Receiver 2 - Synopsis, Features, Media, Reviews

[Ana]

BUY: Humble Store, Steam
Platform(s): Windows PC, Mac, Linux
Release Date: April 14th, 2020
Genre: FPS
Price: $19.99 USD / £15.49 GBP
Player(s): 1
Format: Digital
Developer/Publisher: Wolfire Games
Website: Receiver 2

Synopsis
"THIS IS NO ARCADE SHOOTER, THIS IS 100%
GUN MECHANIC REALISM

Receiver 2 simulates every internal part of each firearm based on manufacturer schematics and gunsmithing resources. Learn exactly how each sidearm works, including how to load and unload them, clear malfunctions, and operate their safety features.


NOT YOUR ORDINARY FPS
You won't find any loot crates or bullet sponges here. Every killdrone can be destroyed by a single well-placed shot, using ballistic simulation based on data from shooting incident reconstruction textbooks. Practice the Receiver virtues of resilience, focus, and courage to resist the Threat.
FEATURES:
Sidearms modeled down to every spring and pin
Enemies with physically-based damage models
Ballistic modeling of ricochets, penetration, and bullet drop
Train your mind to defend against the Mindkill
Become literate in how guns actually operate"


MEDIA



Constance P/Timbles is really good at this game, big Wolfire fan:

REVIEWS
Opencritic | Metacritic
Rock Paper Shotgun - Matt Cox

I’m very close to calling it a masterpiece. Everything I’ve mentioned so far is cruel but reasonable, and succeeds because it asks so much – but sadly, that doesn’t apply to the pacing. Unless you get lucky, stumbling on the tapes you need can take forever. That turns progress into an unwelcome test of endurance, where the slightest slip up can undo everything. I might only die to one turret in twenty, but that’s enough to keep me at the bottom rungs, where they’re the only enemy that spawn.

I can see why, but I know I’m missing out. With turrets, the pressure always comes from within. You can stay behind cover, with all the time in the world to sort out whatever calamity has befallen your firearm. That’s not the case with the terrifying flying buzzsaw drones, where any faff is fatal. I’ve only brushed up against them a couple of times, and they have turned my brain to jelly. I relish that mind-melting panic, and wish those drones appeared earlier, as they do in Receiver 1. Locking that terror behind hours of perseverance is a missed opportunity, and making it so that quitting the game undoes some progress is an infuriating misstep.

It’s far from a dealbreaker, though. I’m enthralled enough to keep trying, to keep trawling through familiar corridors. There is still suspense in every moment, because I know how easily each moment could go wrong. I can still revel in the discipline required to shoot a turret, recognise that I’ve disabled its firing mechanism, and stand still as it turns around. I can still freak out at inspired surprises I won’t spoil, and delight in paying attention to every little detail.

They’ll kill me if I don’t.

IMPRESSIONS
PC Gamer - Wes Fenlon

If you really engage with Receiver 2 and buy into this setting, it's less a "shooter" and more a horror game, where your own physical interaction with your guns is a key part of the tension. It is not about empowerment. Fumbling a reload, wasting bullets, being too slow to clear your holster—these are all quick tickets to death and restarting a level, and if your goal is to finish the game, it will be scary and intense.

For me, dying a few times and being forced to wander another samey, lifeless environment in search of cassette tapes I didn't want to listen to was not scary, it was just tedious. And if you quit the game, it knocks you down a peg, forcing you to restart at an earlier level. This punishment will no doubt make some players commit to reaching the end of Receiver 2 in one go, but it just turned me off wanting to play at all.


Instead I'll look forward to the videos people make of Receiver 2's fastidious reloading and shooting. It may not be for me, but I respect any game that lets you accidentally shoot yourself by holstering a gun too quickly. Why would you leave the hammer cocked like that, you careless fool? You'll never survive this post-Mindkill world like that.

The Examined Life (Of Gaming) : All Gunwork and No Gunplay