Selaco

My first few minutes with Selaco were genuinely disorienting in the best way. The pixel-textured corridors and sprite-based soldiers scream 1997, but the moment a squad of riflemen started flanking my position, lobbing grenades at the same piece of cover twice in a row, and pulling back when I applied pressure, something clicked: this is not a nostalgia trip. This is a modern tactical shooter wearing retro clothes, and it earns every layer of that disguise. Under the hood, Selaco runs on a heavily modified GZDoom engine, which started life as a free Doom total-conversion mod called Ominous before Altered Orbit Studios rebuilt it from scratch as a commercial project. The result draws its combat DNA squarely from F.E.A.R. rather than classic run-and-gun Doom: you play as Dawn Collins, an ACE Security Captain stationed on a massive underground refuge sheltering humanity's last survivors, and the game expects you to take cover, pick angles, and manage ammo with care. Assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, magnum pistols, and more than ten other weapons can all be upgraded with utility mods or transformed entirely through Weapon Kits, and milestones earned mid-combat drip-feed crafting materials that make each fight feel like it's building toward something. The environment reacts to every bullet, tearing up tiles and scattering debris in ways that genuinely affect readability during a firefight. That destructibility is both the game's most atmospheric trick and its sharpest double edge. In a one-on-one exchange, watching a room turn to confetti is visceral and gorgeous, the 3D environments layered with pixel textures that glow beautifully under dynamic lighting. But when four enemies converge, the visual noise can make it genuinely difficult to track who is shooting from where, and some players in the community have noted that enemies feel nearly omniscient once aggro triggers, cycling through flanking tactics and grenade pressure with relentless efficiency. The game is explicitly not a circle-strafe boomer shooter, and players who approach it like one will have a rough time. Approach it like F.E.A.R. and something close to magic happens. The campaign spans over thirty hand-crafted maps, a Randomizer Mode that remixes enemy behavior and projectile patterns for chaotic repeat runs, and an Incursion Mode that transforms cleared levels into survival-arena gauntlets with escalating difficulty. A "Rifle Start" modifier strips your loadout after each level, keeping only upgrades and credits, for a genuinely punishing alternative experience. It is still Early Access, which matters. Chapter 2 is planned for 2026, with Chapter 3 following after. What is playable now represents a full first chapter, polished enough that multiple reviewers reported zero bugs on release, and the community reception sits comfortably at Very Positive on Steam. The original soundtrack earns specific praise for texture and atmosphere, the kind of score that makes a quiet corridor feel like it's holding its breath. There is also full modding support through the GZDoom lineage, meaning the workshop already has life in it. If the pedigree of a small team, five years of development, and a debut chapter this confident tells you anything, it is that Selaco knows exactly what it wants to be. Whether the remaining chapters stick the landing is the only real open question.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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