RIPOUT PC Review

Prepare yourself for some serious irony with what’s to come. Pet Project Games is another new and upcoming developer steadily making their way into the gaming scene. Founded quite recently in 2020 and based in Serbia, it’s refreshing to see just how much dedication can come from a new studio. This might sound odd, but Pet Project Games has no previous releases and instead took a leap of faith in unleashing something bigger than just a simple Indie or shooter game; they went down the co-op multiplayer shooter route with a few interesting twists. So, their first and only release so far is none other than RIPOUT, which released on 24 October.

 

Now, right from the start, you’ll notice that RIPOUT has a lot more to offer than you’ll see. It starts with the story at hand, and it’s pretty wild – The world in RIPOUT is set in the distant future, and humankind has expanded their reach beyond the solar system, though this led to conflict for territories and discoveries. However, the humans eventually meet The Spiral, an alien race that somehow sparked a war between different species. That same war sparked a divide and a union of sorts between two conglomerates known as EIF (Earth Interplanetary Forces) and CEA (Corporate Earth Alliance). Those same forces accelerated research into new war tactics and technologies, but it also became their downfall.

The humans were close to losing their war, and their last major development was The Cell, an amalgamation of biotic regeneration and cybernetic melding meant to keep soldiers in battle for longer while making them more dangerous. Unfortunately, the first rendition of The Cell mutated uncontrollably, making the war take a dark turn for aliens and humanity alike while driving what was left of humanity to a new sanctuary after they lost the war. This is where you come in, as one of the last Sentient Weapon Soldiers, waking up in a much more distant future without orders or information. Your main goal will be to figure out what happened to humanity and the war while trying to survive the perilous path ahead of you.

Right off the bat, you’ll be thrown into the tutorial, and you will get introduced to your Pet Gun in the best way by giving it some attention. Yes, you pet your Pet Gun because it is technically alive and somehow adorable. Moving on – Your Pet Gun is essentially Man’s Best Friend; even though it’s vicious, you will chase after your target and proceed to chew on it until it hopefully dies, and it shoots. Naturally, RIPOUT would have to have actual guns, even though those guns are alive and have teeth. Viciousness aside, your Pet Gun is your most important weapon because it will also handle passive buffs and can be upgraded with active abilities.

 

Aside from your Pet Gun, you’ll also have access to your Sidearm and Melee weapons, both of which will keep you alive when you set your Pet Gun on an unsuspecting mutant to attack. Your Pet Gun comes with one extra fun little perk; as mentioned before, The Cell mutated uncontrollably, but this works in your favour most of the time. Just as much as The Cell mutated people and other animals, it also caused wild mutations in weapons, making them a mix of biological and mechanical. They’re referred to as Critters, and your Pet Gun can retrieve them for you to use as a secondary weapon or even as shielding. Granted, Critters come with a limited charge, and while they do roam around missions harmlessly, they’ll always look for a mutant to attach to and, in turn, make more dangerous to you.

Retrieval only works on Critters that aren’t attached though, but you can ‘RIPOUT’ those Critters from enemy mutants too. Get it? RIPOUT… Yeah, the irony, and it’s an achievement too. See just how vicious your Pet Gun can be? It only gets so much better as you progress; with new active abilities to unlock, new passives, and different Pet Gun varieties, the possibilities for mutant slaying are nearly endless. It only gets better when you figure out what build you’re aiming for and you start crafting new Garments.

Things only get better in RIPOUT when it comes to your arsenal. Though you’ll eventually be able to build new Pet Guns and the various upgrades that come with it, provided you get the blueprints during missions. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, especially if you’re a solo player. Luckily, you’re not entirely alone; your Pet Gun comes with another useful feature that can even beat the odds against the things that want to end you. RIPOUT does take a slight roguelike aspect here in the form of the Enhancement stations that are dotted around missions; these stations come with three random buffs that you get to choose from, and can give you buffs in the form of reload speed, Pet Gun damage, Sidearm Damage, along with a few more interesting boosts.

 

On the matter of power, those stations also need power to function, but that’s where life becomes just a bit more dangerous in RIPOUT. The environments during missions can come with the odd curve ball, you’ll have to decide between having the lights on and access to the Enhancement Stations at the cost of having to jump over electrical hazards (They are far from minor and definitely drain your health faster than you can say ‘RIPOUT’), or you can turn the lights off and rely on your handy battery-powered flashlight for a little extra safety. Though the lack of visibility comes at the downside of not always seeing what’s coming at you, and you might also end up missing valuable pickups.

