Short and sweet. It took me about an hour to complete the game for the first time, and I enjoyed every minute. Project Entertainment System has peculiar gameplay mechanics, which most likely will please an FPS admirer. This said, I would not classify PES as a First-Person Shooter game in the classical sense. Rather, I would classify it as an "action puzzle game with FPS elements."

Although PES features a first-person perspective and the main goal of each level is to eliminate every enemy using firearms, there are certain restrictions and rules that introduce predominant puzzle elements into the action. In order to get a weapon, the player has to hit a living enemy up-close with a scythe (it's impossible to get a weapon otherwise). For example, the player cannot pick up a weapon from the ground). After hitting an enemy, the scythe is immediately replaced with either a pistol or a shotgun, depending on the enemy type. The scythe itself deals no damage to enemies and does not interrupt their attacks. This makes it very risky to get a weapon since receiving one hit from an enemy results in the player's death. Taking this risk is unavoidable, but it can be minimized with an understanding of enemy patterns.

PES features various enemy types with distinct behavioral and projectile patterns. Those patterns play the deciding role in deciding whether to approach a particular enemy type up close in the given situation or try to shoot it from afar. This decision has to be made quite frequently since available weapons feature limited ammunition. Ammunition cannot be replenished nor stored: when a gun is empty, it has to be replaced; there is no way to switch back to the scythe and get an extra gun, for instance. Nevertheless, it's not always advisable to replace the held gun only when it's empty: it may be better to replace the gun when the potential risk related to getting a new one is relatively low (for example, with easy-to-approach enemy types, favorable locations, etc), even though there is some ammo left. It might not always be obvious whether it's riskier to change the weapon now or later, though. Sometimes it takes trial and error to make the most optimal decision.

The game is unforgiving, and making a wrong decision means restarting a whole level from the very beginning. Levels are short, but packed with action. In order to complete a level, an optimal route has to be planned. An optimal route is a collection of decisions regarding weapon replacement, projectile dodging, and enemy elimination that minimizes the risk of getting killed and maximizes the chance of getting to the end of a level. Forming an optimal route from those decisions is like building a map out of puzzle pieces. But even after a route is laid, the risk of getting killed is minimized but by no means low.

The action part of PES is fast and precise. Although enemies are predictable, they are not easy to manage. The game frequently positions various types of enemies together, forcing the player to execute a chain of precise movements and actions in order to survive. Planning an optimal route helps, but the player still has to execute it. It takes fast reactions and precise shooting to do so. But even then, there is a chance of making a mistake, which forces you to abandon the previously established plan and quickly come up with a new one. This happens quite frequently.

For instance, my total playtime for the game at the moment of writing is about five hours. It took me an hour to complete the game. The next four hours were spent attempting to complete the game from beginning to end without dying. So, it took me 4 hours with optimal routes established and practiced to complete the game in 6 minutes. Even then, I had to deviate from established plans quite often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_rfR5uFtPQ

All in all, PES has a nice mix of puzzles and action. It is fun to play. Rather than that, the story is only present in text format on the game's Steam Store page, the levels are abstract and theme-based, and the soundtrack is okay. The game's strength is its gameplay; everything else is good enough to complement it, but not more.

Short and sweet. It took me about an hour to complete the game for the first time, and I enjoyed every minute. Project Entertainment System has peculiar gameplay mechanics, which most likely will please an FPS admirer. This said, I would not classify PES as a First-Person Shooter game in the classical sense. Rather, I would classify it as an "action puzzle game with FPS elements." Although PES features a first-person perspective and the main goal of each level is to eliminate every enemy using firearms, there are certain restrictions and rules that introduce predominant puzzle elements into the action. In order to get a weapon, the player has to hit a living enemy up-close with a scythe (it's impossible to get a weapon otherwise). For example, the player cannot pick up a weapon from the ground). After hitting an enemy, the scythe is immediately replaced with either a pistol or a shotgun, depending on the enemy type. The scythe itself deals no damage to enemies and does not interrupt their attacks. This makes it very risky to get a weapon since receiving one hit from an enemy results in the player's death. Taking this risk is unavoidable, but it can be minimized with an understanding of enemy patterns. PES features various enemy types with distinct behavioral and projectile patterns. Those patterns play the deciding role in deciding whether to approach a particular enemy type up close in the given situation or try to shoot it from afar. This decision has to be made quite frequently since available weapons feature limited ammunition. Ammunition cannot be replenished nor stored: when a gun is empty, it has to be replaced; there is no way to switch back to the scythe and get an extra gun, for instance. Nevertheless, it's not always advisable to replace the held gun only when it's empty: it may be better to replace the gun when the potential risk related to getting a new one is relatively low (for example, with easy-to-approach enemy types, favorable locations, etc), even though there is some ammo left. It might not always be obvious whether it's riskier to change the weapon now or later, though. Sometimes it takes trial and error to make the most optimal decision. The game is unforgiving, and making a wrong decision means restarting a whole level from the very beginning. Levels are short, but packed with action. In order to complete a level, an optimal route has to be planned. An optimal route is a collection of decisions regarding weapon replacement, projectile dodging, and enemy elimination that minimizes the risk of getting killed and maximizes the chance of getting to the end of a level. Forming an optimal route from those decisions is like building a map out of puzzle pieces. But even after a route is laid, the risk of getting killed is minimized but by no means low. The action part of PES is fast and precise. Although enemies are predictable, they are not easy to manage. The game frequently positions various types of enemies together, forcing the player to execute a chain of precise movements and actions in order to survive. Planning an optimal route helps, but the player still has to execute it. It takes fast reactions and precise shooting to do so. But even then, there is a chance of making a mistake, which forces you to abandon the previously established plan and quickly come up with a new one. This happens quite frequently. For instance, my total playtime for the game at the moment of writing is about five hours. It took me an hour to complete the game. The next four hours were spent attempting to complete the game from beginning to end without dying. So, it took me 4 hours with optimal routes established and practiced to complete the game in 6 minutes. Even then, I had to deviate from established plans quite often. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_rfR5uFtPQ All in all, PES has a nice mix of puzzles and action. It is fun to play. Rather than that, the story is only present in text format on the game's Steam Store page, the levels are abstract and theme-based, and the soundtrack is okay. The game's strength is its gameplay; everything else is good enough to complement it, but not more.