Dissolution is a sci-fi/horror first-person shooter with RPG elements. It is being developed by Garage Studios and is currently available as a pre-alpha demo. Dissolution features blockchain-backed collectible items and an in-game cryptocurrency called OMEN.
This article will explore what is known so far about Dissolution. We’ll go over the storyline, factions and alignment, weapon-types, armor, mining, collectibles, and other features of dissolution.
We’ll also tell you what gameplay is like in the current demo and how you might be able to get a copy.
Dissolution Story
Dissolution takes place in a dystopian future. Human beings created Artificial Intelligence. But something went wrong. The A.I. came to view human beings as a threat to the environment, and it decided to exterminate them.
A war broke out between humans and A.I. In an attempt to avoid extinction, humans fired nuclear weapons at the A.I. forces. The Earth was turned into a wasteland, and the remaining humans had to flee to other planets.
Thanks to the nuclear attack, the majority of the A.I. forces were wiped out. The remaining A.I. were forced to the outer fringes of the solar system, and humanity attempted to rebuild. But humans must now deal with the harsh environment of space, along with the still present threat of the remaining A.I. forces.
Dissolution gameplay
The developer of Dissolution describes it as a first-person shooter with RPG elements. Here are the details of what Dissolution gameplay will be like in the public release.
Factions and alignment
The player character will be forced to make decisions throughout the game as to which side he will support. Based on his decisions, he will end up in one of five factions:
Military or pro-government
Merchant
Independent or neutral
Opportunist
AI Sympathizer
Weapons
Player characters will be able to accumulate three different styles of weapons: ballistic, kinetic-energy, and direct-energy. Each of these styles of weapons will play differently, allowing players to choose a play-style they like the best.
Armor-types
Armor will come in three different varieties:
Passive protection – Reduces the damage from explosive, ballistic, and laser damage-types by a percentage of the total.
Active protection – Allows the user to activate a forcefield. This forcefield eliminates damage from projectiles and lasers. However, it also consumes energy. When the energy runs out, the forcefield powers down, leaving the user unprotected.
Vacuum proofing – Vacuum proofed armor protects its user from the vacuum of space. It contains its own short-term air supply so that its wearer can survive a trip from one ship to another. If a character goes into space without vacuum-proofed armor, he will die very quickly.
Mining
Certain areas of space will be designated as “resource rich.” In these areas, players will be able to mine the in-game currency, which is called OMEN. OMEN is a blockchain-backed cryptocurrency that can be freely traded on exchanges.
Digital collectibles
Dissolution will contain digital collectibles that are ERC-721 tokens. These items will record information over time and change based on character progression.
For example, weapons will record how many enemies are killed by them and will evolve over time as more kills are recorded. Similarly, character actions will be recorded on the blockchain, and characters will grow more powerful as they accomplish actions within the game.
Dissolution demo
We downloaded a copy of the demo and tried it out. We took a look at the controls, options, and actual gameplay. This is what we found out.
Graphics and sound
The graphics and sound in Dissolution are what we would expect from a top-notch first-person shooter. The company has spared no expense to produce a realistic space-horror environment.
In our first gameplay test, our character boarded a spaceship filled with zombies. Eerie atmospheric sounds could be heard throughout the encounter.
When we boarded, we heard a fellow soldier remark “The crew has been radio silent for months, kill anything that moves.” And when the zombies finally did some damage, we heard our character remark “Ugh, I need a medic!”
Little touches like this definitely made the gameworld feel more real.
We would expect this kind of quality from a major studio like Rockstar, EA, or Activision. But it was a bit of a surprise to see it in a blockchain game from a small studio.
Options
The Dissolution demo provides a number of options to configure the game. Field of view can be increased or decreased, as can HUD opacity, mouse sensitivity and motion blur. Anti-aliasing, shadow quality, texture quality, and other graphical elements can also be altered.
These options should allow players who don’t have the most advanced gaming PCs to adjust the game so that it will run smoothly. And it should allow players to adjust the controls to suit their own playstyle.
Controls
By default, the character can be moved using the W, S, D, and A keys. Left-clicking fires the gun. The R key reloads, and F interacts with video screens and other environmental objects.
All of these controls can be altered using the controls option screen, and the player can keybind actions to whichever keys he wants.
Weapons and armor
Included in the demo is an Armory menu. In the future, players will be able to use this to outfit their characters with gear.
For now, it provides an extensive list of weapons and armor that will be available in the game. Unfortunately, nothing currently happens when a player tries to equip this gear.
Lobby (server) options
Hitting the play button from the main menu brings up a list of regions. Once the player has told the game which region he is in (US East Coast, US West Coast, Germany, etc.), the game searches for a “lobby” or server for him to play on.
In our test, we did not find any lobbies created by other players. But we found it to be extremely simple to create one ourselves.
The lobby-creator can set the number of players allowed in the game, which starting map will be used, how many zombies per player, and other aspects of the game.
In addition to the zombie mode we tried out first, there are also options for assault and raid modes.
In assault mode, the player tries to capture territory while fighting against AI drones. The drones shoot back, so we found this game mode to be much more difficult than the zombie one.
We were unable to test out raid mode. So we do not yet know what it is.
How to play the Dissolution demo
The Dissolution demo is technically not a public release, so there is currently no link we can give you that will allow you to download the game. However, we found that it is fairly simple for just about anyone who really wants one to get a copy.
Below, we will describe the steps that worked for us. Keep in mind though that this process may not work in the future, especially if too many people try to get a copy.
- Sign up for the official Dissolution Discord server
2. Click on the #steam-keys channel
3. Post a polite message asking for a Steam Key. State that you are interested in the game and want to check it out. With any luck, you’ll receive a Steam Key through a private message within 10-20 minutes
4. Load up the Steam client. If you don’t have Steam yet, you can sign up for it here and download the software here
5. At the top of the main menu of the Steam client, click games → activate a product on Steam
6. Click next and I agree
7. In the Product Code field, enter the code you got from the Discord server admins
8. Click next. You should now see Dissolution as a playable game within your Steam library
Who is Garage Studios?
If you’re interested in acquiring Dissolution collectibles or alpha-testing the game, you may want to know more about the team behind the project. So who is Garage Studios?
The team is headed by Houston Song, an early Ethereum investor and League of Legends player.
The Lead Game Developer for the project is Adam McDonald, who has worked for Disney, Pixar, and Nickelodeon in the past. McDonald is also the creator of a solo video game project on Steam.
The team also includes Marketer Ben Jungwirth, Programmer and Ethereum development expert Timothy Clancy, Lead Artist Alex Senechal, 3D Artist Samuel McCarthy, and Web Developer Henry La.
Conclusion
It’s too early to tell if Dissolution will be a fun game on release. But the early demo seems promising.
We’ll keep an eye on this game as it is developed. And when a more complete version is released, we’ll let you know what we think of it.
In the meantime, this is what we know so far.
If after reading this, you find that you are interested in playing Dissolution, we recommend checking out the demo and deciding for yourself whether you want to get involved further.
And if you would like to read more reviews of the latest blockchain games, check back to this site on a regular basis. We play new titles every week and report on them. Our current list of reviews can be found here.
