Bedlam (PC) Review

First and foremost, Bedlam is a game focused on telling its story. Unfortunately, though, this means it isn't quite perfect. Given that it is still in Steam Early Access, it would be unfair to pick up on how buggy the game is as most of these issues will most likely be patched out in the long-run.

Bedlam does have a good script - not a particularly well-voiced one, but the Scottish accents do add their own slice of humour to proceedings. As soon as the adventure begins, the main character starts her running personal narrative of events and, thanks to some witty script work, each chapter is certainly worthy of a couple of hearty chuckles. To begin with, there is very little interaction between Athena and other players but as the story progresses there is more communication and even some voice time with 'Bedlam,' the book's main character.

Bedlam's difficulty level is oddly low, yet somewhat unbalanced. It's possible to run through a level, spraying the occasional machinegun blast at enemies and make it to the end without being hit more than twice. However, at other times an enemy can decimate the main character. The enemy AI isn't really great… often enemies simply approach without firing and bosses can be beaten by standing next to them and walking around, shooting them. Exploitable AI will hopefully be on the list of upgrades that the developer will roll out for the end of the Early Access.

Bedlam switches between different pretend shooting games with each chapter carrying a unique theme. Starfire is a Nineties-style shooter, similar to Quake, but there are other parodies such as series like Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls, and Pac-Man. There are also quite a few games that didn't have a comparison but basically any and every type of FPS gameplay is in Bedlam. There are hidden weapons as well, which can be found through 'Glitches' - cracks in the level - for example, a crossbow that can then be used in the Starfire world…

On the subject of weapons, there is quite a large variety and they are well designed, if a little generic. Weapons might be able to be carried between levels but on the play-through for this review, even though the character says "I have laser guns in World War II" they weren't available to use. Might be a bug but it could just as easily be a feature.