Flawed and Filthy Video Game Depravity
For all of the problems with Madmind Studio’s 2018 debut title Agony and the incredibly negative reception it received, it evidently must have made the Polish creatives a ton of money. Their self-published sophomore outing here is far grander, much more ambitious, and significantly larger in scale than their prior effort was as they put on their best imitation of a full AAA production. Things such as the technical shortcomings or how the platforming segments are mere single-button inputs reveal it’s just an illusion, but—thanks to the lavish graphics and features like the customizable home base that you select missions from which gradually evolves to offer further distractions as you progress—Succubus provides a pretty solid impression of one while it lasts nonetheless.
It’s also a complete tonal 180° from Agony. Altogether moving away from survival-horror into the realm of a melee-oriented, post-2016 DOOM era “boomer shooter” where you slice ‘n dice your way through hordes of enemies while performing impressively graphic gory finishers on glowing weakened foes to restore your health. This is essentially the Postal 2 to its predecessor’s Postal, with the grimdark bleakness having been replaced with extra raunchiness and a more lighthearted vibe to its edginess to go alongside the adrenaline-fueled action.
The gameplay itself can be mindlessly entertaining in short bursts, but unfortunately despite the assortment of different weapons/armors there are to buy (the latter also equipping you with different sets of magical abilities) and the plethora of environmental hazards to kick your would-be assailants into there isn’t enough variety to the encounters to keep the combat interesting enough to sustain lengthier play sessions. You basically just constantly mash the left mouse button as waves of the samey-feeling standard hostiles sprint directly towards you. The majority of the giant boss battles don’t need to be approached any differently, outside of a few that are easier to deal with if you strafe around and pepper them with arrows once you unlock the bow. The numerous grisly ways you can mutilate your attackers is perversely thrilling, yet the overall lack of depth means the bloodbaths can become rather monotonous fairly quickly if not taken in moderation.
Thus, the real star of the show is once again the unforgettable, Clive Barker-esque depiction of Hell and the demented sights contained therein. This particular vision of the underworld where every location would make for a dope metal album cover is somehow even sicker, meaner, and more explicit than it was last time. Blatantly pornographic and intentionally offensive, you’ll witness and occasionally be able to personally commit acts yourself that I’d probably get banned for trying to describe in this review. All of which are brought to life with an uncomfortable, downright shocking level of detail as a result of the honestly stellar visual fidelity.
No matter how repulsed and disturbed I was by the stuff I saw (I’m horrified to think there might be people genuinely aroused by it out there) though, I kept coming back to see what new obscenity would be around the next corner. There’s something grotesquely fascinating about this now defunct developer’s unabashed willingness to cross the line of good taste and push the boundaries of what can—or even should—be shown in a video game. It also helps that all the smut and general degeneracy is made more palatable than it otherwise would have been via the subtly tongue-in-cheek manner it is delivered, that’s made evident through elements like the goofy selfie function, because apparently even demons have cellphones, and the breast size/perkiness sliders in the Bethesda-style character creator that allows you to tailor the protagonist’s appearance to your liking.
Regardless, no matter how intentionally comical some aspects may be, the fact remains that this title is still a source of a large amount of extremely twisted adult content and therefore its appeal will be limited to a very niche audience. However, even the crowd who loves to explore the medium’s vilest and most disgusting depths may struggle to enjoy this due to the annoying performance issues and bugs. Admittedly, I don’t have the most powerful PC, but I’ve booted up plenty of newer releases that didn’t require me to mess around with the settings to keep them from running poorly the way this did. Not to mention there were several instances where I had to reload a checkpoint because a crucial enemy or an entire freaking boss despawned before I could kill it and rendered me unable to finish a level.
Overall, Succubus is a package I find uniquely and shamefully interesting. I feel pretty confident in saying it’s an experience unlike any other. Yet, it ultimately has too many faults for me to comfortably recommend to anybody. Similar to the majority of filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn’s output after Drive, you’ve got stunning aesthetics and shock value in lieu of coherent storytelling or actual substance. Although, that being said I can’t help but appreciate and kind of admire the game in spite of its deficiencies for daring to be so uncompromising, original, and attempting to go bigger than its precursor.
6.5/10