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Intravenous: A Tale of Vengeance Begins
Title: Intravenous
Type of Game: Stealth – Tactical Shooter
Developer: Roman Glebenkov
Publisher: Roman Glebenkov
Released: July 26, 2021
Platforms Available: PC
Platform Reviewed: PC
Level of Maturity: Mature (17+)
Reading Time: 8 minutes
The story starts with you and your brother going to a bar; on the way back from the bar, you get jumped by some junkies and beaten up badly. Your brother ends up in a coma and dies a day later. Police don’t do much, so your mission is to avenge your brother. I (character Steve) start the hunt with the words, “This one is for you, big brother,” which perfectly sets the tone for the first mission. And the first mission is, you guessed it right, to kill the junkie’s leader.
As I started the first mission, I tried the stealth approach, which I quickly abandoned since I was detected rapidly trying to hide the body in a dumpster, so it quickly turned into a gunfight. I died a few times on the first level since I chose the most challenging mode. I highly advise against this if you are new to the genre. After murdering about a dozen of the junkies, I did not find the main guy, so the story continued. Worth noting was that the first mission’s name was Druggie Ghetto, which I found hilarious.
Mastering the Tools of Revenge
The controls are intuitive: WASD to move, and the mouse to aim and shoot. You can also control your walking speed with the mouse wheel, and there’s a laser aim on right-click. This feature is essential for targeting lamps, cameras, and similar environmental objects, and it’s handy in situations where you need to aim through windows and such.
After the first mission, I got a call from a mysterious dude offering me help; long story short, I ended up with new weapons and training rooms. This is when the fun started! I got a bunch of new weapons, including some with silencers, as well as some new skills. I could picklock the doors, break the light switches, and use night vision. Now, I was ready for some stealth action!
The Unforgiving World of Stealth
Or so I thought! Stealth is hard to pull off in this game; there are so many details that you have to pay attention to—for example, the windows. When I passed too close to the window, I was detected. When I killed an enemy inside the building, and another enemy passed next to the window, I was detected unless I turned off the lights.
Yes, I had to turn off the lights inside the building, and even then, I was sometimes detected. There are ways around this, tho, like the dart gun. I used a dart gun to steal the mission entirely, but after some time, it became boring. Instead, I switched to a silenced pistol and a rifle. I would use a gun to stealth, but eventually, I would get detected or get bored of it, so I would switch to AR or AK and shoot my way through.This only worked for the first few missions; at mission 4, I had to go cat mode since every enemy had an AR. I broke stealth a few times, but I lost the trace. Another exciting feature I came across in this mission was the vents.
I was infiltrating through the vents, and I liked that I had to crawl through, not just watch a cutscene. Another new feature I liked in this mission was the cameras. I had to dodge the cameras, which were slow and easy to dodge, but it still added a layer of strategy to the stealth game. Note that complete stealth is required for hard mode and above, with no detections, or you become minced meat immediately.
A Dance with Death: The Complex Missions
There are also some missions where I had to eliminate the whole enemy team, like in the Abandoned Complex mission where I was bait to get enemies to surround me, then I had to tick them all off one by one, and most are heavily armed. I managed to do most of this mission stealthily, and I advise you to try the same since there are shotgun enemies, and they will kill you in one shot from close range, and this particular map did not offer much distance.
The Art of Stealth: Details that Delight
Stealth details I particularly liked: Toile flush to distract enemies, generators you can break, lights switches and shooting the lamps, windows you can be seen through or climb through, cameras are connected with security rooms (cameras can be shot down), lockpick vs. door bash, armor weight effects the noise you make, you can use bottles to distract enemies, climbing through vents, putting enemies to sleep using darts. There are more, but these were my favorite details.
Other remarkable details: finish off the enemy by stamping his head in when he is knocked out, critical cards for reinforced doors, all sorts of weapons and gadgets if you decide to go in guns blazing. etc.
A Price for Vengeance: The Baker’s Dilemma
In the Baker’s panic room mission, I got to choose whether I was going to spare the Baker’s life or not; I decided not to, to follow up with my character’s rage and determination that I felt so far in the game. It could have been a better choice. If you kill the Baker, you cannot access your loadout anymore – you have to make do with the weapons you find in the following levels.
However, if you spare him instead, you will still have access to your loadout and continue choosing whatever weapon you want before starting a level. So choose wisely! If you do make the mistake I made, load up the Baker’s panic room mission and complete it again; that is what I did. Also, this is a fantastic mission to stealth through by knocking out enemies; I managed to get four achievements in one go: Complete the level without taking damage. Complete the level without breaking stealth. Complete level without killing anyone. Spare Baker’s life. This was also the mission that ended both of the gangs that were involved in the brother’s murder that set my character on fire at the start of the game.
The Final Betrayal: Unmasking the True Villain
But the story continues. As I returned to my house, I was attacked by eight hitmen, and this mission was probably my favorite in the whole game. I was caught off guard with no armor, and I had to grab a pistol from my drawer, with only one magazine, while Hitman was well-armed. After I defeated them, I found another informant who was an undercover cop and tasked me with killing his boss in return for information on humans who assaulted me. After killing the whole casino full of tugs, I discovered I was a pawn this whole time. Remember the accomplice from the start? Well, it turns out he was the leader of the third gang and was using me to kill his competition. Pointless to say, but my last mission was to kill all of his tugs and eventually him. This is where the game ends.
Final Thoughts: A Dated but Detailed Experience
In conclusion, it is a dated game in terms of graphics, but it still offers so much. The level of detail in the game is excellent, and the story, even though not narrated, is still well put together. The stealth is where the game shines, and the attention to detail is enormous. It needs some polish, but Intravenous 2 fixed these minor issues. Intravenous Two was launched just a few days ago, and I am also playing it! Stay posted for the Review on our page; it is coming soon!
Where to Buy Intravenous?
- Steam (PC): Available for $19.99. You can purchase it directly from Steam.
- GOG (PC): Available for $14.99. Purchase it from GOG.
- Epic Games: Coming soon!
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