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Growing up I was mostly a console kid. Presently, I play a lot on PC, but when I was younger I used to prefer the out of the box ease of the console. There was, however, one game that finally got me to invest in a graphics card and figure out the whole computer business, and that game was Max Payne. I was obsessed with the tone and feel of the game, which combined the slow mo, double fisted gunfights of a John Woo movie with melodramatic neo-noir storytelling in one of the most unique experiences of the time. While so many developers have been using Quake and Doom as their touchpoints in the current wave of boomer shooters, I’ve been wondering when someone would aim their nostalgia on Max Payne and try to recapture the bullet-time shooter subgenre.

Developer Strange Scaffold finally answered the call with El Paso, Elsewhere.

It would have been easy for Strange Scaffold to create something that’s just a love letter to the classic shooter, but they went above and beyond by creating a total package whose premise feels unique and deeply personal. In El Paso, Elsewhere, you play James Savage, a monster hunter who feels somewhere on a spectrum between John Constantine and Blade, who arrives at a motel that’s the site of a reality-shifting ritual being conducted by his ex-girlfriend Draculae. If he doesn’t traverse the monstrous landscape of the motel and stop her, it could mean the end of the world. This outlandish setup quickly gives way to a touching narrative that explores deep themes of toxic relationships and addiction with a masterful touch.

The first thing that is apparent when you pick up the controller is that it feels good to play. The slow motion diving looks and feels cool every time, while also giving you an important moment to assess the situation when things get heated. While it’s definitely lifting that mechanic from Max Payne, it’s hard to argue with borrowing it. It doesn’t get much cooler than holding a pair of pistols, diving through a window and shooting a werewolf out of the air as it’s leaping towards your face.

Everything is presented in an old polygonal graphic style that still makes use of modern lighting technology. The art design of the creatures and environments all are wonderfully evocative in this lo-fi vibe, and the real-time lighting highlights that with every muzzle flash. The mood is further enhanced by a killer soundtrack that features both slick synth wave beats and original hip hop tracks. While voiced tracks rarely work for me in video games, the hip hop songs are propulsive and well-written, adding an exhilaratingly eccentric flair to an already unique experience.

Each level follows a fairly similar format that’s very video game-y, in a good way. You exit an elevator on a new floor, rescue innocent people who have been captured by Draculae for her
ritual, then get back to the elevator to leave, all while grabbing different color keys (shaped like hearts) to progress through the area. To keep you from getting lost in the labyrinthine nightmare motel, the majority of the areas have no ceiling to them, allowing you to see cylinders of light in the strange sky that indicate where the hostages are. There are a few different tilesets they use to build the levels, ranging from mundane motel to ancient Egyptian ruins, and they find clever ways to mix and match them to emphasize the surreal and creepy breakdown of reality around you. A few of the levels change up the formula in clever ways, like one level that features an unkillable pursuer, but for the most part each stage succeeds on the way the strong level design reinforces the basic structure. I wish there were a few more specialized levels, but the core loop of the game is entertaining enough as it is.

Combat encounters in El Paso, Elsewhere are well thought out and wisely make use of the game’s variety of enemies and weapons. Ammo and health kits, in the form of pill bottles, are scattered throughout the levels, and you must manage them both wisely. You’ll need to continuously cycle through the game’s guns to make it through encounters, taking close consideration of the ammo levels and utility of each on the fly. You can also hold a limited number of stakes to deliver an instant kill melee blow, giving you a quick out in case of emergency. In a clever twist, stakes are spawned by breaking destructible wooden objects, like tables or bookshelves, giving you incentive to dodgeroll through the environment and show off the game’s fun physics-based destruction.

Monsters are all visually distinct, allowing you to read them from a distance and prioritize the battlefield accordingly. While most enemy behavior does break down to closing distance on you to do a melee attack, there’s a meaningful enough difference between a werewolf and a haunted suit of armor, for example, that the game is able to justify each creature’s inclusion. There are some strong boss/mini-boss encounters that shake things up, but again I would have liked to see a few more, since they’ve proved they’re capable of it.

In between levels, you’re treated to well-directed cutscenes that shed light on the relationship between Savage and Draculae. Between flashbacks that play out as recordings and monologues from Savage, you get a full picture of a toxic and complex relationship that’s well-observed and poignant. It’s easy to see why they were both wrong for each other and ended up staying together, illustrating how a history of good times can make you put up with emotional and psychological abuse. I have a whole list of great scenes and quotes in my notes for this review, and the nuance of the writing helps complement the tight gameplay loop.

El Paso, Elsewhere can occasionally show its limitations with its lack of variety across the seven to eight hour campaign, but it’s hard to be mad at it when the work as a whole feels so cool overall. Much like its inspiration Max Payne, and other games in Remedy’s catalog, there’s a clear vision that unites every frame of this game, making for an experience that both reignites a classic action subgenre and forges an identity all its own. Few games have a better elevator pitch than El Paso, Elsewhere, and it’s awesome to see it live up to those expectations with style and heart.