Image: Visuwyg & Hyperstrange

There are probably more polygons and texture files in a single modern big-budget character's face than the entire sci-fi horror shooter world of Derelikt. Some old-school tributes are only superficially retro, replicating a look or a vibe but being wrapped around a truly modern game. Cap it to 320x240 resolution and a maximum of 30fps and this one could pass for a long-lost original PlayStation game. And if you're up for some (fully intentional) jank, it's a truly nostalgic experience, and out today.

My first real point of reference for Derelikt is the surprisingly great Alien Resurrection on the original PlayStation. A tense action horror experience that one critic of the time famously skewered for having the unhinged control system of putting movement on one stick and looking on the other. Clearly something that would never catch on. So much of its look has been replicated here, right down to the yellowish lighting through so many of the haunted space station's corridors, and your flashlight's beam snapping from polygon to polygon.

There's a bit more to it than that, though. While I wouldn't call this a full-blown Immersive Sim, there's more to Derelikt than crawling through industrial space corridors and alien tunnels, shooting brain-eating bugs. There's some light survival horror style inventory management (complete with safe rooms with shared storage boxes), an upgrade system where you gain spooky new buffs from alien artifacts you find, and some optional objectives that seem to be leading towards alternative endings and plot branches, giving this one some replay value.

There's even a logic-based hacking puzzle minigame, similar to the one in Fallout 3. I've not played too deeply into this one yet (so many games), but so far, every part of it has felt truly, powerfully retro. As this development blog reveals, there's a lot of effort put into making it truly authentic, including PS1-style polygon subdivision effects. Even the game's slightly-stiff pre-rendered cutscenes are jarringly compressed, low-res affairs, and saving game asks you pick a memory card and save to one of the 15 slots available on each. And as a final cherry on top, each level creates a different save icon, too.

If you grew up with a PlayStation (despite my age, I was a PC kid all the way until the Saturn/PS1), it feels authentic enough to pass for emulation. Thankfully, as I've little nostalgia for PS1 hardware quirks, there are graphics options to de-retro it, greatly expanding the resolution, removing the texture and polygon wobbling and even expanding the viewport all the way to ultrawide screens. Which, thanks to the underlying game feeling so old-school, ends up feeling like I'm running the game with a full suite of Duckstation enhancements.

All of that old-school soul might be a bit much for some, though. This is not a fast, modern shooter. Combat is simple with an optional lock-on button to streamline it further. Movement is simple and limited, with a short hop and few defensive options. The enemies are chunky enough to border on the abstract at times, and aren't exactly complex in their behaviors. All of these would be marks against the game if it was attempting to fuse old and new, but this here is an exercise in true authenticity, and I think it nails that, especially if you play on a gamepad. Mouse and keyboard is obviously far more responsive.

If you're up for something truly retro mixed in with your cosmic action-horror fun, Derelikt is out now for £16/$20, with a 10 launch discount running until November 27th. It's also in discount bundles with some of this year's best games, including Queen's Domain, RetroSpace and Sulfur, among others. And if you think it might be a little too chunky for your tastes, there's a demo that'll let you carry your progress straight into the full game, so no reason not to try it.