#loobaloobi

@j4gm was asking me if I had this game, and then @mifil came in a moment later asking to play it. The game was on sale and everyone else had a copy, so we were good to go.

The game doesn't make the best first impressions. It has a jpeg of the "😂" emoji as its main picture, and R.E.P.O. obviously is meant to rip off F.E.A.R. It's a Lethal clone and the playable characters look a bit like Amongi. Upon launching the game, I was smacked in the face by motion sickness. It has everything working against it.

Fortunately, while it doesn't live up to the sheer terror Lethal Company offers, this game does have its own charms.

There are three major differences:

1. It is cartoony in nature. The monsters that kill you are a lot more ridiculous than what you might see in Lethal. The brightness is also lighter and it's hard to get lost. So while it's still terrifying, it's more accessible than Lethal to scaredy pants like me. This can be a con too, I turned pixelation etc back on because the game needed to be scarier.

2. The loot system has altercations. In REPO, you can load the loot onto a trolley. If you knock the loot around, it will be devalued. If you exceed the quota, all loot on the checkpoint will be crushed and turned into money, so you need to be careful not to load it too early if you want the maximum extra cash.

3. The game is forgiving. Enemies won't oneshot you, and you get plenty of opportunities to hide or escape. You also get far faaaar more cash from the items, and you can spend the extra currency at a shop which offers weapons and character upgrades. Even if you die, you can be reviver mid-level at a cash checkpoint. The penalty is that you need to reach quota at all 2 to 5 checkpoints before you can leave.

So this is how it went:

There were five of us - Mifil, Jagm, Charlie, Sketti ("Skitty") and myself.

I was killed immediately in the first round by some kind of Spirited Away phantom. Then I was killed by a floating head. Then I was killed by Charlie, then I was shot at point blank by Mifil.

Then when I got my revenge on charlie in the store, things got out of hand. I was hammering him to death and he defended himself. We went too far and the hammer managed to attach itself to a floating drone, so it was swinging around with a life of its own, knocking us down. We ran for the escape.

There is a huntsman who will shoot anyone that makes a sound. Charlie is a talkative individual. On many occasions, we'd hear him speak, then the ring of his life being extinguished would echo through the halls.

Mifil and I ducked under some furniture while the Huntsman passed by. A yeti charged through the room and killed him instantly. We couldn't hold back our laughter.

I saw the Huntsman fall down ten flights of stairs and lose health like a Minecraft mob. I think it's intentionally funny so he can track your laughter. Then I saw Jagm heroically attempt to kill him, and get shot in the face.

The huntsman walked right into the final exit, preventing us from leaving or even moving. Jagm and Skitty heroically lured him away, only for Skitty to die.

At one point Jagm and I were accosted by two shadows at once. He died. Mifil had already died. Charlie's head was in the room. I hid behind a barrel for three minutes contemplating reality, too terrified to move forward by myself. But I managed to steel myself, and begin loading the trolley.

Then - by some miracle - Skitty showed up! With great relief, I explained our circumstances as the last survivors. Then she led us to a checkpoint, and we managed to save all the loot and revive everybody. Rejoice! I have never been so brave in my life.

We proceeded to load the final checkpoint with exciting loot, and follow the path back to the escape vehicle.

Unfortunately, the game decided we had achieved too much.

The very next room was *rammed* with monsters. Like. Seven monsters. It was an ambush!

First of all it was four little gnomes that we managed to kill. We lost Jagm, but we were still going to make it. Then we smashed an evil baby to bits. This bit was surprising, but all was good.

Then, before I could celebrate, I was chopped to pieces by a lady with scissor hands who had also spawned.

Then we were all dead except for Mifil, who in a final act of desperation tried to hide in a fountain, only for YET ANOTHER creature to spawn next to her, finishing her off.

After our failure, we were entered into a contest for the King of Losers - A battle royale where the players fight to the last toy standing. And Charlie managed to kill me with a frying pan, only to get shanked immediately with a katana by his friend. The inflatable hammer didn't help much.