Garbage loose in the neighborhood? Who you gonna call?
Trash Squad!
Roguelites are like trash strewn on a street corner, always something gross and fun to look at. What's on display here, is a title that's actually cheaper than dirt, but does Trash Squad's low price reflect a low value? What's already obvious is that that the growing roguelite genre is overflowing like a dumpster, there's so much stuff to play that it's like picking from an endless library of soon-to-be forgotten entries. One little hobby of mine, that's led to a huge backlog, is sifting through Steam sales to find the absolute rock-bottom priced games that look decent. It's like buying stocks, but the price is low and value depreciates, actually it's a little more like buying old stuff at a flea market. What I'm looking for are hidden gem's in the murky dumpster water that is Steam's cheapest sale items. One such game is Polish dev Enitvare's most recent title, Trash Squad. It's an off-beat, zany, trash-filled rogue shooter with a decent amount of unlocks and creative, waste inspired elements. There's not a lot of indie games that let you play as an anthropomorphic chicken wing, shooting lumps of murderous human waste in a public restroom. So hire a mercenary wizard, it's time to take out the trash, with extreme prejudice!
All great stories have a beginning, actually most do. This trashy tale begins in the local landfill, where the Trash Squad, a team of random objects and waste, form an armed team of garbage busters. Just why there's a Trash Squad, and why they aren't composed of actual garbage men, is far outside this game's scope. What legitimizes the concept of an armed group of garbage-fighters is the fact that evil, refuse has been brought to life and threaten the very existence of humanity itself. Racoons, trashcans, bananas and other vile villainy stand in the way of peace, or something, this is actually fairly plot heavy for a roguelite. The fight against the blight won't be a lonely trek through the trash. This game features a full cast of oddball heroes, each civic servant turned slaughter savant is more bizarre than the last. If you want a walking cheeseburger that can spawn a supporting onion ring, have it your way. The different characters all have their own strengths and weaknesses, but wait, there's more. The starting menu of the game also offers followers, weapons, modified spawns, difficulty modifiers and random explosions to spice up the game. Playing with harder modifiers guarantee more unlocks, so it's worth considering.
The members of Trash Squad have some serious firepower at their disposal. Weapons include but are not limited to: a main weapon, secondary weapon, throwable item, two character abilities and a passive skill. The skills are relative to the unlocked character of your choosing, unlocking those characters will take playthroughs, so let's get down and dirty. First thing that you'll notice is that the lanfill is full of garbage, that's the only normal thing about this game. The levels are all procedurally generated, so it'll be somewhat different every run, can't have you memorizing pickup locations or enemy spawn points. The only thing that stays the same is the goal: thrash that trash. Once the job is done, your trusty steed, in the form of a garbage truck, arrives and whisky you away to the next warzone. Along the way there's a coins littered about and all manner of things to buy with them, namely weapons and followers that can't be kept. What can be kept are the characters and items unlocked by completing challenges, but that may cost you a run. The meta strategy is choosing whether the goal is to win, or walk away with some advantages for next time.
After beating enough trash-strewn maps, it's time for an epic boss battle. These monsters of renegade refuse appear every three or so stages and the only way to progress is by killing them. On to the next area and it's a whole new world of enemies, merchants, weapons and even random warp portals. The hectic gameplay is heavily influenced by the randomness of it all, it can lead to some rough starts, but that's the name of the game here. Trash Squad is by no means easy, but compared to games like Enter the Gungeon, it's nothing to complain about. Permanent unlocks and new characters offer some future rewards for the grind, though unlucky spawns and sub-boss appearances stifled my quest for violent waste management.
Indie games usually don't rest on the laurels of graphical fidelity, Trash Squad is no different. What would be foolhardy outside of the realm of postmodern art, would be trying to beautify the landfill tilesets and textures in this game. To Enitvare's credit, the pixel art does have it's charm. Tiles, textures and objects all look like a breeding ground for tetany. The landfill is a cluttered, messy and desolate place, it's almost enough to fit the post-apocalyptic standards of a Fallout game. Trash Squad actually stands out as an indie game in the animation department, characters trashcans and enemies all have their own idle animations and can be blown apart. Particle effects and gibs provide satisfying carnage, like hitting a full trashcan with your car, or so I'm told. It's the goo and blood splatters that will paint the ground on most stages, that is if you're winning. The graphics may not be great, but the carnage sure is.
I ran and gunned through Trash Squad for about 10 hours. From what I got in return for a tiny investment, I can certainly vouch for this odd roguelite.
As always; stay cheesy, comrades.
http://enitvare.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/676440/Trash_Squad/
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