Trepang Studios started off quite a while ago with a small team in Vancouver, Canada, and to this day that same team is still just as small, but they have the most action-packed dream. That same dream took a while to bring to life and became the spiritual successor for their unreleased first release, though they definitely hit the nail on the head, even if that nail will burst into a bloody explosion. After endless teasing and a lot of attention for every platform that the studio shares news on, Trepang Studios with the help of Team17, finally released their beast, the first-person shooter Trepang2 on 21 July 2023 and it is absolutely brutal.

The world of Trepang2 is a bit vague at first and doesn’t really make any sense. You’ll need to pay close attention to what’s being said and also make use of the intel you pick up on the way or you might get off track. You get introduced to Trapang2 right in the thick of it, handcuffed in what looks to be a brainwashing chamber, while getting a cinematic view of what the game entails and your powers. This gets interrupted by an unknown person who shoots the screen in front of you, you don’t get much to run on, but you’ll have to survive and stay out of sight.

This is where Trapng2 takes on themes from games like Call of Duty or even Battlefield. Long story short, you seem to be a prisoner in a military facility, though this changes very fast as you learn what you really are. You play the role of ‘106’, an experimental super soldier created by Horizon, and possibly the only successful experiment as you’ll soon see. However, before you can go deeper into the rabbit hole, you’ll get to play around with a few weapons and your new powers while trying to escape the facility. Once you’re out, things do become a bit clearer as explained by the Director, Leader of Task Force 27. Unfortunately, while you do get a bit more clarity on the situation, everything is still vague.

As for Horizon, they might be playing the ‘save the world’ persona for the general public, but it goes much deeper and darker, considering that you get to gun down their failed experiments sooner rather than later. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Horizon has a hand in every illegal or even downright outrageous pie they could find; starting to look like a world conquest, right? This, however, is where life in Trepang2 becomes a bit more confusing as you start finding and interfacing with drones that are sometimes hidden in missions.

These drones will usually carry text-based messages for you, though they’re very short and cryptic. To make matters worse, the messages will start pointing out that Task Force 27’s Director isn’t telling you everything or that they’re keeping things from you. This leaves you more confused than ever, but the show must go on and heads need to roll while you look for answers as to what part you have to play in the chaos. However, the story being so vague is also what makes it so interesting and will likely keep you coming back for more to find the truth.

Before you can channel your inner superpowered Rambo, you’ll need to get better acquainted with Trepang2 and the chaos it brings. This is the part we all love, powers… Because who doesn’t like an unfair edge that makes a game like this extremely satisfying? While you might not have an endless skill tree to work through and a multitude of powers to choose from, the two you have, are all you’d ever need. The first power being Stealth Cloak, which is super straightforward for the most part.

Stealth Cloak will basically turn you invisible for a very short time and need to recharge. While the duration is usually enough to get by, it does come with an annoying downside, ending your stealth early by manually turning it off or firing off a weapon will reset it entirely. This means that even if the bar was only halfway drained, it’d recharge from empty regardless. Unfortunately, that little caveat can be a pain to deal with if you were hoping for some efficient kills while jumping in and out of stealth. Though fear not, there is still hope if you want to really be the badass you know you can be in the form of Focus.

Focus is just as straightforward; it comes with its own charge bar and recharges time and almost none of the hassle of the Stealth Cloak. What will make this ability your best friend in Trepang2 is that it slows down time; your enemies will look like they’re moving through tar while you move at normal speed, leaving you free to cause some serious chaos. Where Focus is a lot less hassle than the Stealth Cloak is with its charge bar, you can jump in and out of Focus without losing the charge, it does, however, have a longer recharge time. Though it gets so much better, this is more just a gratuitous bonus but watching your enemies explode into a blood rain after taking a point-blank shot from a shotgun is the cherry on the cake with Focus.

