SIKHL

Author: Thobias “Loke” Fast Release Date: June 18th 2024

Introduction

Duke’s been ordered to travel to a southwestern canyon area in the USA, where there have been reports of EDF troops being fired upon by unknown assailants. Soon after arriving he finds signs of alien presence and what looks to have been a recent conflict, what’s going on here?

Review

Alien bases aren’t really a common theme amidst all the urban playgrounds that seem to dominate releases, so it’s always refreshing when these pop out from nowhere and Loke’s addition is a solid one. SIKHL goes for something slower paced as you’ll journey into unknown territory, starting out with a quiet walk through canyon paths to find a mysterious scene up ahead. A message on the nearby monitor only hints what might be taking place here but no clear answers, just the slaughtered corpses of aliens once stationed here. Cracking open the cliff wall then reveals there’s an alien base hidden away on Earth. Meanwhile the music is working wonders, a droning ambient with synth beats and whispered shrills, giving way for a creeping tension as you raid enemy ground and your only intel so far concerns a strange blue creature.

I must commend the impeccable design scheme, I personally find it difficult working with alien textures, so seeing how they’ve been applied here by mixing them together with different options and varied rotations is inspiring work. Design utilises much broader strokes and sloped architecture to get the most out of textures without bogging down aesthetics with too many insignificant details. Instead shapes are defined with high contrast lighting, bright areas casting long shadows off every angle make for chunkier components to stand out. Daedalus base is a colourful environment that feels all the more alien with its foggy sectors and liquids accented onto walls, how to make sense of what you’re seeing is anybody’s guess. Red and blue spotlights further emphasis the abnormality, like there’s an ominous hostility constantly weighing down on my shoulders as I make careful steps down these tall halls. Other light source flourishes such as glares bring each composition to life. One of my favourites being a diamond shaped light shaft using sloped sprite gradients, its simple but effective and there’s all sorts of one off features similar to this scattered around.

SIKHL didn’t come across as a typical Duke map for me and in many ways leans more closer to the visual style of Unreal’s interiors and gameplay flow from Half Life. Progression is broken up with self contained linear loops when the forward path is locked, while solutions often provides a convenient shortcut back to where you’re needed to be. Some application of TROR adds an extra dimension for traversal and exploration, like checking the underside of a bridge crossroad for gear. One of the main highlights is a raising pool of translucent water, giving a very familiar effect the modern touch up. While there aren’t too many offshoots besides some locked weapon caches, story beats serve to loosen up the linearity where you can read alien correspondence from monitors, providing insight into the work going on here and sometimes throwing a bit of humour your way. Occasionally you might even catch a glimpse of the blue figure stomping through the base, an easy blink and miss it situation reminded me of ck3d’s Rural Nightmare.

Combat sits around a comfortable level as your infiltration seems to have only been caught on recently, Troopers can be found facing computer stations and panels, too focused on other matters causing them problems. Areas are thus lightly guarded, heavier forces coming in response to your progress through the base. Many weapons need to be earned as they’re locked behind barriers, but there’s a decent chunk of ammo spread across weapon types for dishing out damage. Health supplies are otherwise drip fed where I’d be scrounging up an Atomic or two just as I needed them most, forcing a more careful approach into new skirmishes. The double Battlelord ambush was a tight encounter when they made an aggressive push when cover was limited at my position. Shooting rockets as the doors opened up resulted in captives behind them taking collateral, causing the whole ordeal to spiral out of control as Octabrains crash the party. The finale boss gauntlet wasn’t too special by itself, a little disappointing means to an end but I’m getting used to this pattern for Duke levels. The VR combat simulation backdrop made for a more interesting scenario and wish this concept played a bigger part during the Overlord sequence. Having a conversation with BLUE just before that was far more fascinating and got me curious if anything else will be done concerning him in any future releases.

Conclusion

I couldn’t feel at ease while inside the Daedalus base even though it wasn’t all too dangerous in the end. Use of strong lighting was too effective masking the alien environment in shadow, so you were never certain about anything when rounding a corner. The ambient music barely changes flow, keeping up its constant tense beats as your spur of the moment infiltration into enemy territory could go in either direction. Design is distinct, embracing incredible texture work and construction. Even the outdoor canyon section looks appealing and could easily pass for a level from SSTTC, probably adding to my own self inflicted suspense. SIKHL offers a good amount of action despite its slower pace, which can be hard hitting if not careful with the limited health supplies. Linearity wasn’t much of an issue either because it had enough variation along those routes.

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