also needs to know exactly how to not set off the
horde. This can quickly lead to frustrations when teams of players aren’t good
at communication or with stealth gameplay in general, as one wrong move ends an
expedition into the complex.

The gameplay consists of the team attempting to stealthily
melee kill enemies room by room, with nearly no lighting except for flashlights
and glowsticks. If the team reaches an alarmed door, they’ll have to fight off
a horde of the monsters while disarming the alarm, and if they alert the
creatures in stealth, they’ll have to fight them off with precious rare ammo.
And ammo rarity, while a staple of horror games, is unique to the cooperative
shooter genre, especially the level of rarity in this game. It is impossible to
shoot your way past four rooms at certain points, with the entire team running
out of ammo as the monsters keep coming. The sound design in the game features
disturbing and creepy sounds emanating from the monsters when the team is still
in stealth mode, and music ramping up as the monsters are alerted and the
bullets start flying. The combination of the stealth, music timings,
environment and creatures create the horror aspect, and more than anything it’s
a fear of failure and of starting over rather than of the actual gruesome
creatures. 

“GTFO” is a difficult game. In-game matchmaking doesn’t even
exist yet, with the official form of matchmaking being the use of the official
“GTFO” Discord to group up with other players for expeditions into the complex.
It fits the very specific niche of difficult cooperative horror first person
shooter and does not offer much to appeal to the broader masses. There are no
pay-to-win mechanics nor loot boxes, just a horror game that knows who its
audience is. It does a great job of being the perfect game for that niche
audience, which is why if you do decide to hop in, it’ll be pretty easy to find
dedicated players to play with on the Discord server. But for most people, it’s
probably best to go with the game’s title and GTFO.