Irish developer Howling Hamster has just released the Pre-Alpha Demo for their upcoming 2.5D rotary shooter, Trench. Piloting a transforming salvage sub, players will dive down into the ocean to annihilate a terrifying threat that has imposed itself upon Earth.
Beginning with a meteor crash in the Atlantic, tales began to surface from sailors who swear they’ve seen disturbed, alien creatures beneath the waves. Now with the possibility of invasion from these creatures, the player must wipe them out with their tiny salvage ship that happens to be equipped with a small blaster. Following in the sidescrolling shooter vein, the player can find upgrades for their sub and weapon by salvaging wrecks beneath the sea. Depth charges, flares, and blaster upgrades are among some of the upgrades that can be found. The sub is equipped with a pressure gauge that measures how much stress the ship is taking depending on the depths reached. An armor and health gauge are also present in the HUD to keep track of the ship’s condition.
While drifting along in the sea, players can expect to find a wide variety of hostile alien creatures that want nothing more than the sub’s demise. Some creatures will ambush the player from any angle, mostly attacking in groups. The basic enemy type eventually gains the ability to launch projectiles later on, which adds an unexpected dimension to combat. A wall-hugger type stays stationary while birthing small enemies resembling a Pelican Eel with bio-luminescence. These creatures are attracted to light, and will quickly ignore the player if a flare is deployed to distract them with.
Depth charges can be dropped as an offensive tactic, or used to demolish areas made of weak construction. On this note, finding such exploits is made easy with the sonar and radar on the bottom of the HUD. A sonar ping will indicate points of interest, mostly ships to salvage. Finding passages has to be done manually, as the player will have to inspect areas where a tunnel is visible on the map.
With the threat of an alien invasion from the sea, controlling a transforming sub is the only way to assess such a situation. Howling Hamster created a solid concept, and has only scratched the surface of what is possible with this well-crafted Pre-Alpha build.
Vote for Trench on Greenlight HERE
Download The Trench Pre-Alpha Demo HERE