Redeemer: Violence Awakened (hereby referred to as Redeemer) was a game I stumbled on just looking through the upcoming game list on Steam. The better looking graphics and the brutal combat made it standout from the sea of other indies that flood the Steam marketplace. It offers great visuals with brutal gory combat that had me hooked from the very first slow motion punch.

The game opens up with the main character, Vasily, in a monastery deep in the snowy mountains and it’s being raided by soldiers looking to capture him after 20 years of seclusion trying to forget the things he has done as a soldier. Vasily, fueled by revenge for the deaths of his fellow monks goes on the quest to shut down this evil corporation that tried to turn him into a cyborg soldier killing machine.

Redeemer is a ‘Top Down” Brawler that features a simple, but fun combat system of hand-to-hand, finishing moves and an array of different weapons. You will be curb stomping, slitting and ripping throats, ripping heads off, breaking backs Bane style and so many other gory finishing moves. On top of the hand-to-hand combat you have a wide selection of melee weapons such as electric staffs, hatchets, axes, combat knives, sledge hammers and more and you can bet your ass that they all have their own brutal finishing moves. You also have a great selection of guns that range from pistols, AR’s, shotguns and even some prototype weapons.

It took me a little over 8 hours to beat the campaign, and that was just on the normal mode. There is an extreme mode you can play on, but even on normal there are a couple sections that will challenge you. There are also a few boss fights in the game and while most of them come down to simple hit-‘n-run techniques, the final boss actually offered some different ideas that had me wishing the other boss fights offered something similar. To break up some of the action there are a couple areas that will require you to navigate through some traps, but they aren’t frequent or all that difficult.

While there’s a good selection of combat options just with your melee weapons and guns, you also get to use your environment to your advantage and they are all beautifully gory as well. The game has a decent amount of varied environments, but the last 3/4 of it takes place in the corporation’s headquarters where they are manufacturing their cyborg soldiers. I would have liked there to be more levels outside like the first 1/4, but they’re varied enough and littered with enough unique environment finishers to keep things fresh.

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The visuals are generally good, especially since the camera is pulled so far back, but once it zooms in for a finisher you’ll notice some muddy textures. But all in all it’s still a very good looking game with some very nice lighting, shadows and particle effects. The sound design also stands out at times. Every crunch and gory blood splat stand out with high quality effects. The gunshots all pack a punch in the sound department so it’s very satisfying to do a combat roll, steal a shotgun from an enemy, and blast him in the face. Redeemer also has a really good rock soundtrack that adds to the badass brutal combat. The only thing I will critique here is that the voice acting can be a bit hit or miss. Then again, games like this aren’t usually played for the deep story.

Redeemer was a bloody (literally) good time and a great addition to a genre that has been scarce lately. While there isn’t a huge combo list or a wide range of environments, it’s the wide selection of melee weapons, guns, and environment kills that keeps things fun and fresh throughout. It made me feel powerful and badass through the entire game and it’s truly a gem on Steam.

Redeemer: Violence Awakened is available now on Steam