Nightmare Reaper Review

Nightmare Reaper is a rogue-lite first person shooter where you play through different levels generated by the nightmares of the protagonist. Every time you die and restart the level, the layout will be different from your previous attempt.

As you explore areas and kill enemies, you’ll come across new weapons. At first, you can only carry two at a time; the other are stored in your inventory and you can swap out in the pause menu. As you progress through the upgrade tree (more on that below), you can unlock additional weapon slot. The game has a surprisingly deep arsenal of weapon.

While you can expect typical weapons such as a pistol, knife, shotguns; among other generic firearms, you can also find more magical items such as a book that shoots ice to freeze enemies (takes way too many to freeze an enemy), a chainsaw, laser gun; just to name a few. You can also find temporary power ups such as carrying two of the same guns as once.

Killing enemies and breaking crates reward players with gold coins that can be used to upgrade the protagonist, whether it be in terms of health or amount of ammo that can be carried. The upgrading process is quite unique. In the menu, you can access a skill upgrade “tree” that looks like the overworld map of Super Mario Bros 3.

Each unlockable skill is a short 2D level in and of itself where you need to reach the end by grabbing coins and jumping on enemy’s heads or simply avoiding them. Once you reach the end of the short level, you’ll get a coin bonus added on top. Each level/upgrade costs a set amount of coins.

As a whole, Nightmare Reaper looks great in all of its pixelated glory and gory bits. Each area and its levels have a different visual style and theme that you’ll discover as you explore around to find hidden secrets and new weaponry. The soundtrack is creepy and haunting, but not as memorable as other games in the same horror or FPS genre.

The first problem with this, taking aside the (annoying) rogue-lite mechanic, is the presentation. While, as mentioned, it looks properly gory and creepy, some enemies completely mesh with the background/environment meaning you’ll find yourself trying to figure where you’re being shot from while seeing your health drain at a very fast rate. Also not being able to keep your weaponry from level to level is a bit irritating.

Nightmare Reaper is a fun, albeit frustrating addition to the FPS (or horror) genre. The shooting is solid and the environments are well done and creepy to explore, but the damage output from some enemies will lead to a quick death, especially when trying to figure out where they are shooting you from. The weapon diversity is surprisingly deep and it makes you want to keep playing to see what you can find. Fans of roguelites will enjoy this entry of the genre. However, if you’re not a fan of the genre, Nightmare Reaper won’t change your stance.