Necrovision: Lost Company

My first honest reaction to Necrovision: Lost Company was something like recognition -- this is the kind of mid-tier, Eastern European FPS that used to fill bargain bins around 2010, and it wears that identity completely without shame. You step into the boots of Jonas Zimmermann, a German soldier fighting on the World War I front who quickly discovers that the casualties around him aren't staying dead. What starts as a grim trench-warfare shooter pivots, level by level, into a full-blown supernatural brawl against zombies, demons, and vampire-tech monstrosities. The premise is genuinely interesting. The execution is a different conversation. The core of the game is old-school FPS shooting stripped down to its bones: get here, kill everything, move on. The dual-wielding system lets you hold a different weapon in each hand simultaneously, which sounds exciting and occasionally is, especially when you mix a shotgun with a submachine gun and wade into a horde. There is also an adrenaline meter that lets you slow time for brief windows, and a "Hand of Shadow" demonic gauntlet that adds melee combos and spells to the mix. When all of these systems click together on a good level, there is a satisfying, brainless rhythm to the carnage. A Fury progression system rewards kills and secret collectibles with passive upgrades, giving the six-to-seven-hour campaign a mild sense of forward momentum. Standout set-pieces include a WWI-era biplane mission that controls surprisingly well, and a FT-17 tank level that does not -- the tank controls are genuinely clunky and the mission overstays its welcome badly. The problems pile up fast once you look past the shooting. Companion NPC AI is broken in ways that feel almost intentional: allies fire through you at melee range, walk into walls, and generally behave like confused extras on a film set. Enemy AI is not much better, with bullet-sponge behavior replacing any tactical design in the later vampire-themed levels. The Hand of Shadow has a known bug preventing certain power selections that was never patched. Voice acting is rough across the board, accent assignment is arbitrary at best, and the story -- a prequel that establishes how Jonas becomes the first Necromancer who eventually faces off against the protagonist of the original NecroVisioN -- never rises above serviceable. The final stretch of levels abandons the stronger WWI grounding in favor of supernatural chaos that feels less interesting than the trench sections that preceded it. Who actually gets something out of this? Fans of Painkiller and similar wave-clearers who can tolerate jank as the price of admission. Players who specifically want to fill in the NecroVisioN lore from the German side will find the alternative perspective worthwhile in concept, if not always in execution. The campaign is short enough that most of the rough edges never become dealbreakers -- you hit the credits before genuine fatigue sets in. Approach it like a B-movie: the craft is uneven, but there is real energy in the premise and moments where it all comes together in a satisfying, explosion-heavy blur.

Alex · Scout Team

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