Dolmen

Dolmen is a third-person action game with RPG elements in Dead Space and The Surge style. Its plot was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's work. Massive Work Studio's debut game combines elements of survival horror, dynamic combat similar to that of the Souls series, and exploration of available levels. The game focuses on the single-player experience, but there are also cooperative and multiplayer modes. The title was largely funded by a Kickstarter campaign and was released on PC and eighth-generation consoles.

Plot

The action of Dolmen takes place on the forgotten planet Revion Prime which differs from Earth in terms of flora, fauna and weather conditions. The main character has been sent there to take samples of the Dolmen crystal, which cannot get into the wrong hands as it allows to travel between dimensions. It turns out, however, that the valuable resource has been targeted by beings from another planet.

The goal of the developers was to merge space science fiction and horror elements.

Game mechanics

In terms of gameplay, Dolmen is part of the popular souls-like trend. The combat system is skillful and requires careful observation of enemies, and the attacks with melee weapons (swords, axes) consume stamina points. We can also use special guns to perform distance attacks - they are powered by the energy accumulated by our hero which is the equivalent of a mana bar. They don't do much damage, whether we use light or heavy fire mode. However, they can be used to inflict negative effects on enemies, such as freezing or poison. In addition to the usual opponents, we will also face powerful bosses with unique attack sets. Lost health is regenerated at the expense of our energy, and we block attacks with a special energy shield. A perfect parry of the opponent's attack makes them immobilized for a brief moment, giving us time to plan our next actions.

Killed enemies give us experience points and various items. We use the former to improve the statistics of the main character, which we do only on our ship called "ZEO". These stats determine how much damage we inflict with various kinds of weapons, how many health points, stamina or protection we have against specific types of damage. We move to the ship via terminals which also serve as save points that revive opponents as well as a locker for our materials. We use the acquired items mainly to create new equipment or improve the current one. There are also special blueprints that we can use in two ways - we can construct new suits, or we consume them to get an immediate bonus to one of our attributes.

Technical aspects

Dolmen was created on Unreal Engine, however, due to the developer's budget limitations, the graphics aren't that great. Individual locations have a very organic design - the platforms we move on often resemble bones or muscles of living organisms.

Last updated on 26 May 2022