Hrot

Hrot is a single-player first-person retro shooter that borrows heavily from the original Quake, using a visual style that resembles 1990s software-style rendering with unfiltered textures and polygon jitter, combined with a color palette that consists mainly of grey and brown. Optionally the game can be played in a GL mode with hardware acceleration. It is set in Czechoslovakia after an unspecified disaster in 1986. It consists of three episodes with about eight levels each, along with a secret level. Episodes were made available over time as the game was launched in Early Access on 29th January 2021 and it was then in development for about two and half years until the full release on 16th May 2023. The first episode was available right away, the second one was added on 22nd June 2022 and the third one with the full release.

The player's character emerges from a civil defense shelter deep under a Prague Metro station, having survived the disaster. Wearing a gas mask, all intruders in the country now need to be eliminated. Locations have a dark and grim setting, but there are also many quirky and humorous elements often based on soviet culture. Many of them have real, historical details and inspirations. Humans have been affected by the disaster. They wear gas masks and can often be spotted throwing up. There are also mutated creatures. The weapon arsenal consists of pistols with dual-wielding, two types of shotguns, grenades, a machine gun, a rocket launcher-like Hussite hand cannon, a crossbow, a sickle for melee combat, but also experimental weapons such as a lightning gun. A bottle of alcohol is used as a medkit and distorts the character's vision. Along the way small health pick-ups can be found as well, along with power-ups such as additional damage and a Koruna currency. The character has access to a flashlight at any moment. Enemies are heavily inspired by those in Quake, but with a soviet twist. Bosses often take on unexpected forms and there are mechanical opponents such as sentry guns, loaders and helicopters.

Levels have a linear design using typical progress based on keys that need to be located to unlock doors, switches and valves. The environments are filled with socialist paraphernalia and a lot of interaction is encouraged. Most items are destructible and next to the sickle a kick is available as a melee attack. That is often required to find the secrets hidden in the levels. Many interactions are optional such as flushing toilets, destroying light bulbs, answering a phone, playing a game of football, playing a synthesizer, riding a motorcycle, playing games on a handheld or standing on a billiards table to move the balls.

Encountered enemies are stored in a bestiary that can be consulted from the main menu, along with recipes that are unlocked after completing an episode. After completing a first episode an Endless mode is unlocked with wave-based arena combat based on four environments. Completed levels can be selected from a level select screen. There are five difficulty levels. When playing the campaign mode, a blank slate mode can be enabled where health and weapons are not carried over between levels.