Skautfold: Into the Fray – PS5 Review

Skautfold‘s been a weird series with something of an identity crisis. Each of Pugware’s games so far have settled in a different genre whilst trying to push forward a narrative about the occult, eldritch horror and colonial conflict. Whilst it does propel an air of mystery about the series, the games have struggled to elevate themselves in quality. Skautfold: Into the Fray is no exception.

Skautfold: Into the Fray is a tough game to get to grips with. From a comfortable, top-down perspective the shooting shouldn’t feel this unwieldy. To begin with, you have a cleaver for close melee damage and pistol for ranged attacks. Your rate of fire with the pistol is not ideal and there is some reloading you have to account for.

From there, your arsenal expands into shotguns and rifles that, whilst conventional, lack a little impact. The shotgun sprays buckshot in a small cone ahead of you that can make light work of basic enemies. Unfortunately, the lack of range means there’s a lot of risk involved. I wouldn’t mind that semblance of balance if it wasn’t for the way enemies seem to attack instantly on sight. There’s also a kick which allows for environmental interaction.

Aiming needs to be precise with opposition readily moving around the screen and firing shots. There’s available visual cues but they always seem to have the upper hand in encounters. If terrain is involved, they seem to have a knack for firing around it and, despite having a dash (with limited use), it can just as easily trigger a neighbouring scuffle. It leaves a trail of fire behind so at least I could deal some passive damage whilst trying to avoid lead.

Even on the lowest difficulty, I felt surprisingly fragile. There is a means to gain health back in a fight and it’s one Skautfold: Into the Fray‘s smarter ideas. When enemies take enough damage, they enter a vulnerable state. Kick them when they’re down and you’ll steal their life essence. It’s a vital mechanic because I’ve not uncovered any other way to recover health. All it seems to take is a few shots to put your life in danger and encounter design does start to favour multiple foes relatively quickly.

I think the precise nature of the shooting is what irks me the most. I’ve needed to be dead on with my shots for them to count and the controller inputs just aren’t up to the task. You can tinker with the dead zone but the analogue sticks just seem to lag behind. Altering sensitivity is not an option. Throw in some dodges and keeping a bead on a target can feel just too cumbersome. It’s a shame because the combat seems to thrive on you always being on the move.

Barrels and other environmental hazards can be used against the enemy and, whilst that is a nice tool to have, it’s rare for me to feel I can get the drop on them. With their shoot on sight AI, coaxing them into any traps felt accidental. They have a tendency to start firing off screen which, whilst irritating, is something you can also utilise. Terrain can also be an issue when enemies hide behind it.

Failure dumps you back to the start of the level, undoing any progress with rituals in that area. The levels aren’t long but they’re punishing to the point where repeating them really frustrated me. The world map is quite large and, whilst that does imply a wealth of levels to play, quite a lot of them feed you the same objectives. It leads to plenty of trial, error and tedium.

I will say the locales can feel quite varied. Whilst they all come under the same blocky construction, they range from snowy town streets to asylum corridors. They remain Victorian in setting but that, combined with the sizeable map makes the journey feel long and travelled. It’s a pity you can’t repeat levels. There’s enough ammo strewn about but a means to farm health or ammo would’ve been welcome.

Enemy design doesn’t show as much diversity. A lot of them are shown early on and, whilst they are used to try and make encounters tricky, only a couple of new entries follow. Your arsenal also struggles to expand as the game progresses. It leads to a game that seems short on ideas. Only bosses really stretch the imagination and, thankfully, they’re interesting to deal with. They present a decent challenge, even if it is mostly recognising an obvious pattern.

The story is full of Lovecraftian horrors and a mix of alternative history. As this is the third instalment of the series, the tale loves to reference past ventures and that can make it a little hard to follow. There is a briefing you can watch but I don’t think it does a great job of filling in the gaps. The short version is you’re a knight tasked with disrupting various macabre rituals by an invading force called the Sons of Washington. The opposing forces are drawn straight from the American War of Independence but it places you in a British uniform, rather than the founding fathers.

It’s told mostly in text which I tended to glaze over. There are some nicely put together cutscenes that showcase some solid pixel art. Unfortunately, like a lot of this game, I simply can’t care enough to get into it. There’s a gory look to it and the blood splatters do tell a grisly tale in the aftermath of each fight. It’s just not doing much else. Discarded dog tags elude to the wider conflict and there is some flavour text for some new locations. I’m just not that invested in it.

Skautfold: Into the Fray continues the genre-swapping theme of the series but, as a twin stick shooter, this falls very short. A lack of enemy variety and a small arsenal hinders things but the transition to analogue sticks requires a precision that just seems to be lacking. It does not do a lot for me and the gothic story is a little hard to follow three games in.