Genre: Indie
Developer: ScrubbySquirrel
Publisher: Sascha Hopstein
Franchise: ActionRex
Release Date: May 15, 2019
Price: $7.99
I’ve been on a weird game kick as of late and DanCop – Daniela on Duty is no exception. The game feels like a remaster of something you can swear you played back in the early 90s. The look, the feel, the gameplay all have this air of familiarity even though the game is a wholly original IP.
DanCop – Daniela on Duty brings these warm feelings of nostalgia without being nostalgic.
The games visuals also don’t do the experience justice, or even hit at it. Screenshots would suggest this is some side-scrolling shooter, or some 2.5D action game in the style of Octopath Traveler. Neither of those things hit the mark as DanCop – Daniela on Duty is actually a horizontally locked stealth/puzzle game. Sounds confusing, I know, but let me explain how this all plays out.
You’re a bad-ass lady cop that sneaks into a building overrun with terrorists without any backup. You need to take out the main baddie and to do this you’ll have to sneak your way through some 30 levels filled with enemies, traps, and puzzles. You have a pistol with a couple of shots so you’ll be relying on knocking out enemies, or avoiding them altogether in your quest to reach the end of each floor as you work your way up.
There is enough right there for a fun little game on its own, but
DanCop – Daniela on Duty throws a wrench into the mix by turning the game into one big stealth puzzle. You see, you can only move on a single horizontal plane, moving right to left at will. Enemies and obstacles will block your path or pass you by on the vertical (think isometric), but you can’t simply go around them all wily-nilly.
The game strategically places arrows in your path that will push you forward on the vertical plane. It’s like an isometric game that’s had its movement locked. This turns what would have been some generic action title into a stealth puzzle adventure that feels wicked unique. Again, all of these things have been done in some form in other classic games, which is why DanCop – Daniela on Duty feels both new and familiar.
Aside from the arrows, you’ll also have the ability to enter doors and air-vents that transport you to another part of the floor, as well as have to activate switches, floor pads and destroy objects to help you advance. Throw in the various enemy units that are patrolling an you have one heck of a challenging game. How you choose to get to the end of each floor is up to you.
You can shoot enemies, but you only have a few shots and ammo is rare so you won’t be blasting through levels. And since you’ll need ammo to shoot out breaker panels to kill laser traps and turn off sentry guns and cameras, you’ll have to really think about taking a shot. There’s usually a few ways of tackling an obstacle, so experimentation is part of the experience.
Enemies all dole out one-hit kills, so getting caught will force a restart. You’d think this would be annoying but levels are huge, so death won’t set you back all that far as each level can be completed in only a few minutes tops. And death is important because if something isn’t working for you, you are forced to experiment and try alternate paths or try different techniques. It’s all loads of fun that offers up a fair challenge, instead of feeling like you are being cheated.
DanCop – Daniela on Duty isn’t a long game, clocking in at only a handful of hours, but there is a lot of replay value for those wanting a good challenge. Each stage can be completed in four different ways. You can get to the end as you please (how I normally played), beat the stage under an alloted time (for all you speed runners), beat the stage without killing a single person (for those that like a challenge), and explore each stage for a hidden police badge.
There is a lot of content in DanCop – Daniela on Duty, especially for a small indie game coming in at only a few dollars. The mix of stealth and puzzle gameplay come together in a great way, tied together by a fantastic visual style. The whole game is presented inside an old tube TV giving it a very early 90s console feel. Sprites look great and everything is animated well. I’m serious when I say you’ll question if this is actually a remake to something you’ve played before.
The game looks both dark and gritty while having this cute charm to it. Add in controls that are as basic as they come (you only use two buttons for actions) that would fit perfectly on a classic NES gamepad, DanCop – Daniela on Duty hits all the right notes, both retro and modern. The game also offers up two separate endings, so that’s even more incentive to run through it all again.
If you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed my time with this title. But it isn’t without a couple of issues, none of which hurt the experience. They are more nagging issues than anything. On two occasions I was forced to restart a level because I got stuck on an arrow that was supposed to push me forward. Not sure what went wrong and I couldn’t recreate the glitch in the same spot, but it happened. There’s also some translation issues that are more funny than anything. All in all that not a lot of issues.
DanCop – Daniela on Duty doesn’t change the gaming landscape, but it’s just what I needed when every AAA release feels likes it’s been copy/pasted from what came before. Pick this one up and and have yourself some modern retro fun
“DanCop – Daniela on Duty feels ripped from the best of what 90s console gaming had to offer”
Final Score:
3/5
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