As you’ll discover in Trepang2, aside from your abilities, you’ll have access to a monstrous range of guns. Unfortunately, ammo doesn’t last forever, and you will occasionally have to drop your current gun for a different one just for the sake of ammo, though that’s the beauty in it. Dropping one weapon isn’t the end of your vicious killing spree, it might just be the start of an even better one. Though the developers at Trepang Studios added one extra thing just to keep you going, weapon customizations…

Granted, being able to customize your weapon with different parts for various effects is a bit of a hit or miss in this regard. This is due to the fact that you’d first need to find weapon parts which are sometimes hidden throughout missions. While it does incentivize you to explore, it can also become a drag to find a few parts in one mission, though there’s no guarantee it’ll be for the weapons you like. Sadly, with the vast array of firepower in Trepang2, it’s not as worthwhile to hunt down the parts.

So, you’ve got guns and powers, there is one more thing to give you that explosive edge though. Throwables, these can range from simple grenades to firebombs. Luckily, there’s never really a shortage of explosives in a mission, as you’ll find them in convenient locations throughout the areas. All you need to do is grab them and start throwing, then watch as your enemies either try to run from the ensuing explosion or try their best to still get to you, even with their impending doom.

On the matter of consumables, this is more an honorable mention to say the least. While you, as ‘106’ have a health and armor bar, it’s almost surprising just how resilient you are even when you should be turned into Swiss cheese or a nice little acid puddle. As long as you keep moving, you’ll end up dodging the majority of the enemy gunfire while killing them has a good chance of dropping armor plates to replenish what you lost. In the event that you do end up taking health damage, worry not; health kits are almost always nearby. This can look a little unfair as the odds are completely stacked against your targets, though that’s also why they have numbers and sometimes, much heavier firepower.

To save the best for last, there is surprisingly a lot you can do back at the Safehouse before jumping into your next mission. The most interesting of the bunch being a quick visit to the Combat Simulator; you’ll have several options to choose from in terms of locations and the difficulty. From there, it’s just a matter of survival. However, this shouldn’t be taken lightly as it can become quite difficult even on easier modes. You’ll have to make use of the Supply box between waves to request reinforcements and buy new gear for your visit to the simulator. All in all, it’s great for target practice.

One other thing you can do at the Safehouse is character customization. Unfortunately, it’s not what you think it is. This comes off as somewhat redundant as you don’t really get to see ‘106’ aside from his hands; however, the option is still there for those who want to customize their character anyway. Your options are quite limited to just colors for your shirt, pants, gloves and shoes. This would’ve added a unique touch to some multiplayer action or at least a third-person view.

Trepang 2 has one more feature that is extremely rarely implemented in new games, a cheat menu. No, it’s not like pulling up a console and typing in commands. These cheats are part of the game and can be unlocked by completing certain missions on specified difficulties. While some of the cheats are actually silly, like Big Head Mode, which gives your enemies giant heads, there are useful ones too, like No Reload or even God Mode. Openly incentivizing you to play on higher difficulties and rewarding your success with an extra unfair advantage just for fun.

Trepang2 visual side has a lot of modern aspects to it, along with some of the older visual effects that are reminiscent of the old Counter Strike days. Though this is only at first, things tend to shift quite a lot depending on the mission you’re in. However, even though Trepang2 was built on Unreal Engine 4, it doesn’t quite look the part nor does it have the lengthy loading times. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it gets you in the action much faster than most games of today. The game does show a clear attention to detail with each mission, and how they were put together visually, along with the general madness and character designs, this definitely helps the game shine where it needs to.

To go with the visuals of the game, Trepang2 also uses a unique soundtrack that will help drive you forward toward your objective. However, a nice touch to the overall experience is how the music changes between missions but also when you’re in and out of combat. Out of combat, the music will still have a high adrenaline drive to it with the use of electronic music, while in combat, the game will turn up the intensity. The game is also fully voiced on the NPC front, but it’s a little unnerving sometimes how ‘106’ never says a word, though this could also be attributed to being the strong silent type. One thing to take note of is that the gunfire can be a bit deafening when you’ve got a small army trying to take you down.

Overwall, Trepang2 is a fun blast from the past with a lot of modern aspects and a story you’ll need to work for. You’ll be left guessing after each mission until you can piece everything together, though this is a really nice driving point that’ll keep you coming back for more. This is a first-person adrenalin pumping game that can appeal to any player because of its simple but wild, chaotic atmosphere.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Editor, NoobFeed