R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program Preview

If you had to have a force to battle hordes of zombies, mutants, and other nasties, then you really need someone who can come back from the dead with a whole lot of firepower. That's where you find yourself in R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program, the debut title from developer WarmCore Studio. I had the chance to try out the game to see if this really was a combo made in heaven.

R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program places you in a world beset by monsters, and it’s up to you to take the fight to them. However, the enemies are numerous, and death is likely, but thankfully, you can come back from the dead. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a plot beyond this aspect, or many characters to actually interact with. It’s a bit disappointing, as people are standing around the hub, but they don’t really do all that much. 

The main focus here is killing the waves of monsters, and it’s something that R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program does very well. The game is clear in its inspiration, namely Vampire Survivors, so if you’ve played that, then you should know what to expect. If you haven’t, then imagine you’re sitting in a closed-off map with constant hordes of enemies. You will need to select a character and then move, shoot, and utilise skills to survive each wave.

As with any popular style of game, the challenge is finding a way to stand out from the rest, and R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program aims to utilise a mix of modern tech with psychic attacks. Like many of these kinds of games, you start with a basic weapon that you can either set to auto-fire or shoot manually. When you kill enemies, you gain experience and eventually level up, which allows you to select from three randomly generated skills, effects, or bonuses. For instance, you may get a gunship that strafes the map, a drone that shoots lasers, or even a buff to your base damage. 

On top of those boosts, you’ll occasionally find new equipment that stays with you when you die or finish a run. The equipment is a nice touch at times, but it can feel somewhat random and lack a significant impact. This makes it a bit hard to really notice when you have it on and the benefits of doing so.

Either way, the aim is to survive the round by slowly using all the buffs and skills that you awarded. I found that R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program is certainly fun, but I have one issue, although it’s more with this style of game as a whole. The issue is that you can simply be unlucky and only get lacklustre skills. When that happens, it becomes easier to restart a round than to try to skill your way through.

There are also bosses, as most stages have a mini-boss and then a main one at the end. They’re usually interesting enough to fight, but it’s a noticeable pace change that might not be for everyone. Thankfully, it’s more than worth it simply because of how cool the opponents look. The character designs for even the basic enemies are great, which also helps you to tell what is happening around you, as it’s easy to tell the enemies apart. The game is also pretty clear when a big attack is coming your way, which makes it much easier to dodge. 

So, the big question is whether R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program is the ideal game to scratch that Vampire Survivors itch. Honestly, it’s a fun game even with the problems of the genre, but it suffers from just missing something at the moment. Whether it’s more plot or just more things happening at the main hub, I just feel there’s an untapped well here that needs to be explored.