Perilous Warp

Perilous Warp is a fast-paced indie shooter inspired by the classic 3D-actions, released on October 20, 2020. Communication with a distant space colony has been lost, and you bravely step into the teleporter with the desire for glorious adventures. But do not expect to win in a heartbeat!

Our development studio, Crystice Softworks, consists of only five members, old-school action fans. The game is not very long, but we have been focusing on the design and atmosphere, along with creating the unique universe. Further plans to expand the game include multiplayer, botmatch, and perhaps a small single-player addon. The game is based on our own game engine, Volatile, which is highly moddable, so we plan to release a free SDK, including the plugin for J.A.C.K. editor.

Is it Retro Indeed?

Looking for real immersion into the roaring nineties? Perilous Warp is here to fulfil your dreams! Go to the graphics options ("Settings" → "Graphics" → "Advanced Graphics Settings") and choose one of the Retro Mode presets. Now you can paint walls with pixelated blood, just like in the good old days. True oldschool fans should also enable 8-bit/11kHz audio in the sound options.

Game Features

  • Optional Storyline: either learn everything about the tragic events that took place at the base, or skip the boring stuff and plunge into the action.
  • Classic Combat System: find new deadly weapons at the base, from a classic shotgun to an advanced railgun, as well as a way to upgrade each gun.
  • Diverse Bestiary: your enemies will run, swim, pounce or dig out; they will be anything but a piece of cake.
  • Explore the World: look for stashes and secret places, visit optional offshoots, and get Steam achievements.
  • Scalable Graphics: our game engine implements many modern graphics technologies, but at the same time it can support weak systems.
  • Save Anywhere: in Perilous Warp you can save your progress wherever you like, and as often as you like; there are also autosaves.
  • Accept the Challenge: for certain gamers, the game can be real hardcore - no health regeneration, no navigation arrows, no bullshit!

The Story

2047 a.d. Within a distant stellar system, astronomers find an Earth-like exoplanet. It turns out that a composition of its atmosphere is similar to Earth's, and it could be suitable for humans. However existing space technologies do not allow reaching the planet in the near future.

2049 a.d. A meteorite consisting of an unknown mineral hits the Earth. Its shape and internal structure suggests that its nature is artificial, so it is probably a fragment of some extraterrestrial object. Attention of scientists is drawn to extremely unusual properties of the crysterite, as they called the mineral: it can create "warps", or hyperspace rifts. The first teleporters have been constructed, and then, a bit later, an experimental hyperspace engine for an insterstellar spacecraft. However it is one of a kind, due to extreme shortage of crysterite. Thorough search for the precious mineral is immediately initiated. Finally, traces are found in an emission spectrum of the exoplanet discovered two years ago. There are no doubts in the decision to send an expedition to the planet.

2050 a.d. A spaceship equipped with the hyperspace engine, with scientists, builders, security guards, necessary equipment and materials onboard, makes its way to the planet, to found a colony. People successfully land on the planet, build a base, discover crysterite mines and start their development. Six months have passed according to a plan, the first shipment of the mineral is about to be sent back to Earth, but suddenly the communication with the Colony has been interrupted.

The immense crysterite amounts at the Colony resulted in vast teleportation network throughout the base - but it was not the case for Earth. The only physical connection with the colony is an emergency input teleporter; the output counterpart is located at the Colonial base. Its low capacity only allows sending a small amount of vital cargo... or one fully equipped soldier - you.

You, as an experienced space marine, get an important task: go to the exoplanet through the emergency teleporter and find out what has happened to the Colony. Most likely you also have to find the spaceship - a fortified citadel - and try to reestablish the uplink. You don your favourite armour, take your trusty army knife, and bravely step into the teleporter with the desire for glorious adventures.

Soundtrack

Perilous Warp Soundtrack is a mix of acid, glitchy, and distorted sounds. Daniel Northwood gets his inspiration from late 1990's, early 2000's soundtracks, the times when games used to have freedom in music. The soundtrack includes fifteen original electronic tracks, each with a special touch. Nearly an hour of atmospheric sci-fi music designed for fighting aliens, but suitable for standalone listening as well. Music is available in both MP3 and FLAC formats.

Sources of Inspiration

We do love classic old-school 3D-shooters from late 1990s and early 2000s. The development of Perilous Warp was inspired by such masterpieces as Quake II, Half-Life, Unreal, Doom III, and certainly the brilliant game Chasm: The Rift. Old school players will discover numerous references, but even if you are not in your thirties yet - rest assured that you won't be bored!

Screenshot Gallery

           

 

External Links