The great thing about indie games is that they’re diverse enough to offer at least one game that, at least in concept, sounds like it was tailor made for you. For instance, when I saw a 80’s horror inspired strategy game called “Camp Keepalive” was in the works, I could have sworn that somehow, someone, somewhere had looked into some half thought video game idea I‘d come up with as a child, or possibly underachieving college student, and made it into a fully realized experience.
Well, as it turns out, they actually just made a visual representation of that half thought idea.
“Camp Keepalive” is a turn based strategy game that has you choose four out of a group of eight camp counselors as they watch over the campers. Complicating the menial position are a group of horror monsters roaming the woods around you, whom all seem unusually dedicated to murder as many counselors and campers as possible. Only by navigating a grid based world and bringing the kids back to the camp can you survive.
Upon initial inspection “Camp Keepalive” is a fine little strategy game. Basically there’s a variety of monsters who roam the map and each have a different method of attack and movement, (for instance, some will beeline straight for counselors, while others will choose one target to stalk endlessly) and your counselors each have unique skills to provide like the ability to go invisible, a call that brings all campers touching the square you’re on to you, or just a weapon to attack monsters head on with. The available skills and attacks are all very diverse and do a good job of not only catering to unique play styles, but immediately provide replay value as you experiment with what combinations of counselors works best for you. Outside of those skills, your only method of defense is to lay traps on grids which kill monsters upon contact.
It’s not a bad set up, but it quickly becomes apparent that the designer got that far and hit a major creative roadblock. The biggest problem with it is that it’s way too random. Sometimes games like these benefit from a healthy amount of random, but here it just breaks some already simple mechanics, by spawning both campers and monsters on random grids to the point of makes it impossible to truly think more than a move ahead. The campers are the worst part about this, as they have no incentive to move towards safety and away from danger, and usually spawn in places that are not possible to get to.
I suppose in a way the feeling of overwhelming dread and helplessness supports the horror environment, but that’s not the best place to start inserting cute references, especially when the places references are supposed to be in the game fall short of satisfying the horror element of the experience. Yes, it’s sad but the horror theme of this title turns out to be nothing more than window dressing. While the writing does a good job at making humorous pokes at horror tropes, the overall experience only incorporates the scary stuff on an aesthetic level. The basic game could be re-skinned in several different ways and be perfectly applicable, as it does almost nothing to really take advantage of the horror movies it claims to be inspired by.
Oddly enough I’d actually say this game is overall a case of failed tributes. It’s a tribute to strategy games, but pays little attention to achieving their refinement. It’s a tribute to horror movies, but uses them for so little that it might just be a tribute to horror movie covers. Finally it’s a tribute to 8 bit era games, but unfortunately doesn’t just stop at borrowing the graphics of that era, but incorporates a simple, chaotic, and troublesome design that feels like something that not only looks like a strategy game on the NES, but unfortunately plays like one as well.
Maybe it’s still the love for the concept blinding me, but as unimpressed as I am with the final game, I also find myself strangely drawn back to it at times. Overall though, I think that’s more a knee jerk reaction to those moments when the games concept matches its execution, and that doesn’t seem be near often enough to warrant a purchase. “Camp Keepalive” has a lot of things going for it which may one day make it a worthwhile experience. As it is now, though, much like a day trip to Camp Crystal Lake, just stay away.
