Do you ever wonder who creates all those devious traps in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark? There’s an art to it, for sure. And in Meet Your Maker, you can take up the sadistic paintbrush of that artist. Or, you can play the quick-witted treasure hunter outmaneuvering those traps.
Game Name: Meet Your Maker
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Behaviour Interactive
Developer: Behaviour Interactive
Release Date: April 4th, 2024
Price: $29.99
The game by Behaviour Interactive arrived on PS Plus last week, introducing players to its Dune-like post-apocalyptic world. A weird… test-tube baby (I mean this literally) tasks players with raiding outposts for genetic material, or GenMat. A developer-made stronghold introduces players to the gameplay. This first run can become repetitive. The lengthy excursion can deliver death repeatedly. Instakill means that players must restart from the entrance, initially making gameplay seem like trial and error.
But after overcoming this stronghold, players can choose from various player-made bases of different difficulties. The learning curve becomes more manageable once you can recognize the trap and enemy types and how to avoid or disable them. Suddenly you’re the seasoned treasure hunter, smirking at the telltale signs of traps, setting them off or sneaking around them as you see fit.
And once you gain this knowledge, you can use it to your advantage. Soon enough, Meet Your Maker opens up the workshop for building one’s own death traps. Here, the game provides a satisfying feedback loop of raiding an outpost, learning its tricks, employing said tricks in one’s own outpost, and then gaining more resources for further raids. Players can claim dropped loot from intruders attempting to plunder a base, and can even view recordings of these attempts to see which traps or guards did their jobs.
Of course, players can primarily stick to either raiding or building. But with both, Meet Your Maker allows for a reprieve if one gets too tedious. And this can happen. The game only offers two suits, two swords, and two guns. It also has only so many items, traps, and enemy types for players to employ. One can unlock these with resources, which come steadily from raiding strongholds or racking up kills. But after I upgraded my starting gun, I didn’t feel the need to pursue any other upgrades.
While the upgrading system will hopefully receive updates down the road, the endless varieties of outpost designs kept me hooked. I’ve encountered everything from a base styled after the Pyramids of Giza to one modeled after a giant Pikachu. And that’s saying nothing of their interiors. Here, combinations prove key. Invisible doors can mask enemies. Tumultuous time bombs dropped down hills create landslides of doom. Grappling hooks above lava make an especially deadly combo. I only overcame one base filled with these with the help of a friend.
Meet Your Maker becomes even more fun with co-op, the definitive way to play. Instakill gets softened here by a revive system, meaning players don’t have to restart from the beginning unless both bite the dust. But it’s also a thrill to team up with a friend and strategize how to take on a fortress and escape after stealing the GenMat. Chaotic hilarity ensues when that plan goes awry and requires improvising. In the words of Indiana Jones, “I’m making this up as I go.”
Meet Your Maker
Summary
Meet Your Maker antes up the adventure of pulling off a heist and the artistry of building an impenetrable base. Some players may get put off by the paltry upgrades, but those who crave other kinds of variety will marvel at the many heists to pull off and bases to design right at their fingertips.
Pros
- Quick get-in-and-get-out heist gameplay.
- Variety in designing outposts and modding traps and guards.
- Recordings that pinpoint exactly how well an outpost functions.
- Exhilarating co-op.
Cons
- Not too many meaningful upgrades at time of launch.
- Steep learning curve.
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Meet Your Maker Review
