Redneck Rampage – Immortal Redneck Review

Sometimes two things that should not go together end up being awesome, for this case, we have Egyptian Gods, Mummies and Pyramids mixed with guns, foul language and Rednecks. The latest title from Crema games (who are best known for some mobile indie titles) have combined these two things to create Immortal Redneck, a FPS-Roguelike set in Egypt staring The Redneck.

Immortal Redneck starts with The Redneck crashing his dune-buggy while on vacation in Egypt. He is then captured and mummified, cursed to live forever. The only way he can return to his normal life is by completing 3 pyramids and collecting three items that will break the curse. While there isn’t much to go on for the story, it does at least set us up as of why The Redneck is immortal and gives us a reason for the ensuing madness.

However like with most Roguelikes, the story quickly goes out the door when it comes down to the actual game and its addicting qualities of “die, get some upgrades, get a little better, repeat.”

The game gives us Three Pyramids to explore and conquer, each with several floors, mini-bosses, traps, and a master to deal with. Thankfully, the game gives us an array of different weapons to use to take down everything in your way. These weapons range from make-shift pistols, shotguns, and SMGs, to magical infused items we’d expect to see from a Supernatural Egypt like Phoenix Feathers, Power Gloves, to futuristic weapons like a TaserSword, Railgun and more.

occasionally, monsters will drop gold which can be used to purchase character upgrades including extra health, more ammo, faster speed and better pickups. Monsters will also drop meat for health, and Scrolls which gives you new abilities. This is where Immortal Redneck becomes interesting as the scrolls don’t always come with beneficial upgrades and be more of an issue. I can’t tell you how many times a great run through the Pyramid was hindered because I lost the ability to swap weapons until I was out of ammo, or I gained extra strength only to have half of my health taken away. Some also come in as pretty comedic at times.

The Redneck is not alone in his endeavours either, as Egyptian Gods and Goddesses have also given him their blessings, allowing him to be an avatar for them. This allows you to change your run in the Pyramids with new starting weapons, different stats and new abilities.  There are several gods and goddesses available, allowing you to choose which one would be best to barge through the Pyramid with, but there is a benefit for players who swap between each character as those who have been on the sideline gains extra health, attack and defence stats. The Gods can be unlocked using the Skill Tree and can be a rather expensive but worth it.

Even with the help, Immortal Redneck is designed to be challenging. Every level cleared boosts ammo and health you’re able to pick up, but also boosts the enemies health and attack strength more, on top of adding more death traps and a greater chance to pick up a scroll with a negative effect on it. This has been the cause of the occasional cheap deaths (aka – I failed spectacularly and don’t want to admit it was my fault), but it helps keep the game as a challenge even when you become a badass Lord of Mayhem.

Levels are randomly created, however after a few hours in the game you start to notice some patterns to the rooms presented in the map, which almost stops the need for one of the special items later in the game to keep the pyramid the same as your previous run, mainly because you start to realize how enemies will appear and what traps are laid out. The worst offenders to this are the treasure rooms which carry specific conditions, after finding success in most of the rooms, I am able to pick the best way to get in and out of said room as fast as possible with the loot because the pattern hasn’t changed.

Immortal Redneck does also miss a mark with opportunities to add more comedic moments to make it stand out. A character like The Redneck almost needs to be obnoxious when presented similar to “Serious Sam” or Interplay’s “Redneck Rampage” series to keep with a theme, but we hear very little from the character in terms of one-liner and even then most are just ‘meh’ at best. I was disappointed at the miss opportunity, and that The Redneck’s voice would remain even when playing as one of the Gods.

Still, if you’re a fan of the Roguelike genre, Immortal Redneck is a blast to play, perfect to shut your mind, turn on your Spotify/music player on your console and just start blasting away.