I don’t imagine we’ve ever coated Maniac right here on VG247. The truth is, I don’t suppose I’ve seen a lot protection for it elsewhere, both. Maniac is just not the kind of sport that generates headlines, even when its whole gimmick is one I can’t imagine nobody considered sooner.
In the event you haven’t already began Googling, Maniac is what occurs once you create a Vampire Survivors-alike and costume it up in GTA 2 apparel. So, in case you ever puzzled what a GTA-coded one in all these video games would seem like and the way it will play, Maniac has the reply.
Maniac is one in all few really good Vampire Survivors-likes launched in 2024, and positively one of many many who got here out this 12 months. And no, I refuse to name that style ‘bullet heaven’. If something, we must always default to the far superior (and extra descriptive) style label: ASS, auto-shooting-surival. As such, Maniac is a good-ASS sport.
What makes Maniac significantly good at pulling off the gag is its dedication to the fusion of the 2 video games its mainly impressed by. The Vampire Survivor influences discover a new residence right here, first once you begin off fully reliant on melee, and later once you improve to a firearm (or a rocket launcher).
The GTA 2 blood is answerable for a number of the most devastating motion in any a kind of, and a big a part of that’s the physics engine beneath. Even early on, when the chaos and mayhem are stored to a minimal, merely watching your character work together with the world, and the inhabitants of that world itself, is a pleasure. It captures the most effective elements of the One Wished Star really feel all of us keep in mind from traditional GTA video games, earlier than issues get too hectic. And identical to these video games, Maniac doesn’t maintain again once you preserve pushing its limits, it welcomes it, in reality.
The extra your energy grows – with character upgrades, pickups and actually highly effective weapons – the extra the display will get painted with blood and automotive wreckage. I’m particularly keen on how the sport manages to implement vehicles/driving into the move, which might in any other case break the cautious stability of pace and energy ASS video games work so laborious to realize.
Driving physics are tuned to realize that really feel, with forgiving dealing with that tempts (and rewards you) for pulling off last-second swerves, and drifts into blockades to seize a powerup. It’s genuinely spectacular how effectively Maniac’s techniques come collectively, particularly contemplating a reliable product bought on that premise alone would’ve finished simply nice.
Maniac runs nice on Steam Deck, too. You don’t want a handheld to play it, in fact, however I’m prepared to guess it’s going to rapidly turn into your ASS sport of alternative once you do. Failing that, simply load up a video of somebody at max Wished Stage and simply watch utter mayhem unfold. Seize it on Steam, or wishlist it for when the (already low cost) value goes down.
