Dissatisfied with the current offering of multiplayer arena shooters, brothers Leonard and Sirius Lemaitre did what any reasonable gamers might do and created their perfect game: Straftat, a breathless 1v1 shooter. Combining the unsettling and liminal world of their previous game, Babbdi, the distilled white-knuckle action of frag-fest greats and a little sprinkling of breakcore, it is quite unlike anything else.
I was seriously taken by the Straftat demo during its debut during October's Steam Next Fest and dumped a considerable number of hours into it. Upon release, despite the core game being free, I bought the accompanying $5 DLC and haven't regretted it for a moment.
A round can be over in seconds—perfect for those of us living busy lives. As you learn the maps and weapon placements, you enter a high-functioning zen-like state where the surreal brutalist maps turn into a blur of speed, fragging and whatever inhuman noises you make as you're chased around the map by someone with a big sword.
In a world of grindy, endless live-service games, Straftat is a breath of fresh air—and a huge dose of adrenaline that gets your heart pumping. It's so quick that I sometimes sneak a cheeky round or two between articles to get the old grey matter synapses juiced up. After, typing away is a breeze.
During one match, I was unknowingly pitted against Leonard. After thoroughly trouncing him, he conceded that I "beat him at his own game". Surprised to have played against one of the developers, we got talking and Lemaitre delved into Straftat's fraternal origins, which—as someone with fond memories of piecing together maps in Hammer SDK and playing Unreal Tournament 2004 with my older brother—struck a deep chord with me.
"My brother and I wanted to shoot at each other," Lematire says. Fair enough. But it goes well beyond that: "We are also really fond of designing maps and weapons."
Much of Straftat's charm stems from its dizzying selection of arenas and things to kill each other with, all of which exude creativity. The maps can feel otherworldly and dreamlike, with the UI and many of the weapons appearing strangely organic. The sources of inspiration are as wide and varied as the game itself.
"The Mangas, Blame! and Aposimz have had a huge impact on my work," Leonard tells me. "Other than that, Gérard Trignac, [Giovanni Battista] Piranesi, Fumito Ueda games [Ico, Shadow of the Colossus], and a lot of neoclassical and brutalist buildings."
Some maps are more off-the-wall, with a couple taking place in what is obviously supposed to be Twin Peaks' Black Lodge. The thread that weaves through it all is the joy the Lemiatre brothers felt creating Straftat, something immediately obvious from the moment you launch the game. Lemaitre concedes as much, telling me "It's a childhood dream. It's fun to make and fun to play."
It's a game that undeniably reflects its creators' esoteric interests. As Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt puts it, "A game for everyone is a game for no one."
It all comes together to create something original, yet familiar to those who have played Quake and Unreal Tournament. Straftat is definitely its own thing though, so I was curious to learn what was missing from the classics that led them to make it in the first place. Lemaitre puts it pretty succinctly: "The game mode, the pacing, the map design, the ease of use."
The process of starting a game of Straftat is delightfully simple. You can curate your own map playlists, but you can just join a lobby, ready up and find yourself playing any number of wildly inventive maps. PC Gamer's Jake Tucker dubbed Straftat "Mario Party for murders" in his Hit Reload newsletter, and I'm going to double down on this too. But for a more PC-specific comparison, the map selection is that of a game that has had a rich modding community for years.
All of the best Unreal Tournament games have been delisted, and good luck trying to have fun in a game whose core player base has been honing their skills for the better part of three decades. But those games' heydays feel replicated in Straftat. It's not just the laser-focused twitchy movement and shooting that harkens back to games of yore—it's the community too. I couldn't tell you the last time I added a friend on Steam, but since playing Straftat, I've added a good handful. Most of those you go up against are lovely folks and with the game being quite niche, all are quite like-minded.
Curiously, there's no ping indicator in the server browser, so it's not always a guarantee that you'll be up against someone local to you. Though this can cause friction, it made me keen to add players with reliable connections and who posed a good challenge for rematches. Naturally, you get talking to them as was the case with Leonard Lemaitre.
But as I collect new pals, I can't help but think of the epic matches that could be had if Straftat extended beyond its 1v1 scope. Lemaitre feels the same way, but it largely depends on its success. "If the game does well, that's a top feature we'd like to implement," he says.
The 100+ maps included at launch have been designed with a 1v1 focus, though, and while much of it could be adapted, repeating the same trick could be beyond Straftat's scope as Lemaitre admits that "It would be a tremendous amount of work for my brother so there's a high chance we'll keep it 1v1 only."
It's still early days for Straftat, but I've already unlocked every hat, skin and map on top of those found in the DLC. Though it's endlessly replayable, I'm desperate for more. Again, if Straftat proves to be a success, Lemaitre is keen, but is realistic and says "If the game does well, we'll definitely keep releasing free updates and DLCs." But he and Sirius "have many more ideas for new features, maps and weapons."
But as we have seen time and time again, multiplayer games will only last as long as their player base does. Though even without an internet connection and human opponents, you can hop into a game of Unreal Tournament or Quake owing to their legendary bots. Unfortunately—and perhaps understandably—Straftat won't be getting any. When asked, Lemaitre gave me a resounding "No."
Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but I had to ask. It's been a long time since I was so quickly smitten by a new game. Between the Twin Peaks references, inspired design and the creativity on show, Straftat is simply a game that I want to play for a long time yet. One that feels so much that it was made for me, that Lemaitre and Sirius could somehow be my long-lost brothers.
