Conglomerate 451 is a game created by RuneHeads and published by 1C Entertainment. Usually, when you see a 1C game, you usually think about ambitious ideas that don’t really have a massive budget. This title is pretty much that, but it does bring in front of some creative ideas while also pushing the boundaries and coming up with something new and fun. At its core, the idea behind Conglomerate 451 is that this is a dungeon crawler, a first-person game with grid elements.
The kicker here is that you are in a cyberpunk world and you are heavily encouraged to really push the boundaries and immerse you in a different, yet still very engaging and unique world. The
ideas behind the game are revolutionary and you will find this experience to be extremely impressive and quite unique, to be honest.
Resource management
Yes, Conglomerate 451 does have resource management and you need to manage them in order to research new tech, unlock new powers and also boost your progression. This is very creative and it really helps you come up with new ways to play. The progression is all up to you, which does make the gameplay very immersive and full of options that you can try out and pursue. It’s definitely interesting and different than what you would expect, and you will have fun with it.
There are armor proficiencies and weapon upgrades, which is a major plus. On top of that, you will also enjoy the presence of a pain and trauma system. Yes, Conglomerate 451 wants to be rather realistic, while still being a part of a cyberpunk world. That offers some creative ideas for you to try out, and it’s extremely interesting and engaging all the time. Wounds have an impact and when you get damaged you can deal with trauma. These traumas can actually follow you in the next mission and even more so. It’s a creative aspect and one that people like just because it’s really interesting but also different and exciting for every player.
Follow the story or play in the endless
The game has a great story where you enter a world full of wars and events that are set in motion by corporations. On top of that, the campaign itself is rather long. It’s pretty immersive and fun, but there’s definitely a lot of content to follow here, so that alone makes it pretty fun and interesting at the same time. Of course, it can get a bit more demanding and sometimes it might not be as easy as you imagine. Despite that, it becomes a learning experience and a very interesting way to play.
The game also has an endless mode. The content is procedurally generated when you enter the endless mode, and as a result the gameplay will be a bit different. It’s still really fun, but it’s clear that something is generated. It doesn’t diminish the pleasure of playing this content, which is nice. But it does show that there is no real story and you are constantly eliminating enemies so you can boost your stats. Overall, you get to play the way you want, and that can make a huge difference here.
Conglomerate 451’s procedural cyber dungeons are pretty diverse. Even the missions are generated, although to be honest many of them are pretty similar to one another. Still, you do have varied things to do even if you finish the story. And considering the game isn’t overly expensive, that’s a pretty good package for you to check out, which is something you will like quite a lot in a situation like this.
Permadeath
Since this does have many roguelike elements, it’s expected to see some type of death penalty. Conglomerate 451 is rather harsh here because it comes with full permadeath. That might not seem like a problem at first, but the fact that whenever you die you are unable to go back can be very challenging. The problem with permadeath is that there are disorders and drugs in the game, so you can have things that might influence you to not be the best in combat. Obviously that can become quite the problem, which is exactly what you must take into consideration in a situation like this.
Hacking the world
Since we are in a cyberpunk world, hacking is an interesting thing that you can do here. You are able to hack your way in the middle of missions, or you can easily enter the cyberspace as you see fit. It’s creative because it gives you the control and fully brings in a true focus on quality and on a great experience.
As you play you will also be able to acquire achievements and collectibles, explore new places and engage in battles. It’s a very distinctive choice and Conglomerate 451 does a very good job at making the gameplay as good as possible and still very interesting.
Should you play Conglomerate 451?
There are many things in Conglomerate 451 that we like a lot. The fact that you can play the story or just engage in the endless mode means you don’t have as much pressure. You just get to play the way you want, and that alone can be very fun for everybody. To make things even better, you will have a variety of unlocks and body mods you can use. The cyberpunk approach is very immersive and the world itself is designed to offer you multiple choices and creative options.
Granted, Conglomerate 451 might not look amazing when compared to high tier games, but it’s quite affordable and it comes with a lot of replay value. It’s intense, true, but also very impressive and just a pleasure to try out. If you like first-person games and more particularly roguelikes, you will feel right at home here. There’s an overwhelming amount of content here, and the game continues to come up with something new and rewarding all the time. Just check it out as it’s a pretty interesting game with a genre of its own!
This review is based on the PC version of the game. A review copy was provided to us by TerminalsIO.
