Trepang2 is a violent first-person shooter game developed by Trepang Studios, a small indie studio in Canada and published by Team17. The developers named the game after their studio or vice versa, but will they regret that?
In Trepang2, you play as a genetically modified person, similar to Agent 47 in the Hitman series. Similarly, you have a codename of Agent 106, implying other Agents have existed before and potentially afterwards. If you know the lore of Agent 47, then you will know what will happen to the main character.
Trepang2 mixes several gameplay and theme ideas from other properties. Inspiration is taken from The Matrix, Max Payne, F.E.A.R., Duke Nukem, Hitman, Killing Floor, and 1990s to early 2000s culture. This gives the game a massive identity crisis. You will be hunting and running from Flood-like zombies and a Mothman. Later you will be shooting suicidal cultists and assaulting heavily fortified highrise corporation headquarters.
In between levels, you return to a safe house run by a shady organisation called Task Force 27. This is where you can customise your appearance, run combat simulations, and do missions and side ones.
I would have liked a more focused story on one of these aspects. They should have ignored the supernatural and crazy experiment elements and focused on the corporate angle. If you can get past the misplaced and predictable story, the gameplay makes up for it.
Trepang2 gameplay never gets boring in the ten or so hours the main and side missions will take to complete. Several difficulty levels, from Easy to “Rage Mode”, confine the total playtime. I played on Very Hard, and it was punishing on several occasions, especially the last mission. This level was near impossible.
Trepang2 is compared to the F.E.A.R. series as they are both first-person shooting games with bullet time and horror elements. I haven’t played those recently, and I don’t remember if they are more similar than that. In any case, it reminded me a lot of the Soldier of Fortune games.
Most missions will require you to fight through fortified areas against hordes of enemies, each of which can kill you fast. If given the chance. You will do this by using a selection of guns and superpowers. Occasionally you will have to complete some objectives while fighting waves of enemies. Between these rounds, you can buy supplies or reinforcements to help.
There are only a few firearms to choose from. A handgun, a submachine gun, an assault rifle, a sniper, two grenade launchers, and a minigun. Several throwable weapons, such as tomahawks, grenades, and rat bombs, can be used.
The two powers you can use are Cloak and Focus, a bullet time ability that will be familiar to most people who have seen The Matrix or played Max Payne. Both are essential in making it through and also allow you to be creative. The cloaking power helps with stealth, a part of the game that features it now and again.
Like most games with bullet time, it never gets tiring to dodge bullets and shoot in slow motion. Even though to the enemy you are moving very fast. While the cloaking ability recharges over time, bullet time is rewarded by killing enemies. This means you need to mix between using your abilities, as more bullet time can’t be added while it is being used.
If you manage to hide, enemies will try to find you. If you sneak around, surprise attacks will be available, or you can mess with the artificial intelligence in ways. This is because the game has a surprisingly good system, where hostiles will act to how you behave. They will audibly tell you what they are doing, adding to the impression that they are acting more like real people. They will also react to seeing dead bodies and noises.
If you take a hostage, their friends will not shoot you. You can throw them into allies as a live grenade and watch them explode into a reddish and bloody mist.
You can melee attack and kick like you are Duke Nukem. Both are useful in making targets lose their balance and opening them up to easier attacks. Melee attacks give forward momentum and auto-aim, making them fun to use. Using jumping and sliding moves can lead to impressive combat manoeuvres.
At about three-quarters way through the game, you will inject yourself with some special serum that allows you to dual-wield guns which is weird. The serum lets you hold a shotgun in both hands or two handguns. You can’t do this with the minigun, as this was seen as unrealistic.
The fact you can’t do this from the start is an odd choice for a game where you play as a super soldier. Once you can use two handguns, I took them on every level.
All guns can be customised with unlocks you find in missions. You can add bayonets to the minigun or incendiary rounds to the shotgun. These customisations make up for the lack of weapon variety. They also change how they look.
High Value Targets add some variety and a goal to missions. The game has about twenty targets to kill. The level and the difficulty you are playing will determine which ones will appear. Through your first playthrough, you will likely not face all of them. Each is a unique character with a backstory and will require different tactics to defeat. Some you can kill quickly, while others are more tricky.