Now, when you’re not on a mission killing mutants and uncovering the past, you’ll be back at home base, where you can prepare for your next mission. Home base is where the magic happens with crafting, preparing your weapons loadout, garments, and mission selection. Starting with crafting, you’ll need two things: crafting materials and blueprints, both of which can be found on missions as random drops from mutants and from cases. However, there is an alternative that might let you skip the grind at the Spin De Ville; it’s basically a slot machine that will let you spin a slot machine for blueprints, though it’ll cost you Granium Components, which is not so easy to come by. Sadly, there is a trade-off for everything in RIPOUT, so it really just depends on your playstyle and what you’re after.

Next up at home base is your Garments, though calling your armour/gear Garments is probably the worst choice of name for a game like RIPOUT. Similar to weapons, you’ll have to craft new Garments using materials and blueprints. However, Garments aren’t just to look epic while slaughtering mutants; it would be pretty boring if there wasn’t some benefit, and Garments do exactly that. You can look forward to a myriad of buffs and bonuses, but it doesn’t look like there are set bonuses, which is semi-understandable considering RIPOUT is still in Early Access, and there’s probably a lot more to come.

 

Now that you’ve built your upgrades, tinkered with gear, and gambled a bit, all that’s left is to choose a mission. Though there is a weird divide, you’ll have access to missions and quests – Missions are basically your side-quests, great for farming up materials or getting new blueprints, while quests will progress your story. However, progressing the story isn’t quite as straightforward, you’ll need to finish your quests first, and then you can choose to continue to the next chapter. Luckily, you’ll also get a rough idea of what to expect on your missions while you choose. Each mission will show you the size, which is the map size and mission type, along with the rewards you can expect.

So, you’re just about ready; all that’s left to do is head to your shuttle and start the mission. You’ll need to keep in mind that missions can come with the odd twist right from the start, such as low oxygen, which will give you a short time to fire up the life support system or the vessel you’re on is flying towards a star, leaving you with little to no time to complete the mission. The same thing can happen as you complete objectives as well; you’ll have to keep your playstyle at least somewhat flexible if you want to have any hope of survival.

On a more fun, RIPOUT isn’t all solo slaughtering, and it’s a co-op at its core. While there isn’t any matchmaking, you can still choose to join an open lobby or leave your lobby open for someone to join you, and you’re definitely going to need an extra gun against some of the more serious mutants. Naturally, going down will allow your ally to revive you at the cost of a revive token, but you can also spend your own to revive yourself. You’ll start a mission with one, but using it means you’ll need to find a revive station for a new token or accept death and possibly fail the mission.

 

Visually speaking, RIPOUT is quite well-detailed and does a good job with its horror tropes, but it can also look like it’s trying too hard at times. There is some really great detail on the various mutants you’ll fight against, and the level designs are well done. Sadly, the vessels you fight on look very recycled as well; this can make the game a little stale. A little more variety with the mutants and the vessels is a much-needed change to the game just to keep things fresh and interesting. On a different note, the constant tooltips for using your Pet Gun, interactions, and even some mutants can actually become annoying or repetitive after a while; being able to turn it off or just turning it off after the tutorial is also very necessary.

RIPOUT features brilliantly voiced cutscenes from the start that really help carry the story and build a good atmosphere, but what really shines above the rest is the soundtrack. Between home base and while out on missions, the soundtrack will keep you hooked and in the zone while you’re gunning down mutants. However, touching on the cliché horror tropes, RIPOUT also uses classic jump-scare sounds that do not do the game justice at all. It’s understandable that the game is in Early Access, but there’s a lack of direction as to whether or not RIPOUT is an action horror release or just action while it’s trying to be both.

 

Overall, RIPOUT lures you in with a great story and concept right from the start, but the execution needs some work. The Pet Gun is a brilliant change to the typical action genre, and it adds a lot more quality; with a little more polish and extra detail, it has the potential to become a game that can go quite far. If you can look past some of the flaws, there’s definitely a mountain of fun to be had and some chaos to cause.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed