SUCCUBUS

I went in expecting Madmind Studio's usual chaos, and SUCCUBUS genuinely surprised me by being a competent first-person hack-and-slash rather than another atmospheric slog through ugly mazes. That pivot matters: where the studio's earlier work Agony had players sneaking around in darkness, SUCCUBUS hands you the keys to the underworld and tells you to start swinging. You play as Vydija, a demonic priestess betrayed by her own kind and stripped of her power by the warlord Baphomet. The story is thin by design, and it works precisely because of that restraint. There is no wall of lore notes to read. You just fight your way back up the food chain. The combat loop sits at the heart of everything, and for the first several hours it holds up well. Weapons are varied and each one genuinely changes how you play: two curved swords that snap into a bow give you a mid-range option, a throwable pitchfork lets you pin distant enemies, and a staff opens up sustained combo chains. Unlocking new gear is a steady drip of small improvements that keeps momentum going. There is also a health-recovery mechanic straight out of the modern DOOM playbook -- finish a weakened enemy with an execution animation and you get health back, which keeps you aggressive rather than conservative. Vydija's lair doubles as a home base between missions where you can customize her appearance, decorate rooms, and access the Hell map to pick or replay levels, adding a light layer of structure around the arena brawling. Here is where the honest accounting starts, though. The arena-based level design is repetitive, and enemy AI is largely suicidal -- waves of grotesque demons run straight at you with little tactical thought. That fits the setting, but clubbing brain-dead mobs loses its charm faster than the weapon variety can compensate for. Late-game bosses have a separate problem: some suffer from broken pathfinding that leaves them frozen mid-fight, which undercuts what should be climactic moments. The climbing sections sprinkled between arenas are padding in the most literal sense, basically automated corridors with a directional prompt. Level environments also lack variety -- you are spending the whole campaign in shades of hellfire red and bone grey with occasional shifts in layout but rarely in tone. The game is explicit and makes no apology for it. There is substantial gore, nudity, and content that sits well past what most mainstream titles will touch. The uncensored version requires a separate free DLC unlock on PC -- an odd friction point, but it works once activated. If that content is not something you can stomach (or enjoy), very little of the core game compensates for it; the combat alone is decent but not deep enough to carry a full playthrough on its own merits. Steam's overall user base has landed the game at roughly 78 percent positive across nearly 1,800 reviews, which feels about right: this is a niche game that delivers exactly what its niche wants, and disappoints anyone who strays in looking for something more refined. For players who loved the fantasy of Agony's setting but found the gameplay miserable, SUCCUBUS is a genuine course correction. For everyone else, the fun-to-filler ratio tips the wrong direction around the halfway mark.

Alex · Scout Team

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