Sker Ritual Review

Sker Ritual is set in 1914 and picks up after the events of the Evil ending of Maid of Sker. lisabeth Williams has conquered Sker Island and is looking for complete control by broadcasting her Siren’s song. However, her daughter, Arianwen, doesn’t agree with her plan and recruits you, the player, to save the world from descending into hell.

Sker Ritual is an arena objective based first person shooter where players are tasked to completing various objectives in order to go deeper into each arena. In your way will be waves of enemies, known as the Quiet Ones, trying to stop you from successfully completing each objectives. As you’d expect, the higher the wave number, the more intense things get.

Along with waves of cronies, a supernatural being, known as Elites, that will hunt you constantly will also be summoned, meaning even in between waves, you need to keep on your toes. The big baddies can be killed, but they are harder and more challenging to kill. Each unique map has a set of objectives to complete in order for the story to keep on progressing.

As you kill enemies, you are rewarded with points. Points can be used to purchase new weapons, refill your ammo, perks (such as extra life, health refill, faster reload; among others), opening doors (unfortunately). Killing enemies also rewards players with temporary perks such as unlimited ammo, improved defenses, triple score; just to name a few.

When an even number round begins, players are given a Miracle. Miracles are a set of buffs that are with five Celtic Deity or Myth across four tiers. Once acquired, they can equip one of three at any time during the game. Every time you earn a new one, they are shuffled and refreshed. Miracles will buff your attack, defense, and status.

The game looks great as a whole; well for what is there. All arenas are set in dark, creepy and brooding areas to add a layer of tension. Each level is a unique theme; such as a haunted house, haunted mansion, shored pirate ships, forests, x, y and z. Each arena’s designed is also well thought out for the most part; they have the perfect mix of linear and maze. You’ll run around in circles trying to find key items but never get lost as it’s easy to recognize your path. On the audio side of things, it’s fair. Arianwen’s voice over actor does a decent job to guide you. The soundtrack is bordeline non-existant. There’s some omnious music playing at times, while quiet the rest of the time.

The game does have a few annoying quirks. The one being when finding a vending machine to refill your ammo, you need to do it weapon by weapon. So if you’re holding your pistol and buy a refill, it’ll only be for your pistol. If you have additional weapons, you need to swap to it and then purchase the ammo. Also the game will put a marker for certain objectives, but without necessarily having the necessary item to move on.

For example, on the boat level you need a lever; the marker will point at where you have to use the lever… even if you don’t have it. Which is incredibly annoying; if I don’t have the lever, don’t put the marker up. At least wait until I find it. Also requiring points to open door is absolutely annoying. If you run out of points and need to progress, you need to wait for enemies to spawn in order to kill them to grind for points.

Combining objectives based missions and arena shooter mechanic makes Sker Ritual stand out from most shooters. Each map is unique and fun to explore, and it can easily be enjoyed solo or with friends. While the game won’t fully help you complete objective and you might have to be required to grind for points, it doesn’t deter from the overall experience. If you’re looking for a tense shooter with a unique twist, Sker Ritual is a must play.