So many FPS games now lie dead and empty, their servers barren and scrubbed. Fields once filled with gunfire and activity lie dormant. But does something remain?
No Players Online offers you a glimpse back into an old shooter, its servers empty of other players. Somehow, it’s still online, though. Something has recalled its world back from a digital graveyard, bringing its bones back into existence for you to explore. So, why not grab a gun and poke around for one last time? The visual style certainly makes it feel reminiscent of many lost deathmatches, so there’s something very nostalgic about it all.
Nostalgia seems to be the poisoned lure that’s been used to bring players back to this place, though. Though the halls and rooms seem empty, there’s a sensation that something IS still here. Perhaps it’s just all of those memories of some other player rounding a corner and blasting you that’s making you feel that way. Maybe it’s something that is hiding in the halls that makes you feel that way after all. Something seems off, though. Your gun is sometimes unloaded. Frames drop. Those are normal, though, you think. Until maybe they’re not.
No Players Online draws from the moment of terror that comes from a player suddenly shooting into view, their gun ending your life, that many FPS games use. That single moment of life-ending fear has been brought into tight focus in a seemingly-lonely horror game, but with the fearful elements made stronger by an oppressive sensation of being hunted in an empty world.
No Players Online is available now (for whatever you wish to pay for it) on itch.io.