I don’t imagine we’ve ever coated Maniac right here on VG247. In truth, I don’t suppose I’ve seen a lot protection for it elsewhere, both. Maniac shouldn’t be the kind of sport that generates headlines, even when its total gimmick is one I can’t imagine nobody considered sooner.
If you happen to haven’t already began Googling, Maniac is what occurs whenever you create a Vampire Survivors-alike and costume it up in GTA 2 apparel. So, should you ever puzzled what a GTA-coded considered one of these video games would appear to be and the way it will play, Maniac has the reply.
Maniac is considered one of few truly good Vampire Survivors-likes launched in 2024, and definitely one of many many who got here out this 12 months. And no, I refuse to name that style ‘bullet heaven’. If something, we should always default to the far superior (and extra descriptive) style label: ASS, auto-shooting-surival. As such, Maniac is a good-ASS sport.
What makes Maniac notably good at pulling off the gag is its dedication to the fusion of the 2 video games its mainly impressed by. The Vampire Survivor influences discover a new dwelling right here, first whenever you begin off totally reliant on melee, and later whenever you improve to a firearm (or a rocket launcher).
The GTA 2 blood is accountable for a number of the most devastating motion in any a type of, and a big a part of that’s the physics engine beneath. Even early on, when the chaos and mayhem are stored to a minimal, merely watching your character work together with the world, and the inhabitants of that world itself, is a pleasure. It captures the most effective elements of the One Needed Star really feel all of us keep in mind from traditional GTA video games, earlier than issues get too hectic. And identical to these video games, Maniac doesn’t maintain again whenever you maintain pushing its limits, it welcomes it, actually.
The extra your energy grows – with character upgrades, pickups and actually highly effective weapons – the extra the display will get painted with blood and automotive wreckage. I’m particularly keen on how the sport manages to implement vehicles/driving into the movement, which might in any other case break the cautious steadiness of velocity and energy ASS video games work so onerous to realize.
Driving physics are tuned to realize that really feel, with forgiving dealing with that tempts (and rewards you) for pulling off last-second swerves, and drifts into blockades to seize a powerup. It’s genuinely spectacular how nicely Maniac’s techniques come collectively, particularly contemplating a reliable product offered on that premise alone would’ve carried out simply nice.
Maniac runs nice on Steam Deck, too. You don’t want a handheld to play it, in fact, however I’m prepared to guess it’s going to shortly grow to be your ASS sport of selection whenever you do. Failing that, simply load up a video of somebody at max Needed Degree and simply watch utter mayhem unfold. Seize it on Steam, or wishlist it for when the (already low cost) value goes down.
