Sker Ritual review – A Call of Duty Zombies feel, with less budget

Test conditions: We played through all four Sker Ritual maps in around 6 hours of play in total. The title was tested on PC with 32GB of RAM, an RTX 3070 and an i5-12400 (2.50 GHz).

Maid of Sker, with truncated narration and content

If you thought that Sker Ritual is just a simple spin off of Maid of Sker, know that this is not the case. In fact, the software takes place more than sixteen years after the events of the first game, in 1914 on the island of Sker. Its introductory cinematic shows us Elizabeth's daughter named Arianwen, freeing you from your prison in a complex. Your goal? Foil the dark designs of Arianwen's mother by eradicating the creatures lurking on the Isle of Sker, and stopping her from spreading the siren's song throughout England.

If the concept of resuming the bad ending of Maid of Sker is great, it is clear that the storyline lacks depth. When a Maid of Sker managed to surprise with its writing and its lore, Sker Ritual is satisfied with only the bare minimum, without going further than that.

There will be a few notes to pick up on the different maps to learn more about what's going on in the game or even a few short cutscenes at the end of each level, but that's really not enough for us to be able to really get hooked on its very light story. Moreover, the very end of the game leaves a far-fetched semi-open ending, which suggests that the developers had little or no idea on how to properly convey the story of the software.

Speaking of lightness, the content could have been much more substantial. The title only has four cards to go through, and each time ending with a big boss fight. It is obviously possible to continue wandering around each map afterwards, and complete some optional objectives. It's not much and apart from that, you will have relatively little detailed cosmetic customization of the character. It must be admitted that Wales Interactive has not really expanded its content, which is quite meager. Especially since once the maps are known by heart, the interest is much less other than completing it on a higher difficulty.

The almost COD Zombies which half confirms

Sker Ritual adopts a formula diametrically opposed to Maid of Sker, for a more or less refreshing result. The title remains on a subjective view with ideas inspired by COD Zombies, i.e. wave gunfights with light puzzles to continue progressing. And it must be admitted, the feeling is exhilarating with combat that is directly fun, accessible and just as nervous as the game mode of the Activision title.

However, we regret an uninviting ballistics in the impact, but it must be said that the established basis of the gameplay works, despite an obvious rigidity compared to other licenses. However, there is a wide range of weapons available to use and a sufficiently varied bestiary to offer a certain variety in our actions, although this ends up being repetitive in the long term. It is also necessary to highlight a calibration of the aim that is not often so accurate, even if this in no way hampers the overall gameplay, which advocates frenzy and velocity.

To continue comparing with COD Zombies even if the budget is obviously not the same, there are these systems of points and miracles that hold up. For the first, the points to be gleaned by killing enemies will be the heart of the game. These will be used to open doors to progress, buy weapons via a merchant, use improvement stations to upgrade your advantages (reload or move faster, have a better rate of fire etc.), replenish your arsenal but also your weapons in order to do more damage. What's more, points can give you the opportunity to acquire a life token, to use on dedicated machines once you have passed the weapon to the left, and if the players with you cannot revive you in time .

As for miracles, they will simply be effective and useful bonuses for your character. As you progress on the map, you will have to choose one of the three miracles available, which will give you access to some elemental damage bonuses. You will thus be able to be entitled to elemental shots, or even elemental damage when you use your special skill, your knife or your healing elixir which recharges every second. Undeniably, this game mechanic fits well with the title, with its own personality, and remains devilishly fun.

Please note that bonuses will also be collected from defeated enemies.. These will give you temporary advantages such as infinite ammunition or even killing your opponents in one hit, except elites. This ultimately allows you to get out of dangerous situations, especially when you approach round 20 where elite enemies and big waves start to gently point towards you.

A choppy progression, populated with pitfalls

In its pure and hard progression, Sker Ritual is too choppy or even hazardous. The fault first of all with this system of points to advance, forcing us to make our ratio of monsters to kill, in order to be able to open a door and be able to continue on our merry way. Also, the rest time between each wave is incredibly ridiculous, which means that you will have to systematically solve the few generic puzzles on the fly or in a hurry. This set thus gives rise to a poorly proportioned difficulty, creating bad tension for the players.. The idea is nevertheless good in basic terms, but rather poorly exploited in terms of game design.

The cooperative multiplayer side will also be essential to appreciate the full potential of the software.. Indeed, the baby of Wales Interactive is truly boring solo, with us being clear of puzzles that would be practically impossible to complete alone, and with the pressure of having a wave hit us in the face every 15 seconds. The game should perhaps have adopted a more digestible formula at the Left 4 Deadwhere the waves arrive randomly and in a moderate manner, which is never the case in Sker Ritual.

Leaving players the choice to focus on hunting monsters or following the story is good, but the balance is never found. To make matters worse, while it is easy to find players, big bugs during games or unexpected disconnections are added to the game, which considerably spoils the experience. It should be noted the absence of dedicated servers, bots for offline mode or written or voice chat, not facilitating communication even if it is to solve a puzzle in progress or who should do what at the same time. instant T.

Regarding the objectives of each map, don't expect a revolution. The objectives are clearly straightforward and encourage players to go from point A to point B. In addition, you will sometimes have to complete the same escort objectives, secure a point, collect different objects four times, finally face a boss and choose to exit the level. However, we can at least salute the level design of the maps, changing scenery and remaining in the morbid atmosphere of Maid of Sker which was already having its little effect, and offering a certain ingenuity in the construction.

The leveling system, in addition to being classic, also lacks balancing. As you progress from level to level, you will have the opportunity to unlock new cosmetics for your protagonist. In addition, you can also obtain samples of vitriol, used to improve the various advantages that you can glean via the few machines present on the map.

Honest graphically, grandiose in sound design

Let's be clear, the graphic aspect is not a slap in the face either. This is the same graphics engine as Maid of Sker with fairly dated textures, animations from another age, and unfortunately outdated visual effects. The optimization is correct, but can sometimes quickly fall apart with slight jerks. But overall the game remains largely playable, even if we would have liked more transcendent graphics than that. Obviously it's not ugly, but just passable.

Nevertheless, we will not be able to remove the artistic quality, which retains all the spirit of Maid of Sker. We find this whole atmosphere both murky and unhealthy, and the varied bestiary of creatures to face is a pleasure. This clearly accentuates the disturbing side already orchestrated in the previous part.

Finally, the soundtrack is very good. The few dubbings in original version command respect, and most of the texts are well translated into French, except for certain sentences still in English. For the music once again there is no denying it, the sound aesthetic of the melodies remains of the same ilk as the previous opus, and offers us an atmosphere as poetic as it is macabre.