Apocryph: an old-school shooter

Introduction

Apocryph: an old-school shooter names its influences directly on its store page: Hexen, Heretic, Painkiller, and Strife. Developed and published by Bigzur Games, it launched on Steam as a full 1.0 release on 27 April 2018 at NZ$18.49. Over eight years later, its 128 English-language reviews sit at 45% positive, Mixed. This review read all 70 negative reviews in that sample alongside a range of the positive side.

A specific, verified broken promise

The most damning single piece of evidence in this sample isn't a subjective complaint — it's a direct quote. One highly-detailed negative review preserves a reply the reviewer says came from the developer: "Thank you for your review and for good words about our game! We'll add more maps in May. And we'll not stop developing and add free updates. Total gameplay time will be around 10 hours, depending on your skills. All of that is included in current price. Kind Regards, Bigzur Games." This review independently checked that quote against Bigzur Games' own public update history rather than taking it at face value, and found direct corroboration: a news post titled "May update is included in the price!" dated 27 April 2018 — the game's own launch day. The promise is real.

What followed the promise is where the story turns. The developer's public record shows four bug-fix patches through 29 June 2018, two months after launch — and then silence. No further update, patch, or content post has been recorded in more than eight years since. Multiple independent reviewers confirm what that silence actually cost buyers: "when launched, we were promised we would have about 30 levels in total, there are only 3 levels total," reads one 215-hour review. Another, separately: "it was originally planned to have 30 levels and it has much closer to 9 or so" — even allowing for some disagreement on the exact final count, every account agrees the delivered game is a small fraction of what was promised, completable by most reviewers in one to three hours rather than the promised ten.

What's actually here

Setting the broken promise aside, reviewers on both sides describe a game with real, if limited, craft. The gore and dismemberment system draws specific, repeated praise — "well made enemy death animations, dismemberment, weapons impact feel on hits," reads one detailed review, with another favourably comparing it to Doom Eternal's damage system. The opening level, The Monastery, is singled out across multiple reviews as noticeably more polished and complete than what follows — one detailed review notes later levels reuse "entire assets from The Monastery," a sign of how thin the remaining content really is. Real, repeated technical complaints follow: a resolution cap that won't exceed 1080p regardless of monitor, stuttering severe enough to interrupt combat, AI that gets stuck on level geometry or walks directly into walls, and at least one specific progression-blocking bug around a bridge-lowering switch that several reviewers independently report.

Steam's own achievement data is consistent with a short, front-loaded experience: 59.1% of players clear the easiest early goal, but that drops to under 5% for the hardest — a curve that fits a game whose promised midgame and endgame content, by every reviewer account, was never delivered.

Verdict

Apocryph wears its Hexen and Heretic influences with real, specific craft in places — its gore system and opening level draw genuine praise even from critical reviewers. But this review's full read of its negative-review sample turns up something more serious than typical indie roughness: a direct, verifiable developer promise of more content and roughly ten hours of playtime, confirmed against the developer's own public record, followed by silence lasting more than eight years and a game that multiple independent reviewers say delivers roughly a tenth of what was described at launch. A love letter to its inspirations, sold as a finished product it never became.