Dolmen

Reminiscent of Dead Space and The Surge, Dolmen is a third person action game with RPG elements and a storyline inspired by the style of H.P. Lovecraft. The gameplay of the debut work of Massive Work Studio combines elements of survival horror, dynamic combat similar to that of Souls series and emphasis on exploration of available levels. Game was created with single player in mind, but cooperative and multiplayer modes are also available. Title was largely funded through a collection on Kickstarter and was originally released for PC and eighth generation consoles.

Storyline

The action of Dolmen takes place on a forgotten planet Revion Prime, which differs from Earth in terms of flora, fauna and weather conditions. The main character has been sent there for an unknown purpose, with no provisions, equipment or idea how to function on such terrain. He quickly abandons this goal in favor of studying the history of the planet, from which he will try to deduce what future awaits Revion Prime. However, we are unsure if his human perspective will hold water in such an alien place. During the exploration of the planet we are accompanied by a mysterious female voice, from time to time speaking in our head, in a philosophical way referring to the current events.

The plot of Dolmen is very metaphorical and concerns "learning the language of the cosmos". This process is made all the more difficult by the fact that the elements of the galactic alphabet are hard to find, and in the process of searching for them we constantly have to fight for survival. The goal of the creators was to create a "Lovecraftian" plot, which will show the players what is the darkest secret of the universe.

Mechanics

In terms of gameplay, Dolmen fits into the popular souls-like trend. The combat system is arcade-like and requires careful observation of the opponents, and performing blows with melee weapons (swords, axes) consumes stamina points. To perform ranged attacks we use special guns, powered by the energy accumulated by our hero and being the equivalent of a mana bar. They do not inflict much damage, regardless of whether we use light or heavy shooting mode. However, they can be used to impose negative effects on our enemies, such as freezing or poison. In addition to ordinary opponents, from time to time we'll face powerful bosses with unique sets of attacks. We regenerate lost health at the cost of our energy and block the blows of enemies with a special energy shield. A perfect pairing of the opponent's attack ends with his temporary immobilization, giving us a moment to plan the next steps.

For the killed enemies we get experience points and various items. We use the first ones to improve the statistics of the main character, which we do only on our ship called "ZEO". They determine how much damage we can inflict with different types of weapons, how many points of life we have, condition or protection against specific types of damage. We move to the ship thanks to terminals placed in the game, which also serve as save points to discourage enemies and as a locker to organize the found materials. Obtained items are used mainly to create new equipment or improve the current one. There are also special recipes that we can use in two ways: either we construct new suits with them, or we consume them right away to gain an immediate bonus to one of our attributes.

Technical issues

Dolmen was created on the Unreal Engine, but due to the budget limitations of the creators already on the day of release the graphics were not at the highest level. Individual locations have a very organic design - the platforms on which we move often resemble bones or muscles of living organisms.