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Recently, I’ve come across some first-person shooters designed to be short. They don’t take hours to complete. Chop Goblins is one of them and it’s from the same developer who brought us Dusk. It’s described as a “microshooter”, a game that can be completed in a single sitting and as of this review, it’s going for about five bucks on Steam. Developed and published by David Szymanski, Chop Goblins was released for PC in December, 2022. Considering this dude made Dusk which is a great game and because Chop Goblins is only five dollars, I figured it would be worth the money. Although, to be honest, I actually paid close to ten bucks because I bought the bundle containing Chop Goblins and Zortch.
The story goes that the protagonist (you) breaks into a museum and opens a chest releasing Chop Goblins on the world. They wreak havoc and cause chaos and it’s up to you to chase them through space and time and put a stop to their evil. It’s a silly premise and story and I like how the campaign is described on the Steam page, “all killer and no filler”. That’s a perfect descriptor for this game. And, yes, it can be completed in a single sitting. Around thirty minutes in fact.
Chop Goblins comes with a handful of levels and bonus levels that are just remixes of the standard ones. Different enemy spawns, some new foes appear, and items are moved around among other things. You’re always equipped with a dagger and can use it to quickly stab foes and will obtain other weapons as you progress including a flintlock pistol, shotgun, automatic stake gun, and wand. Plus, you can find weapon upgrades in the levels. Chop Goblins can be pretty fast-paced and there is no jumping. Killing foes and collecting coins increases your score. Trying for a high score is one reason to keep coming back and the game does come with leaderboards. After you complete the campaign, you unlock the Once Again mode where you can start over with everything you already acquired.
The gunplay is quite good. Weapons have good audiovisual feedback and the gore effects are satisfying. Enemies bleed when shot and can be turned into gibs. There’s a lot of objects in the environments that can be destroyed, many of which reveal pickups like ammo and health. Others explode and you can use this to your advantage. The enemies are obviously the Chop Goblins and they come in different types and new types are thrown at you as you progress. As a result, the difficulty ramps up nicely. The game does save at the start of each level but once you exit the game, your progress is lost. This means you have to beat the campaign in a single sitting. But there is a level select if you want to tackle levels individually.
While the levels are short, they are well designed. Each level looks and feels distinct and is intricate, often with multiple ways to reach destinations. There are plenty of enemies to shoot and secrets to find and you will need to find items to progress and/or access certain areas. The levels are set in different locations and time periods including modern day, 1800’s Transylvania, ancient Greece, and the future. As mentioned earlier, the bonus levels are remixed versions of the standard ones and do offer different challenges to overcome. With the bonus levels, secrets, scoring system, and numerous difficulty levels, you can easily spend hours playing this.
Chop Goblins showcases a retro-style presentation with distinct locales, a good amount of color, and nice visual effects. The muzzle flashes and gore helps enhance the gunplay and seeing a group of goblins explode into gibs is always satisfying. The sound work is also excellent. The goblins sound silly and laugh, explosions are booming, and the action is backed by a wonderful soundtrack. The whole game has this kind of cartoony quality to it and the music fits it perfectly with a nice mix of dramatic and whimsical tunes. On the technical side, the game ran smooth and I encountered no major issues.
I know the game is short by design but I want more. I’m not holding its short length against it because that’s how it’s advertised and I went into it fully aware of that fact. But I want more because I had a lot of fun with it. Chop Goblins is a silly little shooter with satisfying gunplay, great level design, and wonderful music. And despite its short length, it does offer plenty of reasons to return. It’s not a game with a deep narrative or complex systems. It’s a simple little run and gun first-person shooter. It’s a game packed with action and the numerous difficulty levels ensure anybody can get through it. It can be accessible, it can be challenging, and it can be beaten in about a half hour.
I absolutely recommend Chop Goblins. It’s great if you’re looking to kill some time or on a break or just simply want something short and quick. It does have a good amount of replay value but you can see everything it has to offer in a single sitting. It’s a short but satisfying shooter that’s easy to pick up and play and doesn’t take long to get through. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, definitely check it out.