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Imagine a first-person shooter with the variety of WarioWare. Now imagine it’s free, has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, and almost no one is playing it. That’s Straftat. It’s a 1v1 arena shooter that emphasizes skill, weapon pickups, and map control. There’s no story, no elaborate CoD cutscenes, and no team to carry you. It’s just you and your trigger skills in one gritty gunfight after another. Scramble for a Taser on a block of ice. Trade sniper rounds in a brutalist city. Swordfight a potato-faced man beneath a castle. There’s nothing quite like it.
This Abomination Needs More Love
Straftat shares far more in common with Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 Arena, and GoldenEye 007 than Black Ops 6. It also looks a great deal like Babbdi, the dev’s previous game, but this is no walking sim. It’s an unabashed throwback to LAN parties, Slappers Only, and the thrill of the kill. TTK is low, maps are dense, and the many, many guns are punchy and responsive. Yet none of that is why Straftat deserves more than the 819-player peak that it’s garnered in the first week of its release, according to Steam Charts.
By default, each round is a best-of-three affair, with the map changing after every set. First to five wins. One map is a tower of floating platforms and scattered chainguns with a teleporter below, letting you do your best Portal impression amid ceaseless gunfire. Another is a shotgun and pistol shootout in a grimy bathroom ripped straight from the Backrooms. It’s all yellowed ceramic, wet footsteps, and blood. One minute you’re planting proximity mines in a ventilation shaft, the next you’re wall running with a Flamberge, jousting for the first stab. I am boredom’s happy opposite.
Wario Beware
I am objectively terrible at Straftat. I lost all but six of the 51 rounds I’ve played in the last 24 hours. I’ve also only unlocked 47 of the game’s whopping 139 maps (counting the $5ish DLC). Yet I’m more eager to recommend this game than I am most AAA shooters. Between the quick lobbies, (optional) proximity chat, and Cruelty Squad weirdness of the art, Straftat feels cozier than a game this brutal should. It’s probably even better if you’re good at it, but I wouldn’t know. I’m too busy dying to carbines and flamethrowers.
The skill ceiling is massive, rewarding those with the patience to learn every level and movement tech. Even if you’re a mere plebe like me, however, the game’s a blast. Whether it’s a limited marketing budget or something else behind Straftat‘s modest player count, it deserves more. Fortunately, the game’s 1v1 format means that a small but dedicated community is more than enough to fuel it for years to come. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be the one getting sniped on Republic.
