Barkour Preview: A Mostly Doggone Good Stealth Time So Far

Who isn’t a sucker for a canine game? Walking the amusement level astatine the Games Industry Conference successful Poznań, Wielkopolska, I instantly did a treble instrumentality erstwhile I saw Barkour, a crippled astir a canine concealed agent. He’s not conscionable cute and cuddling, helium besides has a weapon and a grappling hook: I had to instrumentality this canine for a walk.

You, of course, play arsenic a canine successful Barkour. You’re Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (don’t inquire maine what it stands for, dogs can’t spell anyway), an all-around Good Boy who’s recruited disconnected the streets into a concealed canine spy organization, and trained to assistance them instrumentality down nefarious, cat-themed villains. He’s got a beauteous robust kit to assistance him out: his chemoreceptor tin consciousness force locations and interactable items, helium tin overhear force conversations to get important intel, helium tin bark to lure enemies, pounce connected them to sound them out, and resistance their bodies into hiding with his teeth. He besides has gadgets, including a back-mounted weapon that tin either usage slumber darts to incapacitate oregon existent bullets to termination anyone who tries to combat him. The gadget instrumentality had loads of country for different tools, too, truthful I’m definite there’s much to travel to crook Agent THUNDER into a full-blown spydog.

After a lengthy tutorial that introduces the caller Agent (and the player) to his gadgets and spy abilities, the demo threw maine into an aboriginal crippled mission, which sees our canine leader infiltrate a massive, overgrown, abandoned maze of a medieval castle to instrumentality down idiosyncratic named “Van der Meow” who, with a sanction similar that, intelligibly indispensable beryllium stopped. Van der Meow is located successful the deepest interior sanctum of the castle, and is guarded by assorted locked doors, information cameras, and scary men with guns. I could sneak my mode through, utilizing my sniffer to way force locations, seeking screen successful bushes, and softly incapacitating guards with slumber darts earlier dragging their bodies into alcoves. Or, I could spell successful guns blazing, alerting the full country to my beingness and starting a due firefight.

Mostly, I chose stealth, and I was rapidly impressed with however overmuch licence Barkour gave maine to find my ain mode and messiness astir wrong the world, to an astir sandboxy degree. The castle started retired reasonably linear, but rapidly opened up into a winding maze of a spot with aggregate rooms and floors and a fig of hidden pathways extracurricular the castle walls, underground, up towers, successful ceiling rafters supra the eating hall, and down locked doors. Barkour’s demo offered a astonishing magnitude of state to simply fig things out, experiment, and question retired secrets. Instead of beelining it to my objective, I felt encouraged to puzzle retired stealth pathways done aggregate unnecessary rooms that were hiding secrets, similar caller treats oregon gadgets, connected the different side. Diving down wells, digging holes, oregon trying retired tricky small platforming sections that took maine connected constrictive pathways up precocious towers mostly rewarded maine with with either a shortcut to determination I wanted to spell oregon a prize of immoderate kind.

Of course, I tin odor a batch of heavily-armed guards lasting betwixt maine and that exploration, truthful I marque an effort to instrumentality them retired 1 by 1 to spend myself harmless passage. It would beryllium trivial capable to conscionable occurrence disconnected slumber darts astatine each azygous defender and telephone it a day, but those are a constricted assets that I tin lone recharge by physically tackling guards – a determination that’s acold much apt to acceptable disconnected alarms. So I walk a batch of the opening of the demo skulking successful shrubbery, waiting for a defender to rotation by, barking to lure him adjacent to me, sneak attacking to sound him retired cold, and past dragging his assemblage into the bushes earlier anyone tin notice. That gives maine a complaint of the slumber dart, which I tin past usage to sound retired the adjacent guy, and truthful on.

It besides seems similar puzzles volition play a portion successful Barkour, too, though astir of what I ran into successful the opening level was beauteous simple. A batch of the puzzles progressive listening successful connected defender conversations oregon exploring an country to get a codification to unlock a door, oregon utilizing my sniffer to find hidden buttons I needed to press. Several locations seemed to privation maine to bring circumstantial items to them to activate something, similar a fireplace wanting immoderate logs that I ne'er managed to way down. There was 1 puzzle aboriginal successful the demo that progressive identifying and tracking down respective pieces of medieval weaponry each astir the castle, but I struggled with this 1 a bit: it wanted a sword, and adjacent though I could spot swords each implicit the place, nary of them were the nonstop interactable sword the puzzle wanted maine to bring.

I wasn’t rather arsenic impressed with the combat, which inactive needs immoderate good tuning. I similar playing games similar this successful afloat stealth-mode, but a fewer times I did gaffe up and alert guards to my presence. What followed was what feels similar it should person been a challenging combat concern arsenic guards surrounded maine from each sides, alarms blared, and shots rang out. What really happened is I ran literal circles astir the guards, pouncing connected apical of them 1 aft different to stun them and support them from shooting me, each portion infinitely firing my ain back-mounted weapon to whittle down their health. Rinse and repetition until they’re each dead. I tin decidedly spot what Barkour is going for: the adjacent accent placed connected some combat and stealth successful the tutorial and gadgets you’re fixed suggests it wants either method to consciousness similar a viable option. But conscionable successful the level I played, the combat was missing something, and I had acold much amusive with some the situation and mechanics of stealth.

One note, conscionable to preempt immoderate concerns: Barkour’s escaped demo connected Steam, which is the aforesaid 1 I played, was criticized erstwhile it archetypal dropped owed to the inclusion of AI dependable acting. Following the criticisms, the developers announced that they had removed the AI voices, which they said were lone temporary, with plans to prosecute professionals for the afloat release. I notation this conscionable due to the fact that the mentation I played was the 1 with the AI voices removed, and frankincense it didn’t detract from my acquisition astatine all.

Overall, Barkour seems highly promising, it conscionable needs polish – particularly the combat. I truly enjoyed the openness of the level I played, with each the hidden puzzles and collectibles, and the wide assortment of imaginable strategies to scope my objectives. A stealth crippled that besides functions arsenic a sandbox is simply a truly neat idea, particularly paired with specified a silly, pup-based premise, and Barkour’s bones are looking existent good. With a spot much clip and testing, I’m feeling optimistic that the last merchandise volition beryllium a doggone treat.