In a mech world, pity the fool without a mech. That was my initial thought watching the reveal trailer for Matador, a new game by Gausswerks. What goes through the mind of the poor infantryman who charges the massive firepower of a mech head on? Are they courageous? Or drugged? In the trailer, they are wiped out mercilessly, several at a time. Disintegrated into oblivion. All for what? A cause they believe in? Defending a leader to whom they will gladly give their lives? Or will their families face certain death at the labor camps if they refuse?
These are the questions of a ruthless world, and the world of Novo Solo does indeed seem ruthless. The directive at the beginning of the trailer is, “Great Leader is Dead. Liberate Solo Nobre Tonight by any means necessary”. Then the killing begins. Death and destruction. A labyrinth of the city. Every corner, every street a potential death trap.
Some may say the gameplay is also ruthless as there are no saves, no level-ups, and every session presents a different challenge, a different way to die. But one must not complain, just fight, for the complainers end up dead in a world like this. Ask Big Brother.
And the music itself screams violence and carnage. 1980s B-movie sci-fi synth track, or as the developer states in the YouTube comments, “heavily influenced by (John) Carpenter”. Certainly, heads will roll and bodies splatter into red pulpy messy stuff.
The trailer’s got me intrigued. And the game seems hopeful, unlike the pulse cannon fodder sent en masse to their deaths.