Level Zero Extraction Early Access Review – Lights Out

Released this month on Steam Early Access and under development at Ukrainian outfit Doghowl Games, Level Zero: Extraction is a tactical extraction first-person shooter and survival horror, where players can take on the role of rival human mercenaries, solo or as part of a team, hashing it out for as many valuables as possible before seeking extraction. Or they can take to the battlefield as a deadly alien lifeform hunting the human mercenaries and dispatching as many of them as possible.

The early stages of development suggest that this game has a lot of work that needs to be done in pretty much every aspect. Level Zero: Extraction at this point feels much more like a detrimental experience rather than an enjoyable one. One positive to focus on, however, is the game’s graphics. The visuals on the technical level are wonderfully rendered and conform well to modern-day standards, running at a full 60 FPS with a powerful enough graphics card.

"This game has a lot of work that needs to be done in pretty much every aspect."

Its network performance also poses no issues presenting nothing in the way of lag or delaying play. The use of lighting is also handled fairly well, and among many other elements of the game, is definitely something that has the potential to be improved upon. On the conceptual level, however, it is particularly generic, featuring many elements seen a thousand times over within the science-fiction medium, as well as sci-fi games in general, such as Halo, Deus Ex, and System Shock. The soundtrack also does very little to add to the game’s supposedly scary atmosphere.

The music that plays throughout both the main menu and the opening cutscene sounds much more action-oriented than horror. However, no tracks play during actual gameplay, but this is most likely something that will be added throughout the course of development (along with many other planned features, such as dedicated control support and additional gameplay modes. The most utterly detrimental thing about this game, however, is undoubtedly the gameplay.

The objective while playing as a human mercenary is to choose a loadout of weapons and items before the start of the game, collect as much loot as possible in-game, defend yourself against attacks from aliens and other competing mercenaries, and eventually to find an extraction point to exit the game and to level up their character over time. Unfortunately, the thing that players will spend most of their time doing in the human campaigns is switching lights on all over the place, as the electricity regularly fails, making it more difficult to navigate through to detect enemies and find loot. Occasionally, the player gets to dispatch the odd alien that infrequently appears but will most likely end up taking decisive cheap shots from either aliens or competing mercenaries before they can react in time; especially if they happen to be newcomers to this genre.

"Unfortunately, the thing that players will spend most of their time doing in the human campaigns is switching lights on all over the place, as the electricity regularly fails, making it more difficult to navigate through to detect enemies and find loot."

Players are also given a portable map to refer to so that they can reach extraction points, as well as wall maps strewn across the battlefield. But these are also by in large useless as they hold no indication of where the player is on the maps. Loot and money can be traded in for weapons the further players progress, but what also works to their detriment is that in order to get specific weapons, players need to trade in specific items, which given how easy is it to die, probably won’t have retained. There is also the option to work as part of a group in the human campaign, but the same issues exist in this game mode regardless and do little to add to the game in a meaningful way.

The alien mode is also just as frustrating. The objective is to eliminate as many humans as possible until all of them are either dispatched or extracted. A general problem with the game that hampers the experience of playing as an alien in particular is that the battlefield is too big, and squadrons of humans and aliens alike are far too spread out to begin with. As a result, players inevitably spend the vast majority of their time wandering around aimlessly trying to find faraway humans. The only difference at that point is players don’t have to keep switching the lights on because the aliens can see in the dark.

The alien’s chief ability is to turn themselves invisible in order to take humans by surprise and eliminate them using stealth. However, doing so is pretty much impossible since humans carry lights and hand torches, which burn aliens, killing the player almost instantly. It’s made apparent practically from the get-go that playing this game is far too taxing on players to be enjoyable; be that if they are either entry-level or seasoned pros when it comes to the FPS genre. One of the major plans for the future of Level Zero: Extraction’s development cycle is the inclusion of dedicated controller support. It will be interesting to see how this is handled given the sheer number of commands there are (in between having to defend against enemies, collect items, switch the lights on, switch the flashlight on whenever the power goes out, open up the portable map and adjusting the inventory as well any other gameplay elements planned for the future) and it’s not particularly user-friendly heads-up display.

"For now, there is simply not enough story to hold player interest. Certainly not enough to compensate for the many shortcomings this game currently suffers from."

It’s evident even in this early stage of development that there will be a lot of refinement required in this aspect, as passive controller support is available in the form of keyboard mapping. Playing the game this way is arguably the best indication of that. But if the developers insist on keeping as many different commands and mechanics intact, controller support will be mandatory, as it will likely be difficult for some players to play the game effectively using a keyboard. The basic premise of Level Zero: Extraction is that a human organization known as the New Horizons Corporation lands on an alien planet named Turion looking for new life forms. Upon their return to Earth, they begin to conduct military experiments by mixing the human genome with that of the aliens found on Turion. Inevitably, things go awry, and the aliens run riot all over New Horizons’ research facility.

Following this, corporations on Earth begin to dispatch human mercenaries to retrieve what data was discovered before things went south. The small snippet of story players are given at this stage is vague, unspecific, and worth next to no emotional investment. Once the gameplay has been refined to an acceptable standard during development, a short story campaign could potentially elaborate more on the basic premise and introduce characters in situations worth progressing through, whilst also expanding on the game’s (or potential series’) wider mythology, explaining further of what happened at New Horizons and what other experiments they may have been conducting.

But for now, there is simply not enough story to hold player interest. Certainly not enough to compensate for the many shortcomings this game currently suffers from. Level Zero: Extraction has the potential to offer players a more unique and comprehensive experience depending on how development is handled over its latter stages. However, there are major revisions needed from the ground up to make it work. Unfortunately, there are too many things this game has going against it for it to come across as a meaningful experience. It would be a serious shame to play the final build to realize that what players will still spend the vast majority of the time doing is switching lights on.

"Level Zero: Extraction is a pretty disappointing title."

Elements I believe could do with tweaking would be the mechanic of trading specific items for weapons and introducing a less variable system of gaining new gear. This would significantly improve the player’s chance of progressing through the game in a meaningful way. An example of a major element in need of refinement is the level-up system. Letting players simply walk away with a minimal amount of loot after dying hardly incentivizes players to keep playing, especially newcomers.

This is despite the inclusion of the safe slot boxes players can use to retain a few items after death. Experience points could be rewarded to players for getting as far as they do after dying, along with other minor awards to encourage them to keep playing for example. Level Zero: Extraction is a pretty disappointing title upon its introduction via Steam Early Access and it becomes apparent almost immediately that a lot of work is needed to offer players the rich experience that it is intended to be. In between too many ways to be almost instantly killed, its disjointed gameplay, unengrossing story, and control scheme, it’s almost not worth playing at this early stage.

This game was reviewed on PC.