Harddrive-by: Selaco

This was my game of the year for 2024

I step out of the ruins of a record shop and onto the streets of Selaco. My health is 100%, and I’ve got plenty of ammo. Like God’s perfect nugget, I’m admiring the scenery instead of checking the corner I’m about to step around.

My reward for this stupidity is a red flash and a boom that announces the loss of half my health. I chuck an ice grenade at the pair of SOBs who just nailed me while sliding out of their line of fire and ducking behind a dumpster. I lose a little more of my precious health getting to cover. Then—thump, shattering glass—the grenade goes off. I leap out from behind the dumpster and apply a liberal dose of Boomstick to my two new patients, curing them of their bad attitude… and everything else.

My happy-fun-time attitude is short-lived when I hear a garbled voice behind me, coming from the shop I just left: “STAND DOWN!” Shit—my patients had friends in the waiting room. I inoculate by dropping a landmine in front of the door and sprint past the remains of the guards, reloading my shotgun as I hoof it. This thing loads slow and racks slower, but it leaves a gratifying mess when used. I head back to a diner I passed a minute ago. I didn’t need the health pickups then—but I sure as hell do now. I’m at 44% and dropping into combat.

I burst into the diner and—S-H-I-T! Four goons waiting for me. I split the melon of the nearest one with the shotgun, but it’s way too slow for this crowd. I slide in, switch to my twin uzis, and double mag dump. All four are down. The diner is covered in purple (sure, why not?) blood. I’m down to 14%, but there’s health everywhere. I heal up to 100%—just in time to step outside and eat a grenade. Down to 35%. I chuck one back and grab my assault rifle to make my hurt feelings known.

I win that round, but I’ve burned through most of my ammo. Then I hear a heavy thud… and a deep, distorted voice. A Juggernaut. I’m low on health. Low on ammo. And now I’m in a boss fight.

This game is hard.

Good.

Do you have any idea how much it pains me to agree with Kotaku about anything? Granted, they named it Best Retro-FPS, but so far as I’m concerned, it’s Game of the Year.

It’s Selaco.

It is unbelievable what Altered Orbit Studios has created with so little. I don’t know how many devs are on this team or if any of them are getting paid. But Selaco is more than just a tribute band to classic FPS games. It’s a labor of love that transcends its influences. Altered Orbit claims it’s a blend of Doom and F.E.A.R., and the devs are right. That’s exactly how it feels.

I figured it was built on Unity and stylized to look low-poly—until I checked the system requirements: Intel i3-2100. A dual-core processor. I checked again when I booted it up. This miracle of a boomer shooter is built on freaking GZDoom. It runs, slides, jumps, blows glass in the right direction, tracks true 3D movement, and has the smartest enemy NPCs since F.E.A.R. - On a modified version of GZDoom.

This engine has been hacked into another universe. It taps into a parallel dimension where the IdTech 1 engine never died—it ascended.

But what makes Selaco shine isn’t just the engine or the mechanics. It’s the detail work. Explore a little, and the world comes alive. Earth has clearly suffered some tragedy—but you don’t get a lore dump. It’s ambient. You feel like someone dropped you in September 2024 straight from 1984, and you keep hearing “Never forget.” It takes a while to click that Selaco is a colony world—and likely humanity’s last fragment.

It’s not quite an immersive sim—too much shooting, not enough sneaking—but the world is lived in.

You can interact with almost everything. There’s a frightened Roomba you can comfort, and it loves you for it. There’s a foul-mouthed teddy bear grenade that homes in on enemies while spouting profanity. You can pick up most props—and more importantly, blast them into John Woo confetti. You can turn lights on and off, open and shut windows, and flush toilet paper rolls down the toilet (flush too many and the shitter explodes).

The sound design is genius. The music has that bright '90s synth-anime vibe—think AD Police Files. The gunfire and explosions have that deeply satisfying Build Engine oomph that made Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior legendary.

There are only five voice actors, but it works. Bit-crushed, vocoded, and heavily processed—as a boomer shooter should be.

The AI appears to be using Goal-Oriented Action Planning. I’m guessing, but the squad tactics feel like F.E.A.R. They flank you, coordinate, and pressure you. One-on-one, they default to hitscanning, but in groups, they’re terrifying. The first Juggernaut boss is hilariously easy—you can cheese him from a stairwell—but that’s the exception, not the rule.

Level design is top-tier. Once the bullets fly, you’re locked in. No corner camping. The maps are built to flank and pressure you constantly. If you want to live, you move. Safe Rooms are your only breather—where you upgrade weapons and backtrack for secrets. A must for Completionist types.

Exploration is baked in, and Selaco plays fair. Unlike Boltgun, where you constantly have to wallhump to find your way to the next segment, here the game leads you. Green lights mark important doors. The game wants you to find your way.

The weapons? Totally awesome 90s old-school. You get your F.E.A.R. classics, but with tweaks. Twin uzis replace dual pistols. The Roaring Cricket pistol is hilariously overpowered. The shotgun is Doom 2-tier OP, held in check by its slow reload and smoke-blind aftermath. The sniper rifle is fine, but rarely necessary. Plasma rifle? It’s there because it has to be. The Penetrator is a direct F.E.A.R. lift—and yes, it nails enemies to walls. There’s no rocket launcher, but the grenade launcher fills that role once upgraded. The weapons customization is off the charts.

Upgrades use “Scrap,” which you collect and spend in the Safe Room. Some are clever—like the shotgun wall-breaker mod that saves you a grenade.

Any complaints?

A few.

Mini suicide-bots are pure anti-fun. They just waste your ammo. And the final level kind of blue-balls you. The game is upfront about being Early Access (ver. 0.99), and it only shows in that last stretch. You get the railgun—finally!—and barely get to use it before a giant mech crashes through the ceiling and… roll credits.

Still, you forget it’s Early Access because Selaco is 30 levels deep. It only got released when the studio presumably ran out of money. But this does not feel unfinished. It’s not Blood II. It’s not Redneck Rampage. It’s real. And Altered Orbit promises future content will be free.

I believe them.

But if they don’t finish it?

So what.

This is still one of the best shooters in years.

In this year of the AAA trashfire, Selaco outperforms all of the $70 trainwrecks—for a third of the price.

It is currently on sale at Steam. Go buy it.