Ok, where do I even begin to describe a game like this!? GTFO is a 4-player co-op from 10 Chambers, available on Steam, that puts you into the most extreme situations. I feel with a title that implies you need to get the fuck out, you’ve got all you need to know about what kind of game this is. If you haven’t heard of this game, then let me enlighten you on what you will find in this scary, difficult, break-your-keyboard type game.
To start, I want to state that when playing GTFO I noticed that the atmosphere was so goddamn chilling and made me feel very uneasy. Atmosphere is key with any horror video game, and these devs have nailed it!
GTFO has a heavy focus on PvE and teamwork. To set the context, you play as a prisoner that has to descend down a very big and long hole by a person (or entity?) that GTFO calls “The Warden.” Not much is said about The Warden, only that prisoners are forced to do missions that don’t really make sense or have much of a purpose.
During the time in early access, you could not solo this game without a team of players helping you. Now, the game has officially been released along with a major update to boot! You will definitely find this game fun, but extremely irritating!
While GTFO was in early access, playing solo would have been difficult due to the lack of teammates and the intensity of the fights. You could either matchmake, which was still in alpha testing, or you could get your friends together and play. One of the things I noticed right off the bat when starting a lobby and going solo was that the developers had added bots as your teammates. I was blown away by this sudden change because during early access you never had that option. During this new solo run with bots, I found that you can edit their loadout and gear, which turned out to be vital when playing.
I’ll start with what tools I’ve found that work best for the team. Here’s what you can take with you:
I found it best to have 2 people carry turrets (usually 1 Auto and 1 Burst works best for me) and the other 2 carry C-Foam launchers.
There are a lot of weapons, so I won’t go through them all, but I can give you a little info on the ones I found useful. The game breaks this down into two slots for guns and one slot for melee weapons. For guns, you get one main weapon and one heavy weapon as a backup. Here are some of your choices in each slot:
Main weapons:
Heavy weapons:
Melee weapons: Sledgehammer, Knife, and Spear
I feel that when it comes to choosing weapons, it’s really more about preference rather than matching up to what the mission needs. There are a lot of enemies, and some are really big ones, too, which can be tough to take down. However, with the right tools and teamwork, you might just get out alive and not chuck your keyboard out the window.
Boosters are a new mechanic in GTFO. On the game’s release out of early access, the developers added boosters to help your chances of surviving. You collect boosters throughout the levels when playing GTFO. There are three main boosters: Muted, Bold and Aggressive. Each of these boosters offer unique abilities that can help you get through the rundown a little bit easier (more about the rundown coming up). I won’t try to explain this because I’m just starting this game again and I’m just collecting all I can while I figure this out. All I can say is that one booster can help with hacking doors while another can help with damage resistance. You can use all three main boosters in a single loadout. So keep that in mind when going through the rundown.
The rundown is your level selection. You have to start from the top and work your way down. The starting level is labeled “A1,” and with each level you complete, you may run into different sectors with higher difficulty. The game breaks this down into “Main Sectors” (basically your storyline, “Secondary Sectors,” and “Overload Sectors.” I highly recommend that you play with friends, or at least with actual human players, and not bots.
Once I got my team’s loadout ready, I began to descend down the rabbit hole of horror. After the descent, and being able to get a good look at the level as I started to play, I found a cool dialogue mechanic where you can both communicate with actual people and direct bots on what to do in certain situations.
Since I was rolling with bots, I found that they are quite useful in different situations. They can take medkits, ammo, and tool refill kits and distribute it out to either me, themselves or to other bots, depending on how low they are. You can also make them carry a key item for an objective while you go on ahead and plan and take down enemies.
Before I go on, I also want to point out that the devs had put out a small update to the game after launch and were able to make the AI teammates smarter! For example, your AI team can drop objective items and help fight. They can also avoid the team’s turrets since friendly fire is another heavy component when playing GTFO and players and bots alike have got to have trigger discipline.
Another important mechanic I found is the computer terminals. If you want to look for more ammo packs, medkits, and so forth, you can use the terminal to locate them. In some instances, you will need to figure out where to find an objective item by using the query function. You can also ping its location, but you would have to be in the same zone in order for that ping to work.
While going through the different expeditions, I found myself being on the defensive quite often, especially when it comes to the security doors. The best way that I found was to utilize the terminals to find more supplies BEFORE activating the security doors. When it comes to the security doors, you will need teamwork to shut down the security system in that area. I don’t want to divulge much because part of the game is figuring out what to do, but I will say this: without preparation, you will get swarmed instantly, so prepare when you can before starting each level. Check out my recent gameplay in this video if you want to get a good idea of what I’m talking about.
When I was playing multiplayer with some friends on GTFO, communication was a key component. I do recommend using a mic if you have one, but if you don’t, the dialogue prompts in the game should also suffice. The developers even put in a countdown option so everyone in my team was synced up just in case someone didn’t have a mic. Whenever I tried playing with random people, everyone would just bounce out midway into the level, so I can’t really give an accurate review on the multiplayer side with random players. If you get your friends to play with you, then that’s a different story altogether, one that would either be fun or raging!
With all that said, I highly recommend checking this game out if you are into shooters, horror, and cooperative gameplay. If so, this game is right up your alley! Good luck playing this game, and remember the mantra, “Work Together Or Die Together.”
Have you played GTFO? What are your impressions so far? Share your thoughts and any additional recommendations you have in the comments below.
