Anyone that knows me knows I loved the base launch of Meet Your Maker. Along with The Last Worker, it’s one of my favourite games released this year so far, so it is fair to say that the recently released Dreadshore add-on had some big boots to fill.
Of course, with a user-generated-content-driven game like Meet Your Maker, you can’t expect the add-ons to revolutionise the game completely and give a hugely different experience compared to the base game, after all, it’s all down to how we, the users, actually use the new content, as much as it is to what is offered.
Related: Meet Your Maker Review – Building A Better World (PS5)
What is Dreadshore? Who is Nautilus?
Dreadshore is the first of presumably many ‘sectors’ to be added to Meet Your Maker, with the idea being that each sector is remarkably different from the last. In the base game we were introduced to the Red Sands, a vast tundra of nothingness, intermittently broken up with a gust of red sand in the face or a tumbled-down building in the distance. Now we have Dreadshore, a very different aesthetic to look at. During a recent interview with Ash Parnell, Senior Creative Director for Meet Your Maker, he had this to say about Dreadshore.
“With this new content update, we wanted to take the player to a new distinct vibe and feeling. Dreadshore’s driving rain, dark, and moody aesthetic are completely different to that of the Red Sands. The changes to the lighting and atmosphere change the mood for Raiders and give Builders a totally new narrative tool to set their levels, expanding the possibilities of their Meet Your Maker journey.”
Dreadshore introduces more than a new aesthetic, with a new Custodian called Nautilus, whose backstory is equal parts horrifying and tragic. One of the many test subjects of the Dreadshore Sanctuary. Finally escaping, he murdered his way out of the laboratory, until he finds himself in the open air, surrounded by rain, cliffs and a lighthouse lighting the way for no-one, as humanity tries to survive a great catastrophe. Not exactly the stuff of Disney.
Nautilus brings with him a completely different perspective to Meet Your Maker; a defensive one. Most players will use the custodians and the various tools as offensively as possible, but with a boost to the defensive shields in game, this’ll give builders another perspective and approach to battle with.
Dreadshore is Different
One of the biggest complaints from early players of Meet Your Maker was the repetitive nature of the game, and “if you’ve played ten minutes of it, you’ve played it all”. Now that sentiment is a load of tosh, for the record, but if it was true, Dreadshore does what it needs to and gives the gameplay a complete turn on its head, all with the introduction of a trap and a new guard.
For those who haven’t played Meet Your Maker at all, it’s a game based around the building and raiding of other player’s bases. Your bases are limited only by your imagination, and your raiding the same. Want to build a gigantic chessboard? I mean you could, but it’d be easy to raid. Want to build a corridor filled with every trap and guard the game supplies? You could, but then you’d be hated by many for building an “unfun killbox”.
Dreadshore takes everything you thought you knew and changes it. With the introduction of the Sentry Beam trap, the developers have removed some of the capabilities of just running-and-gunning, as well as hiding around corners! You were previously safe, but now with the reflective laser going around corridors and bouncing all over the place, it’s not so safe any more. In the same interview as mentioned previously, Ash Parnell had this to say.
“The sentry beam is powerful but the fact that it is capable of destroying other traps and guards means dropping it everywhere is a big risk as the clever raider can easily convince it destroy itself. Use it wisely and strategically!”
And that’s exactly right, the sentry beam is powerful, but with the power brings weakness. Other than the sentry beam, the game also introduces a new guard called a Ravager. Coincidentally, just like Yondu’s arrow from Guardians of the Galaxy, this guard fires homing projectiles at you. Unlike the Sentry Beam trap, this’ll feel much more familiar to players, as it’s just a walking, sort-of-talking version of the game’s arrow projectile traps.
Either way though, both of these introductions offer a new dimension of gameplay, and require new ways of problem-solving.
Related: Meet Your Maker – Tips’n’Tricks to Become the Best Custodian Possible
Is Dreadshore enough?
Dreadshore is the first of many planned sectors, and it’s understandable that the development team are finding their feet with introducing new features, mechanics and the like, but without breaking the fine line of balancing the game they’ve managed thus far. Perhaps future add-ons will be a little more daring, but for the most part Dreadshore feels like more of the base game, and nothing more. The new trap, custodian and guard offer a new way to play the game, but with the game being what it is, players wouldn’t have noticed if this was all included in the base game.
With that said, the different in actual aesthetics is nice, and Dreadshore offers a glimpse into the lore and narrative of a world we’ve largely barely touched. It does feel that with each sector we’re going to find out more about the underlying story of Meet Your Maker.
Is Dreadshore reinventing the wheel of Meet Your Maker? No. It’s more of the same, but with just enough difference to bring back some players that’d left the game, as well as keep those die-hard followers happy. The next sector needs to do more, but for now, I’ll be building my bases and throwing multiple Sentry Beams at everyone. Sorry about that.
6/10
Meet Your Maker’s Dreadshore was played and reviewed on a code supplied by Indigo Pearl.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
