Don’t let the blocky mannequin-style graphic throw you off. Diatomic is a premium fast-paced action title that can be summarized as SuperHot meets Titan Fall (meets Messiah of Might and Magic?) with Phonk music. This game will be available for PC on Steam from the 25th of June.
Still skeptical that seems a little too awesome to be true? Worry not, let’s review what we’ve learned so far from Diatomic to understand the mechanics and appeal of the game
Diatomic Gameplay Overview
Imagine this: You love the intensive mechanical gameplay of SuperHot. However, you find the game is a little too slow for you. Thus you crank up the pace and add in fluid First-person-shooter parkour movement from Titan Fall. Still, you are not done, you also add the melee combat, the environmental effects, and the boss fights from Messiah of Might and Magic. Finally, you sprinkle some abrasive Phonk soundtracks at the top. What you end up with is Diatomic.
While Diatomic’s minimalist art style evokes comparisons to Superhot, the gameplay diverges significantly. Unlike Superhot’s time-warping mechanics, Diatomic demands real-time decision-making and lightning-fast execution in a frenetic environment. This high-speed action prioritizes quick reflexes and strategic combos.
The title offers two distinct gameplay modes, each catering to different player preferences. Arena mode and parkour mode:
The first mode, Arena mode, presents players with a series of progressively challenging levels. Each level requires that you eliminate all spawned enemies to proceed. By merging frenetic action with strategic weapon switching and parkour elements, Diatomic brings a unique and exhilarating gameplay experience.
To further elevate the challenge, Diatomic punctuates every ten levels with an epic boss fight. These encounters demand strategic adaptation and mechanical mastery of all previously learned skills to emerge victorious.
The parkour mode is a separate mode for parkour that basically isolates and focuses on the freeflow speedy movement style of the game to complete different levels of challenging tracks and achieve the checkpoint. Remember how Titan Fall used to have a separate parkour segment (Pilot Training)? That is the gist. Except that Diatomic’s Parkour is a fleshed-out game mode.
This game mode utilizes a deliberately crafted obstacle course to hone the player’s agility and reaction times. Walls after walls become launchpads for wall runs that require you to accurately time your jumps, long gaps that you will need to accelerated-jump across, and certain key points will necessitate your grappling hook to elegantly swing around. Mastering parkour techniques to seamlessly chain movements and maintain momentum is key.
Diatomic gameplay mechanic
Combat core mechanics
Diatomic equips you with basic melee attacks – punches, kicks, blocks and throws. However, weapon durability necessitates frequent close-quarters combat. As enemies fall, they often relinquish their weapons, allowing you to grab their them instantaneously for seamless mid-combat weapon switches. Thus you’d find the basic flow of combat in Diatomic as follows: Grab weapon -> Parry (if needed)-> Attack -> Throw and repeat.
In the heart of Diatomic, The key strategic element lies in maintaining a constant flow of kills. This "rinse and repeat" mechanic encourages a constant flow of disarming enemies, utilizing melee attacks, and acquiring new weapons to maintain momentum in the face of relentless adversaries.
After each level, you will also gain experience to earn upgrades in the form of badges that boost the skills of your choosing such as enhanced weapon damage and speed, etc. further customize your playstyle and experience.
Fluid parkour movement
Diatomic’s frenetic combat hinges on mastering a diverse movement repertoire. Beyond the standard run and sprint, players can execute wall runs on vertical pads, accelerated jumps after sprint, chain wall runs, crouch slides under a gap, and utilize a grappling hook for dynamic traversal.
This emphasis on mobility is crucial, as enemies often swarm the player in overwhelming numbers. Maintaining high speed becomes a critical survival tactic. Maintaining speed will get you out of danger, out of line of fire and into smooth and stylish kills.
This mechanic encourages players to adopt a highly mobile and aggressive playstyle, utilizing slides and parkour maneuvers to navigate the battlefield efficiently.
Extensive weapon arsenal
Diatomic boasts a substantial arsenal, starting with the melee weapons such as bricks, steel pipes, shovels, and even chairs to hammers, clubs, swords, glaive, katanas, etc. The long-range weaponry is also diverse with options like shotguns, assault rifles, pistols and rail guns.
Each weapon offers unique characteristics in terms of damage, range, durability, and even special qualities. This expansive arsenal encourages experimentation and strategic incorporation into your combat style. Whether you favor the brutal efficiency of a hammer or the graceful lethality of a katana, Diatomic empowers you to carve your own path through the enemy hordes.
Enemies and Environment
The first thing you need to remember in Diatomic is that the enemies come equipped with the same diverse arsenal you do, wielding everything from makeshift tools to high-powered machine guns. Not only that, but different enemies will have different movesets, ranges, health, armor and other characteristics that you will need to take into account.
This necessitates high-level awareness of the surroundings to accurately identify threats, formulate strategies on the fly, and execute with precision to annihilate your enemies in most efficient and stylish manner possible.
Adding another layer of complexity is the environment itself. Crumbling bridges, swinging wrecking balls, and strategically placed explosive barrels can be leveraged to your advantage or become devastating hazards if miscalculated. This interplay between player movement, weapon choice, enemy tactics, and environmental dynamics creates an immersive and strategic combat experience.
Presentation
Diatomic adopts a minimalist aesthetic, mirroring Superhot’s blocky mannequins. However, it diverges with a striking neon color scheme, creating a visually captivating world for its frenetic gameplay. Decent skills and environmental effects do well enough to polish the high-octane combat.
The level design is equally impressive, offering a unique and well-crafted playground for all-out battles every level with each stage presents unique challenges to master the flow of combat. Epic boss fights are creative and epic in proportion which further punctuates the experience.
Finally, a driving Phonk soundtrack perfectly complements the fast-paced action and gives it a unique and modern pop, immersing players in Diatomic’s relentless dance of violence, speed and momentum.
Critiques of Diatomic
When it comes to critiques, there is not much of it, especially because the game has no apparent technical issues and also runs quite stably. Although it might be possible that you could find such a simple game like Diatomic to be too basic, or maybe even too difficult. It is, for all intents and purposes, a very simplistic game with no storyline, no introduction, and no narratives.
Now that does not mean Diatomic is a masterpiece that resides in the Hall of Fame of Videogames for all ages. It simply means that the game is very simplistic and for the most part, it has achieved what it meant to do. That is a blood-rushing, fast-paced action game with satisfying combat mechanics and fluid free-flow movement. If you that type of game, you would love Diatomic.
Is Diatomic A Worth It?
Diatomic debuts itself in an unseemly fashion, but don’t let this gem get under your radar. This game cleverly blends the mechanics of previous titles that we came to love such as SuperHot and Titan Fall to create a new and exciting experience that is even faster and more stylish than ever.
Final score: 7.8/10 – A must-try for action and mechanical games lovers
