Fans of old school boomer shooters will likely get a kick out of GAL VS VILLAGE, a Doom-like first-person shooter where you must reduce the population of a monster-turned village to zero. Developed by solo Japanese developer Crush-vAdin (also known as Bhaskara), it is a spiritual sequel to his previous title, Cult VS Gal (where you massacre cult members while flipping them off).
GAL VS VILLAGE stars Kessenji “Blood-sucker” Yui, a special unit sent by the Transcendent Entity Management Bureau to contain the supernatural phenomena that have overrun Haiseta Village. Armed with an arsenal of munitions and her trusty cleaver, Kessenji must neutralize the transformed locals, manifested kamis, and summoned shikigami that populate the area, as well as take down the members of the nefarious Kurobachi family that started it all. To justify all the violence, Bhaskara mentions that the villagers are far beyond saving, giving you the moral freedom to dispose of them however you wish.
Combat is fast and frantic, with Kessenji sprinting as she shoots her ranged weapons with her left hand and slices enemies with the cleaver in her right hand. While weapons like the shotgun and machine gun are standard fare for most FPS titles, special armaments, such as a massive gun with what looks like the head of a transformed villager on the tip of its barrel, are also available.
GAL VS VILLAGE is meant to be a challening game meant for fans of the genre, but thankfully, the lowest difficulty setting allows anyone to complete it with almost no fear of dying. A special “You Won’t Get Lost (Probably)” feature was also made for those who have trouble navigating the pixelated levels.
Despite its macabre themes, GAL VS VILLAGE has a rather compelling soundtrack. While high-tempo beats accompany combat, the ending songs are described as “quite decadent and mature”. All of the songs were composed and lyricized by Bhaskara, while the arrangements, recording, and mixing were done by Takayuki Kato of the band Iroiro na Juujika.
Featuring multiple endings, GAL VS VILLAGE is out now on Windows (Steam). A free demo is also available.
