Lo-fi Vengeance: Sulfur

A shooter that is both intense and strangely chill

Note: Some screenshots contain stylised violence.

‣ Sulfur
From: Perfect Random
Platforms: PC
Release: 2024
Genres: FPS, Roguelike, Procedural
Steam Page • Demo Video • Developer Site

Indie games can take big chances, throwing some caution to the wind while chasing creative passions and wild ideas. For example, I don't know, a manic roguelike first-person shooter in which you gun down savage goblins in a cave to find a witch who killed your entire church congregation in a fire. Namely, Sulfur.

• 📽 Best Demo Moment: Attacks can go crazy in a flash

You are the only survivor, and we start the demo with you frantically chasing the witch towards a nearby cave. For some reason, you've lost your memory, but thankfully, you carry a magical amulet that explains some details and urges you to enter the cave.

Eventually, you arrive at Sulfur, a limbo where lost souls stay trapped. The witch's magic has closed off parts of the area with a strange goo. To defeat the curse and find your nemesis, you must venture into a series of caves, fighting hordes of angry goblins (killing the goblins in diapers is a bit much, but hey, they started it!). You also find weapons, mods, armour, food, ingredients to boost your health, and money to buy more gear and weapons. Eventually, you'll explore other areas, but the demo is limited to the cave levels.

Reach the end of the six cave stages, and you can recharge the amulet and teleport to safety, stashing the gear and money you found. But die, and you respawn with just your clothes, gun, and sword. Then, prepare to tackle a new collection of generated levels. 

AIIG's Take: Sulfur is an odd game. On one hand, it's pretty violent and intense. The confrontations with enemies are quick and brutal. You return their aggression with your handy sword, pistol, and weapons you find along your run. Some levels are quiet, and some frantic as you shoot and slash hordes of creatures that vary in size and attacks. You can even see the visceral damage of your weapons on their bodies.

Yet, Sulfur is also oddly chill. You don't run through stages as much as jog, looking out for ambushes. While other shooters use heavy-handed soundtracks, this one likes laid-back, lo-fi beats that suit the atmosphere. The interactions with the game's characters are pretty quirky, amplified by the stylish art design. It's an odd combination, but it works.

At the start, the game delivers a lot of dialogue (but you can skip most of it). Yet once it settles in, Sulfur is a red-blooded play-die-repeat roguelike that can become repetitive if you don't gel with the game's vision. But find that groove, and you can spend hours finding weapons and fighting monsters. 

AIIG's playthrough doesn't cover the full spread of demo levels—it gets pretty hard! But judging by the Steam discussions, there are still balance and difficulty issues. Nonetheless, those are minor details common with roguelikes still in development. The central game's gameplay, art and vibes are really good—not bad for a four-person development team!

Sulfur is very interesting, a fusion of retro shooter, roguelike, and stylish alternative game. The demanding six-level run before you can hope to save your gear is quite demanding, so the laid-back visuals and ambience are a little at odds with the difficulty curve. Or perhaps it's precisely what the game needs, balancing demanding gameplay with an effortless vibe.

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Explore The Game with Youtube Chapters:

• 📽 00:43 Chasing evil

• 📽 01:50 A little exposition

• 📽 03:26 Into the caves

• 📽 04:23 A sword!

• 📽 06:04 Get yourself a gun

• 📽 06:42 A bit of an info dump

• 📽 09:42 Let's go to Sulfur

• 🎬 15:18 The first run

• 📽 16:53 First combat

• 📽 21:19 Is that a dog?!

• 📽 21:43 Back at the church

• 🎬 22:57 Second run!

• 📽 27:24 Cook some food

• 📽 28:51 Nice scenery

• 📽 32:46 That's a long fall!

• 📽 34:13 An underground store

• 📽 40:39 Boots!

• 📽 44:05 Gunfire…

• 📽 44:47 A little fire bonus

• 📽 48:54 Those guys are big!

• 🎬 50:27 Let's try again

• 📽 52:43 New gun

• 📽 53:19 How did I survive that?

• 📽 57:53 Dead

• 🎬 59:37 One last run

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