Trepang2 review: Forget the story, let's get gory

If the thought of tackling a hardcore horror game this spooky season isn't your cup of tea, look no further than the gory gunplay of Trepang2.

Tom West

Published 27 Oct 2023

Trepang2 launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC earlier this month, offering up a blood-soaked nightmare of a shooter, which puts you in the shoes of a supersoldier with absolute carnage on his mind. From escaping a black site facility to removing a cult from existence, I've experienced Subject 106's story for myself. Here are my thoughts.

Unspoken, unwavering in his commitment to the Syndicate, and unconcerned with the safety of those around him, friend or otherwise, Subject 106 gives you the kind of unfiltered violence and badassery found in classic first-person shooters like Doom, F.E.A.R, Quake, and the like. Combat is fast-paced, visceral, gory, and stylish when used with the slow-motion mechanic, and with very little in the way of any passive gameplay, Trepang2 allows Subject 106 to charge through an almost unbroken chain of brutal firefights — which in my humble opinion, makes for a bloody good time!

Subject 106 is Trepang2’s protagonist, a genetically enhanced super soldier with no memory of his past, who breaks out of a black site facility (Site 14) run by a medical research corporation known as Horizon. Upon escaping Site 14, and subsequently murdering any of the security forces attempting to stop him, which acts as a tutorial of sorts, 106 is picked up by another organization, the Syndicate, which is dedicated to ruining whatever plans Horizon has in store, and joins its elite hit squad, Task Force 27. From there, you’re sent on a series of missions to wipe out a cult, kill some monsters, and destroy… aliens? We think they're aliens anyway.

Shoot to thrill (and kill)

Trepang2’s lifeblood is its combat and gunplay, and it excels at it. There is a story woven in with the bloodthirsty gameplay as well, but if you’re not paying enough attention, it can become nonsensical very quickly. Much like any evil corporation worth its salt, Horizon likes to dabble in the occult, prod and poke the human genome, and play with strange substances, all with the aim of helping the human race — but ultimately screws up along the way and gets everyone killed. When described, Trepang2’s story makes sense and strings each mission along at a decent pace, but you must put in the work to uncover the story yourself in game.

There are very few cutscenes, bar some in-mission events when you meet noteworthy enemies and the like, and the general story itself isn’t deeply told between missions either, instead, you have to rely on collectible intel you can find as you play to piece together the events like a jigsaw. This style of storytelling certainly has its strengths and weaknesses — those who enjoy digging around the finer details have plenty to read, while those who just want to partake in some shooty shooty bang bang can without having to sit through stuff they ultimately don’t care about. Personally, I found that reading the intel between missions was a pretty nice way to take a ten-minute breather before being thrust into my next life-or-death situation against insurmountable odds.

The campaign itself is a short affair with only five full missions to blast through. Each is certainly different to the last, but they all have you charging through a linear level to find some kind of boss at the end. To break up the similar feeling of the main missions. there are a handful of wave-based side-missions to complete. These have you holding off waves of enemies as you steal data, attempt to destroy a UFO, and other similar activities. While there isn’t anything ground-breaking to be found with them, they all link to the overarching story and provide a more approachable way to offer new game modes instead of a bland sub-menu.

Both the main and side missions can be found at the mission table in the Task Force 27 HQ, which acts as a hub between missions where you can practice in a combat simulator, customize your weapons and outfit, and prepare for your next mission. Much like the side missions, the combat simulator is a wave-based deal that pays you cash for taking down enemies, which you can then spend on weapons, throwables, health and armor, or backup for the next wave. Unlike the side missions, though, the combat simulator doesn’t have any story-relatable meaning to it, and it is there purely for an easy-to-access way to shoot lots of things — something Trepang2 is very good at.

A bloody good time

Trepang2 might be a little light on story beats but it’s an explosive ride as a first-person-shooter, offering intense and challenging combat that has, at times, literally had me on the edge of my seat as I’ve unloaded both magazines of dual-wielded SMGs in a hail Mary attempt to annihilate the monstrosity in front of me before it kills me for the eighth time.

Subject 106 comes with two superhuman abilities: invisibility and a focus to slow down time. Invisibility is used to close the gap on an unsuspecting hostile or make a quick escape from combat to grab some healing. Beware though, as some enemies can see through your cloak and will continue to mow you down. Invisibility is cool, but the real beauty of Trepang2 can be found in the focus ability, which creates a glorious display of slow-motion violence that is a delight to behold. Bullets fly gracefully through the air, obliterating skulls in a hail of blood and bone, casings can be seen hitting the floor, and explosions slowly pulse outwards, creating a fountain of bloody goo from the people that once stood where your grenade landed. It’s a fantastic display of carnage, and one I’m sure will find favor with fans of the gore. If gore isn't your thing, you can turn it off, but you do lose some of the visual spectacle.

Weapon of choice

Trepang2’s weapons (and various cheats) are unlocked as you progress through the story, with much of it locked behind completing missions on specific difficulties. The maximum difficulty you’ll need to conquer to unlock all of the weapons is Hard, but if you want to get the most out of your weapons, you’ll need to find the weapon parts hidden through the missions. On top of that, there are a ton of cosmetics to unlock for your weapons, and you can set them so that when you pick up a weapon in a mission it’ll also have that color scheme on it — and you’ll be swapping weapons a lot!

Weapon crates can be found periodically through the missions, or you can access it back at your base, along with every weapon you’ve unlocked. Some mods are more worthwhile than others: suppressors are extremely helpful for getting the drop on an enemy, while sights are a little less useful due to the rapid pace of the combat. Similarly, weapon camos are cool because you can see them, while the various outfit colors are almost pointless because you never see anything more than your character’s gloves!

Just like unlocking weapons and cheats, you need to master the various difficulties to unlock all of the Trepang2 achievements, and believe me, that’s no walk in the park. My fight through the game on Hard was a real slog, and I’ve had to take a break before trying to conquer Very Hard, Extreme, and Rage for the Supersoldier, Subject 106, and Unbreakable Will achievements. They’re the only three I have left from the 49 achievements, and of the 1,160 players who have played Trepang2 on Xbox so far, only eight have managed to nab the completion, so I mustn’t be the only one with trepidation about taking on the beefier difficulties. As for the other 94% of Trepang2’s achievements, if you’re able to get through the game on Hard difficulty, you shouldn’t have too much trouble nabbing the completion. Most of the other achievements are linked to miscellaneous actions like throwing your teammates into whirling helicopter blades or throwing enemies around so you can enjoy the game’s fantastic ragdoll physics.

Summary

All-in-all, Trepang2 is a pretty darn good ride, especially if you don’t sweat the completion, and I will be recommending it to anyone who will listen for a long time to come. If you enjoy a bit of light horror and gallons of gore with your first-person shooters, it’s a perfect substitute for hardcore horror games throughout the spooky season. Trepang2 is a must-play for all fans of FPS games. Now, go forth and paint the walls red!

* * A copy of Trepang2 was provided by the publisher for this review.

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Xbox Series X|S Windows

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.