…like a cross between Lara Croft and Max Payne, there aren’t many better feelings in a first-person shooter.
When you are sliding around in bullet time shooting enemies with dual handguns like a cross between Lara Croft and Max Payne, there aren’t many better feelings in a first-person shooter.
The visuals in Trepang2 are often impressive and usually rough. When shooting up a corporation complex, you are reminded of The Matrix. Windows smashing and walls cracking, while decals, bodies, and guns litter the place. Suddenly you are reminded of the budget nature of the game when a lot of the scenery can’t be damaged, and objects don’t have physics. The world regularly feels rigid and locked down, with glue adding to the low-quality feeling.
Lights and darkness play a part in the game as these add to the atmosphere and impact stealth. Thankfully these graphical effects look good, and the game even allows you to shoot lights to further aid in stealth. While you won’t do this much, it is nice that it is there.
Enemies are varied and detailed. What they wear impacts how strong they are and how hard to kill. An enemy with body armour is better than one without any. Yet Mothman looks terrible and out of place.
There is plenty of variety in design and landscapes in the missions. Each feels like the place where they are set. Even if most are indoors, the outdoor levels show that the developers aren’t afraid to make corridor levels.
I like that you can customise your appearance. Even if a lot of the colours aren’t good. Yet it does mean you can give yourself blue and black camo or even a Smarties-covered costume.
Trepang2 looks good in motion and less so when standing in one place.
Hostiles communicate and bark their tactics out. Giving you a heads up to what they are doing and a chance for a fairer fight. Allied soldiers will do the same. This all adds to the carnage and the stylish violence they are going for.
The voice acting is good, and I can think of any of the characters that sounded bad. The main character never talks, and that is probably for the best.
Some people might like the soundtrack, but I found most of it horrendous. There are maybe three good tracks on the album. An album which is nearly sixty tracks and two hours long. A lot sounds like the music used in 1990s PlayStation demo discs. Sure, they are going for a 90s aesthetic, except a lot of it doesn’t sound good quality. I do admire the effort in making something sound original and different.
My favourite track is the song (called Take Your Flight) that plays when it shows the helicopter loading screen between missions. A lot of the music reminds me of the songs from Killing Floor.
All the guns and other environmental effect sounds fine enough, even if the music makes you want to lower the volume.
While the campaign isn’t the longest, there is a lot of replayability in trying to beat difficulties. The combat simulator gives even more value by turning areas into wave survival arenas.
The only problem with replaying levels and the combat simulator levels is that they don’t give a score meaning it feels pointless to replay them. The only reason you might is if you want to get some of the cheats, High Value Targets, customisation, or Intel you missed.
There are a lot of cheats you can unlock. If you want to make enemies clumsy with big heads, you can. You can adjust health values and a lot more with the cheats. If you cheat, it lowers the difficulty level on completion to Easy. Meaning cheats are there to give you something to do when you are bored.
I didn’t expect cheats to allow you to complete more difficulty levels easier, except many make the game harder. They should have split them into two groups. One that impacts difficulty and one that doesn’t.
For example, you can give foes more health, and grenade spam, give yourself no Cloack or Focus, and the game will still count as completed on Easy.
Overall, the price tag for the game feels a bit too much. In the past, games like this would have cost a lot more. The mid-range price they are asking for feels too steep.
Trepang2 offers a lot, and when on sale will be worth the price. Yet the small team quality shows throughout the game. It is impressive in places and unpolished in other areas.
If you are looking for a bullet time game, this is a satisfactory one to add to that shortlist. It contains enough style and design that you want from a Matrix-inspired shooter.
If they can add a score attack mode to levels and the combat simulator, I could see the game being more replayable. Maybe DLC could add new maps and weapons? If not, a Trepang2 (odd name) sequel could be fantastic if they build upon this solid first game. It doesn’t need any multiplayer.
Information
Developer: Trepang Studios.
Publisher: Team17.
Platform: PC.
System: PC.
Release: 21st June 2023.
King Toko 