SPRAWL

SPRAWL was provided by Rogue Games for review. Thank you!

When I first saw SPRAWL, I fell in love with the emphasis on action and slow-motion abilities. As I saw more and more, I saw a lot of Quake inspiration along with the cyberpunk setting, which is an environment I have always loved. Now, with it in my hands, I can say that I love all of these elements, as well as what the game prioritizes over other boomer shooters.

While SPRAWL is a fast-paced shooter like others in the genre, there is a greater emphasis on aiming for weak spots and using a combination of slow-mo and wall jumping. Initially, I felt it was a bit awkward to control, but as soon as I got into it, I realized how exhilarating the game can be. There's something special about the way you can combine each of these elements to create scenarios that make your head turn from how insane a shot you landed. 2 wall jumps and a slow-mo shotgun blast to an enemy's face while falling on top of them? Yeah, it's pretty nuts.

All of this takes place in a decent-looking cyberpunk world. I wouldn't call it the most beautiful, but it does have those moments that will make you stop and look around like when going through a corridor filled with reflections around you or jumping across neon-lit signs. There is also an interesting story hidden within here. You are a special ops soldier who has been betrayed by her organization, so now you must survive the onslaught of enemy troopers coming after you. The highlight of SPRAWL is definitely its gameplay, though I do love the scannable QR codes scattered around that can give you messages on your phone.

Overall, SPRAWL is an enticing, thrilling experience that shines in moments of pure chaos. When there are 12 foes scattered around, you are constantly wall-running, jumping, going slow-mo, and swapping weapons to avoid being hit and it can feel incredible when executed just right. There aren't many feelings greater than watching a head explode from a shotgun blast, it was so satisfying. And those satisfying moments can continue on the Steam Deck.

SPRAWL - Steam Deck Performance

Boomer shooters like this are a ton of fun to play on the Steam Deck, and SPRAWL is no exception, though it does have a couple of issues that I want to address. First, the game doesn't feel nearly as good unless it's playing at 60 FPS. At anything lower, it feels like there is a bit more stuttering that is quite noticeable. So, there are some compromises that I made to ensure that 60 FPS is hit as much as possible. One of the big changes to make this happen is lowering the resolution, which doesn't feel like it harms the visual experience much, but it does drastically improve battery and stability:

Second, playing on the gamepad can feel a bit off at times. While it's usual for first-person shooters to feel a bit off with a controller, this one requires more precise shots to make an impact on enemies. When you go into slow-mo, it will highlight weak spots, which requires more precise aiming. Doing this with a controller doesn't feel great. It isn't unplayable by any means, but it's noticeable.

Overall, the game is still playable and can keep 60 FPS without a huge battery drain with some modified settings, though it does still drop here and there. With the lower resolution, a TDP limit of 10, and high visual quality settings, we can keep the drain around 10W for 60 FPS gameplay, though this is raised to around 14W - 17W in bigger areas and ones with lots of people.

SPRAWL does have 16:10 resolution support, as well as cloud save and full controller support. There is also gyro support, which works very well when you set it to "As Joystick" in the controller configuration.

Conclusion

SPRAWL is a fantastic boomer-shooter that incorporates some awesome mechanics to make you feel like a complete badass. With an emphasis on using your environment and slow-motion abilities to set up some incredible shots, you will run around this cyberpunk-esque world feeling like you're on top of the world. Even though it needs a resolution downgrade, the game still looks fantastic and runs wonderfully on the Steam Deck, only getting pushed when in open areas. Regardless, this is still great to play on the Deck and I had a blast.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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