KARM

About

"KARM is a fast-paced, retro-style FPS set in a Lovecraftian world, featuring 30 labyrinthian maps and 7 unique weapons. Explore, dodge projectiles, and listen to the badass music as you battle 8 enemy types and 3 bosses. Customize your HUD to suit your play style and prepare to forget about bunny hopping and reloading as you kill enemies and enjoy the early 90's classic vibe."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

67%

Audience ScoreBased on 48 reviews

music8 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

The game captures the nostalgic feel of classic FPS games like Doom and Quake, providing fast-paced shooting action.
The graphics and visual style have improved significantly with recent updates, showcasing the developer's effort.
The core gameplay is familiar and executed well, with a decent enemy roster that encourages target prioritization.

Level design is often bland and repetitive, with many rooms feeling too similar and lacking creativity.
Combat encounters can be boring due to weak enemy AI and a limited variety of enemy types, leading to unengaging gameplay.
The game suffers from technical issues, including bugs that affect progression and a lack of ammo pickups in certain levels.

music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
17%
17%
The music in the game is generally considered serviceable, with a mix of opinions on its quality. While some players appreciate the cool and atmospheric soundtrack, others find the repetitive combat music annoying. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the gameplay experience but may not stand out significantly.
- “Quite fun to play, brutal, and the soundtrack is amazing!”
- “Great atmosphere, good soundtrack, enemy types are ok-ish but do leave something to be desired in my opinion.”
- “Cool soundtrack.”
- “The music is serviceable.”
- “Combat music gets annoying; it's the same heavy metal loop every time.”
gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The gameplay is reminiscent of classic titles like Doom and Quake, featuring run-and-gun mechanics without crouching or jumping, and a focus on key-hunting. While it captures a vintage vibe effectively, some players feel that similar free offerings from Doomworld surpass it in quality. Overall, the game is noted for its smooth mechanics and well-developed Lovecraftian setting, which adds an intriguing layer of challenge.
- “The core gameplay is familiar, yet executed well, and distinguishes itself enough to be interesting.”
- “It does a good job of capturing that vintage vibe of games such as Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, etc., taking elements of its mechanics and gameplay and transferring them to what they aptly describe as a 'Lovecraftian' inspired world.”
- “The gameplay is smooth, with solid mechanics, and the setting is well-developed, providing a challenge in itself in terms of having to loop back at certain times to determine what exactly you're unlocking.”
- “You can get stuff off of Doomworld for free that features the same basic kind of gameplay but is massively better in every way.”
- “It plays a lot like Doom and Doom 2, games that I love: no crouching and no jumping, similar pickups and (at least some) weapons, run-and-gun-and-keyhunt gameplay.”
- “Core gameplay is familiar, yet executed well, and distinguishes itself enough to be interesting.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players criticizing the art style as "terrible" and feeling that it detracts from the overall experience, even at maximum settings. However, others note improvements with the transition to Unreal Engine 5, stating that the visual style is significantly better, making the retro graphics more appealing. Overall, while there are some positive aspects, many players still find the graphics underwhelming for a modern title.
- “The game now uses Unreal Engine 5, and the graphics and visual style are a lot better now.”
- “The gunplay is alright, level design is decent, and retro graphics look good enough.”
- “Even for a retro shooter, the game is unnecessarily ugly even with all the settings cranked up, mainly because the art style is terrible.”
- “But since it's basically an extremely underwhelming Doom or Doom 2 with 3D graphics, I decided it's not worth the price and requested a refund.”
- “It doesn't fit the pixel graphics you've implemented so well.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The game's atmosphere is generally praised for its enjoyable old-school style and level design, complemented by a good soundtrack. However, some players feel that the enemy types are lacking and that the overall character of the game could be improved. Despite mixed opinions, the atmosphere is noted as a standout feature.
- “Enjoyable old-school style shooter, nice atmosphere and level design!”
- “I do still think that the game stands out and has atmosphere.”
- “Great atmosphere, good soundtrack.”
- “A mundane retro shooter lacking in character and atmosphere.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers significant replayability through progressively challenging levels that players can tackle after completing the initial game, reminiscent of its inspirational titles. This structure encourages players to return for a more difficult experience.
- “While I'm not there yet, the game does provide replayability value, offering higher and higher challenges (most like the games that inspired it) which you can try after you defeat it at a lower level.”