At Sundown; Shots in the Dark

Review by Paul Fiander

Developer; Mild Beast Games
Publisher; Versus Evil
​Review completed on Switch
Review code supplied by Publisher

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​One of my major reasons for buying a Nintendo Switch has the reputation the House of Mario has for couch co-op/local multiplayer titles. I see the Switch as a family console, one we can sit around the screen together and enjoy for the most part. To this end, I'm always looking for a fun take on the use of multiplayer experience on a single screen and the developers at Mild Beast Games have certainly given us one with At Sundown: Shots in the Dark (called Sundown from this point on for brevity). The basic idea is up to four players (or importantly bots) take to a battlefield in teams or solo in order to shoot each other. So far everything seems rather normal, however, there is a twist and that revolves around the field of view of the players.

​For the most part, the field of play is covered in shadows that unless a player is firing makes them invisible to anyone looking at the screen. This allows for a stealth-based game of cat and mouse that can become a rather tense affair for all involved. This conceit is the games USP and it works perfectly the occasional spots of light allow you to find yourself although staying in them is asking for trouble. However, without them, I feel the gameplay would suffer from having to spam weapons too much. in one on one this is not too much of an issue but in 4 player free for all it would take away any aspect of strategy the game contains.

​Weapon wise you get a nice array of generic titles like SMG, Sniper and of course the ubiquitous Shotgun. Each has an ammo count within its Magazine but the Ammo is instantly respawning within your back up. The weapon mechanics work well with the Sniper being a beastly dealer of death with the caveat of a laser sight that allows enemies to know where you are limiting its usefulness in certain situations. Each weapon has a tutorial to work through to explain how it’s used and you do have to work to release weapons. This is done through points accumulation and these are handed out generously as long as you are able to get a few kills here and there.

In terms of playing options, you can play both online and off. For the offline potion, you can play against bots and set the game up with rules to suit. This is helpful as you have nice control of aspects of the game ranging from kill count for the win to which weapons the bots can use. This can allow you to stack games for or against you in order to improve in a way that is neither too easy or soul destroying, the better way to play I feel, however, is local competitive or co-op. By taking advantage of the custom game creator you can make a balanced game on the fly. This was especially useful when playing with my son as I could play two on two against him, which with certain games could be too one-sided but the ability to partner him with a high-level bot and myself with a lower level allowed for a more fun experience for both of us.​

​Unfortunately here we run into the major downside of the game and that’s is its online component. The availability of games is almost negligent and so I have not been able to form a view of the game itself in this capacity. If the game did not have a bot mode that was competitive this would make the game an instant fail but thankfully this is not the case. However, It does mean purchasing comes with a degree of caution. If you have someone to play with then I do think the game is worth picking up. The fun we had playing hide and seek with guns was top draw but as a solo only game it could get old quite quickly.