Sker Ritual Is A Halloween Treat For Gamers

Do you miss the good old days of classic Call of Duty Zombies? that was a magical time for all of us. The endless hordes of undead, upgrading those insane weapons, finding Easter eggs in every nook and cranny, all while traversing those dangerous maps.

Also let’s not forget arguing with friends over who buys the next door, what a wild ride that era of gaming history was.

Fast forward to 2022, and we have a new contender to bring back some of that nostalgia with a fresh vibrant injection of their own franchises DNA. Sker Ritual is a sequel to Maid of Sker, distancing itself from Maid's survival horror aspects into a wave-based action extravaganza.

Click here for video version here

Wales Interactive, the developers and publishers of Sker Ritual are a team of 12 passionate people bringing us this classic but fresh treat. Back in September, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the team at EGX 2022, in London. We got a hands on with a beta build and I was blown away at the core game-play loop being so fun and satisfying to the player.

It felt like an old concept, other developers had never capitalized on was coming back and in a big way. So, you heard it here first when I say Sker Ritual is one to keep an eye on.

Its currently in early access now and I have been playing even more of it. Thanks to Wales Interactive for the review key, always appreciated, but let’s discuss my impressions of my 10 hours so far.

Sker Ritual is one of those games in which its gameplay appears simplistic but there is a vast number of moving parts going on. Whether you jump into quick play for a team, a private game with friends or just go full on Rambo in a solo game, it’s extremely well balanced. Each gun feels weighty with a punch, each enemy feels unique with different tactics, each location with its first map feels eerie and unique. It is clear to see a lot of attention to detail has been adapted here, it has nuances to its structure and exploration I appreciate greatly. However, in many ways this is far superior to what we saw with the likes of Call of Duty Zombie games from the decade prior. Within Sker Ritual we have many improvements on the formulae that add to the experience and help to keep you in the action no matter what.

Currently its first map The Cursed Lands of Lavernock, is the only location. With a total of 4 maps promised in a roadmap by April and full release in 2023. This is not a hindrance however, the map itself is hugely impressive in scale and scope. I got lost in every single round and that made me feel a weird sense of joy, anxiety and wonder. That is what I have missed since Black Ops back in the day.

There is countless objectives and missions to take part in, each marked within an area or with an object marker. This is one of the betterments over its source material. Obviously Easter eggs are still hidden for you to discover but the main tasks are laid out there for you to easily know what to do as a group or solo. This is something I really do appreciate as someone who cannot afford to spend 12 hours a day playing to uncover the final boss and ending room. Although the game has plenty of replay value to it, so don’t you worry.

Other improvements and additions were the use of miracles, a BioShock like power up system that lets you fight back with Supernatural infused abilities and weapons. From lightning bolt melee to frost whirlwinds and powerful dragon infused Molotov. There is something for everyone with this magical system. Also lets just appreciate the art direction with this game and its particle effect fidelity because I was seriously impressed with what an indie team could achieve here.

However, don’t expect to be mending walls, fences or barricades. In Sker, you simply watch the entry points and pray.

Graphically it feels as if there is a clear intention to make this adaptable for current and last gen consoles in the future too, in its visuals it feels stylised in a way that the lighting may forgive some less than stellar textures at times. Nevertheless, it's always important to remind yourself, visuals aren't everything when the game is just blatant enjoyment pure and simple.

Weapons, well weapons are what you can expect. The classic M1911 pistol is here, the good old shotty, sub machine guns, AK47's, revolvers and rifles. Each of these much like COD Zombies once again, can be upgraded within a mechanic in the level. An upgrade station akin to Pack-A-Punch from years before. They adapt the visuals, feel and power of each gun and trust me, they look and feel awesome. There is also some other weapons to find, such as the Thunderbolt, Crossbow, Axe and well, some special hidden essentials.

We don't have a mystery box here though but instead, an addition I feel is a large improvement is that of a friendly Dog to offer you a random weapon for your points. Whoever idea this was, give them a treat.

There are also perk stations dotted around the maps many locations, from health upgrades to speed-boosts and reload management. Each round throws your basic possessed villager at you, with some being faster, stronger or different in abilities in design. These being broken up with elites to challenge you, bombers and even Abraham. A boss that stalks your movements until you defeat him at the end of the main mission strand. This prevents you keeping ''crawlers'', a little exploit system that COD Zombie fans used to prevent a round ending while they got their repairs done and ammo refilled.

I liked this change, others may not but it adds tensions all the time.

As your killing the many enemies within Sker Ritual, you will also be treated to pickups. From max ammo, sudden death, triple points, half price, infinite ammo and more. All these helps alleviate tension when getting overrun or come in at the last moment during a hard round to save your skin at the last second. Again, Wales Interactive knew their source material and what worked. But the entire story and lore is based on their own game franchises DNA, of the supernatural Welsh folklore. This is something I really loved about the game, as I’m tired of the zombie’s trend as it has been overdone to death in recent years.

Obviously within an early access launch and period, there is cons to a game, bugs to squash and elements of gameplay to address. Luckily the game is quite polished, and every atom of its world seems purposeful with intention already which is a skilful thing to see with such a smaller team in the indie horror space. The development team is very adamant on community feedback and addressing issues, which makes myself as a player of Sker Ritual feel highly at ease with the product.

Right now, you can pick up Sker Ritual on steam PC for £11 or around $15 US. This is a steal for the nostalgic enjoyment you will feel within its world, and it’s only going to expand and improve up what Wales Interactive have built here. I highly recommend giving the title a go this Halloween and you may find that the genre of wave-based hoards in levels full of Easters eggs isn't quite as dead as Call of Duty has made it seem as of late.

If it’s done right, you’re in for a fright.

By John Perry