It’s you versus yourself in the demo for roguelite clone-hunter DoubleWe

This municipality ain’t large capable for the some of me

I adore the premise of DoubleWe: you’re fixed a randomised appearance, dumped successful a cramped sci-fi shithole afloat of dodgy-looking NPCs, and forced to find termination your identical clone earlier helium tin look from the assemblage and shank you first. There’s a demo for Steam Next Fest, and it’s provoked successful maine immoderate of the astir pulse-quickening paranoia since the days of DayZ.

ID’ing the clone is, contempt the ruffian density, usually the casual part. You person a reflector connected you astatine each times, and the Evil You typically prefers to bide their clip and blend successful alternatively of rushing consecutive for the kill, truthful you person a fewer moments to memorise your doppelganger. Still, that model is amended spent scrounging up a flimsy weapon oregon one-shot pistol from limb stashes. Rather than wrapping you successful a comfortableness broad of justifiable self-defence violence, however, arming yourself lone serves to up the hostility further.

Opening the stashes is agonisingly dilatory – my precise archetypal decease came erstwhile the clone took vantage of my evident difficulties with operating a briefcase – and the weapons themselves unit you into close-range, all-or-nothing confrontations with an hostile who’s acold little apt to miss their swing. Add successful the wide unease of however readily the clustered NPCs volition halt to look astatine you, positive the cognition that DoubleWe’s roguelite operation means nonaccomplishment volition nonstop you backmost to the commencement of a chapter, and each circular becomes a deliciously mistrustful portion of shortform suspense. Even taking the clip to stalk your ain stalker astatine the opening doesn’t assistance much, arsenic stopping to drawback a limb is much than capable clip for them to melt backmost into the throng, oregon to lurk down the corners of a chokepoint. I ain’t walking though that doorway, man. The different maine mightiness beryllium successful there.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/NightByte Games

That’s conscionable the earliest encounters, too. After a fewer palmy slayings, immoderate hopes of settling down into much relaxed clone deathmatches are dashed by devious raisings of the stakes. First, officers are introduced to baton you senseless if they spot you gearing up an attack, forcing you to either onslaught much swiftly oregon coax your pursuer into a quieter corner. Then, an anonymous assassin is dispatched to actively hunt you from the start, laying connected adjacent much unit (and, if you determine to combat back, depleting your limb uses) portion forcing you to scan each azygous 1 of these blockheaded creeps for a telltale blade. I stay some intrigued and perturbed by the much overtly horror-flavoured antagonist variants that the last crippled volition feature, including clones that detonate into raging, Resident Evil 4-style nutrient yuccas, though specified monstrosities would beryllium successful keeping with DoubleWe’s sensation for escalating threats.

I lone seldom bask being frightened successful games, but I bash crave a much sustained, eerie flavour of hostility – it’s what made creeping done Chernogorsk, praying its snipers were watching elsewhere, specified an electrical thrill. DoubleWe manages to recreate and intensify that feeling successful compact, minute-and-a-half bursts, and I’d dearly similar to drawstring myself retired connected much of them.