If you’re like me, you’ve played a lot of games in your life. A selection of them you hold dearly – Dark Souls, Vanquish, Mega Man, etc. – because seeing the credits roll took a great deal of effort. You had to dedicate time to these experiences and learn their nuances. You had to practice new found skills in order to progress. It was like studying for a test that you would eventually pass. You probably fancy yourself pretty good at games now, thanks to your experience. Sounds like you need to try your hand at Skyshine’s Bedlam, a.k.a. the “you’re not as cool as you think you are” simulator.
Bedlam takes The Banner Saga style of game hybridization, subbing Thirteenth Warrior for Fury Road, aesthetically. Instead of leading a group of displaced refugees across country on foot, you pilot/captain a monolithic Dozer, a post apocalyptic Ark full of wastelanders, across the brutal bleakness of a radioactive dead zone. The few resources you have to manage are finite and constantly draining, and every move on your Oregon Trail-like journey takes from you more than it gives back.
The amount of times you will be punished in the first few hours of this game will be harrowing, but persistence is key. All of its systems will make sense eventually. You’ll be able to see yourself making it farther and farther in each game, losing less and less in each battle and gaining more resources from good decision making. It might even resemble progress, like maybe your learning something after all.
After leaving the main settlement of Byzantine (after choosing to be one of five starting races), your journey into extreme emergency management starts. Each moment is catalyzed by a choice of destination on the main map. Getting from one point to another in Bedlam always costs something, Fuel (“Crude“) and Meat usually, but potentially far more, depending on the myriad of events that can happen on the way. People are a growing and shrinking resource that needs to be monitored as well. Sometimes you’ll find wanderers in the wild that want to be a part of your trek, while others will look to sabotage you, potentially costing you more than just their attendance. Power cells are another, more limited resource which is used to upgrade your Dozer and use it’s abilities to aid you in combat. And you’ll need all the help you can get.
When things jump off, Bedlam’s twisted cruelty is in full form. The point and click adventure game transforms into a turn-based strategy game, and your combatants are just as scarce, fragile, and dangerous as everything else in this world. Turns are complete after taking two actions. These include attacking someone in a unit’s particular range, or moving someone into range to attack. You can take both actions with one character, moving and shooting or doubling up on either one, if you like. The very limited actions per turn means only a maximum of two units are doing anything each turn, and really makes you think conservatively. This Chess-like conceit is both a blessing and a curse. You can see holds back the flood gates of the total broken mess Bedlam’s combat could be, but your always left wishing you could do more, or knowing that you’ve left someone in a bad position simply because they haven’t moved yet.
Unit types vary along a pretty standard gradient. The long-gunning Deadeyes do big damage from afar, but are so fragile that one hit from anything will kill them. On the other end of the spectrum are the Frontliners, sword-and-shield clad warriors that are agile and hearty, but don’t pack much of a punch. Other unit types fill out the middle of this scale, but no matter the varying degrees of punch they pack, every single turn could easily be their last. By your third or forth attempt to traverse the wasteland, you’ll be treating these characters as the expendable commodity they are. Some battles reach XCOM levels of brutal, where seemingly any move you make is the wrong one, and a victory is truly just a signifier of who didn’t die last.
I focused mainly on a Trencher-heavy party, opting for two of the shotgun-wielding warriors for their mid-range, moderate damage, and admirable movement speed. Hiding behind cover gave them some damage mitigation, so they wouldn’t die immediately after the first wave of fire. Since they can’t shoot over walls, it became a waiting game. As in, me waiting for enemy units to cross their line of sight, so I can shoot them in the face. After crossing a certain kill thresh hold, the shooters become “veterans.” Besides a visual upgrade, they get more life and do more damage. Which makes it all the more upsetting when one is unceremoniously killed by some no named mutant.
I’ve made several runs through the randomly generated wasteland world of Bedlam and have yet to make it to the fabled Aztec City. If it’s not the denizens of this dead and dusty world –mutants, cyborgs, rogue A.I.s, or marauders – it’s the elements. But I won’t give up, the rogue like wander simulator has piqued my interest. If you are of like mind, take a pit stop over to our Bedlam Wiki before you go, and stock up on some useful information before plunging into gritty madness. Then, hit us up on Twitter @CurseGamepedia, and share your horror stories.