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Buckshot Software’s “Project Warlock” is a (very) old-school shooter, in the vein of the original “DOOM”, “Wolfenstein 3D“, “Duke-Nukem 3D”, “Hexen” and so on. The premise is simple enough: shoot your way through all the levels, and, unlike the aforementioned old games, upgrade both your character with improved skills and magic, as well as your weaponry.

In total, there are 60 different levels and five different worlds for you (the player) to play through in “Project warlock”.

However, before being able to enter the workshop section, you need to fight your way through various sections of each level, with the end of each guarded by a fireball throwing chain. Defeat that and it’s either the next section or the workshop. That’s not the case with skills or weapon upgrades though, because you can only upgrade your weapons or skills if you have collected the minimum amount of points (which usually have to be searched for, or perhaps dropped by killed enemies).

This is what the workshop looks like in “Project Warlock”.

Upgrading yourself can increase melee damage, add extra health or spell spaces and so on. Difficulty level choice is important in this game. In casual mode, you have infinite lives, whilst with standard and hardcore modes you only have three lives or one life respectively. So if you lose all your lives through dying, then you have to start a new game.

There are 72 different sorts of enemies for you to slay in the game, and you got 38 different weapons to get the job done.

Each level has a maze-like layout (fortunately, you do have a map on-screen), with the standard fare of first-person shooters: Quite often you need to collect three different coloured keys; pickup health and magic potions (for your secondary weapon as well as using some of your primary weapons); collect treasure and points for leveling up, and of course, shoot many things.

You get this big rush of satisfaction for each level that you complete in “Project warlock” (just like you did in old-school FPS games like “Duke Nukem 3D, “Hexen”, “Doom” and “Quake”.

However, unfortunately enough, it’s very easy to get lost in the later levels. You see, the map shows the complete layout of the level (minus secrets), and so it’s not always easy to work out where you need to go. So Quite often the levels are dark. So it’s rather handy that your first magic spell allows you to illuminate the surrounding area.

Project warlock’s graphics are more functionally nice than actually being super nice on the visual front. I mean, don’t get me wrong now. The game looks good, but the retro look might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Well, at as long as you have enough magic to do so. Another spell you’ll come across later is one to turn dynamite into magical dynamite for extra power! You have the usual assortment of weapons – basic melee ones, including an axe, pistols, shotguns, crossbows and machine guns and so on, all of which can be upgraded. Shooting is accurate, and the enemies react well to you hitting them.

“Project warlock” offers great FPS gameplay with light RPG elements that are easy to get the hang of.

In overall, the enemies are nicely animated, but for the most part, they don’t (quite naturally) have that much detail. As for controls, well, controlling your character is, likewise, fluid and also simple. In other words, there’s no need for you to run or jump around like crazy in “Project Warlock”.

You got a handful of different weapon upgrades to play around with, and there are also eight different spells and twelve different perks that you can use.

You know, I actually don’t have all that many things to complain about in “Project Warlock”. However, I did experience some game bugs while playing the game, and it’s not always easy to figure out where you should go next. Other than that, I feel like the music could have been better than it is (I find the music to “Okay”, but that’s about it).

Nevertheless, all in all, “Project Warlock” is still a very fun old-school-like FPS/RPG 3D game that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes old-school-like FPS games. However, if you’re still doubtful about “Project Warlock”, then it might be a good idea to wait until the price drops below 10 Euros.

Pros:
+ Graphics are functionally nice, rather than being great
+ Sound effects are good
+ Occasionally your character speaks
+ Great gameplay, with light RPG elements that are easy to get the hang of
+ Varied number of enemies
+ Music is just about passable
+ Great value for money

Cons:
– Its another retro shooter
– Occasional bugs (ALT+TAB returning you back to the workshop occasionally and the light orb not working until multiple reloads performed)
– Not always easy to work out where you need to go

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound and music: 3/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 3/5
Story: 3/5

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
“Project Warlock” is a fun FPS shooter, harking back to the early days of pseudo 3D shooters. With varied enemies and many weapons, as it’s great fun mowing things down. The only problem is that “”Project Warlock” is pretty much just another retro shooter in the crowd (it’s a very good one at it though). So whilst the RPG elements do make this game stand out slightly, it may not be enough to warrant purchase even at the low price.

Title: Project Warlock
Developer: Buckshot Software
Format: PC Download
Genre: 3D Shooter/RPG
Resolution: Highest possible on PC
Release date: 2018-10-18
Difficulty: User-defined
Spent time: +4 hours
Average grade internationally: N/A Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: +16
Price: 11.38 Euros from GOG (with Galaxy Downloader)

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor

***Disclosure***
We (TGG) are a part of the GOG family, and we may receive a profit cut out of your purchase via the GOG links in this post. The review code was provided by GOG.