Preview: Gorgeous Resolutiion is all About Exploring Body Horror Landscapes, Finding Answers in a Strange Future

Screenshot: Resolutiion I love pixel-art, I love exploration, and if something has the description of “Zelda-esque” I almost immediately go for it. When I got the chance to play a press demo for Resolutiion, I was thrilled because it described itself exactly that way, and touted challenging combat and multilayered story telling. I’m salivating just writing all that down. But when I got my hands on Resolution it wasn’t really what I was expecting. Instead of a calm exploration, or challenging combat I got a bit of both. “Zelda-esque” wasn’t really the impression I got, more like Fez meets Hyper Light Drifter. Screenshot: Resolutiion Resolutiion is hard to describe. The entire premise is a mystery, and the game does nothing to hold your hand or guide you to where you need to go. It’s all about discovery and exploration. And all of that discovery is done absolutely unaided, and at your own pace. That could be great for those who like such things, but if you find yourself yearning for waypoints, Resolutiion has no concessions for you. Screenshot: Resolutiion Exploration is not only encouraged, but like a metroidvania, it’s essential. By exploring, you can find new items to clear paths forward, or new weapons to dispatch foes. Fighting in Resolutiion is fast and visceral, and even a little challenging. Using weapons or abilities cost an amount of energy—and that includes your sprint, which can be used as a way to dodge enemy damage. Screenshot: Resolutiion The art style is gorgeous, but what it's depicting ranges from breathtaking to grotesque. You can just as easily run across a vista, as you can some sort of giant body horror monstrosity that is just a part of the landscape. The whole thing would probably fit into a Dali painting for its surrealism, sans melting clocks. Screenshot: Resolutiion Resolutiion doesn’t tell you what it’s about. It's a post-apocalyptic story with a smattering of surreal body horror tinged with a bit of cyber punk or outrun sensibility. Exploration is essential, and the combat is frenetic and impactful. While there isn't a release date set in stone yet, you should expect Resolutiion out sometime this year for Windows.       If you like the video game, tabletop, or other technology content that Third Coast Review has to offer, consider donating to our Patreon. We are the only publication in Chicago that regularly reviews video games, and we cover lots of local Chicago-based events and more. If you want to contribute to our coverage of Chicago’s video game scene (and more) please consider becoming a patron. Your support enables us to continue to provide this type of content and more. Patreon.com/3CR  
Antal Bokor

Antal is video game advocate, retro game collector, and video game historian. He is also a small streamer, occasional podcast guest, and writer.