THE PERSISTENCE / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: FIRESPRITE / PLATFORM: PC, PS4, SWITCH, XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE: 21ST MAY
Originally released in 2018 as a PSVR exclusive, The Persistence earned countless plaudits thanks to its brutally immersive take on survival horror (it made it onto our 2018 “games of the year” list, if you might care to take a look). Non-VR owners are now able to experience possibly the greatest sci-fi roguelite ever made with this regular flat-screen edition on PC and consoles – and on top of that, PSVR owners can now go flat via a free update and, conversely, the new PC version can be played in VR!
Set in the year 2521, players attempt to repair a stranded space station and bring it back to earth from the grip of a black hole, while dealing with murderous crew members who have been turned into a variety of monstrous aberrations. Your mission will take you through several different areas of the ship, completing objectives, scavenging the environment for upgrade materials and, of course, fighting (or fleeing from) all manner of savage foes.
Each time you start a new game, the ship’s layout changes so you’re never quite sure what you’ll find at any given moment. You always have access to a map to guide your path, but the constant creaking of the ship, clanking of its pipes and strange scuttling noises from behind the walls mean you’re constantly on edge, and that’s before we even think about the half-headed Listeners, relentless Bloodhounds, gigantic Berserkers and countless other nasties that stand in your way.
Luckily, The Persistence gives players a huge amount of toys to mess around with, from futuristic weaponry and super-powered modifications to environmental hazards that can be turned to your advantage. You might use your riot baton or other melee weapon to beat an enemy to a pulp, inject a dose of Ivy Serum to make a bad guy fight alongside you, drop a noise-making grenade to lure enemies into a malfunctioning electrical panel, or use your Grav Hook to lift an enemy into the air and slam it into walls until it’s dead. Perhaps you’d prefer to teleport behind them for a silent kill? Or, you know, just shoot them in the face…
Every weapon can be upgraded, as can your stats which can also be improved through a huge range of collectable schematics. All of these upgrades need to be earned and unlocked using credits, tokens and enemy DNA cells, which gives the perfect reason to spend time creeping around the darkest and most terrifying recesses of the ship. The catch is, with this being a roguelite, you lose all of your weapons when you die. You do keep all of your credits though, and your starting point in the ship – where your new body is “re-printed” – contains upgrade stations which enable you to power yourself up a bit before heading back out again.
Presentation-wise, The Persistence has some of the most user-friendly menus we’ve seen in years. Everything is simple, clear and straight to the point, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll be getting lost in sub-menus or over-complicated weapon wheels. It controls beautifully on PS4 and Xbox One, although the aiming and turning seems a little slow on the Switch version (but you can change this in the options if it bugs you too much). If we had one minor nitpick, some of the text can be a bit on the small side… Oh, and for those considering picking this up on Switch, we’ve given it a right good going over during the last few days and yes, it does indeed seem to run perfectly in both handheld and docked modes!
Genuinely thrilling sci-fi games are pretty hard to come by, let alone genuinely thrilling sci-fi games that successfully incorporate survival horror elements and excellent roguelite mechanics. In those respects, The Persistence is a rare thing indeed. If even one of these things is your cup of tea, we’d strongly urge you to give this a look. And if you’re keen on sci-fi, horror and roguelites, this is a definite must-buy without a doubt!
