SULFUR: a solo extraction shooter that is mostly a cooking game with guns

SULFUR's best review fits in one sentence, and it is more accurate than the official store page.

"Don't listen to anyone that tells you this is an extraction shooter. This is actually an extraction cooking game with gun elements."

I am not going to explain the joke yet. Let us start with what matters.

What SULFUR understood that the others did not

Extraction shooters have a problem, and it is called other players.

The genre's premise is simple: you enter a zone, you gather loot, and you have to get out alive. The tension comes from being able to lose everything in the final seconds. Except that in most of these games, what kills you is not the game, it is a far better equipped stranger shooting you from a distance, and you have learned nothing.

One player sums up the discovery in a line: so singleplayer extraction shooters with an enjoyable gameplay loop do exist.

SULFUR removes the other players and keeps everything else. You plan ahead, you outsmart enemies, you progress through a world of dark creatures and cunning evil. Loss remains possible, but it comes from your own decisions.

That is a proposition a lot of people were waiting for without knowing it, and it partly explains the 6,550 reviews.

The gear, and the detail that seals it

Here is the review that made me understand the game's care, and it is about boots.

"The looting and gear system in this game is immaculate, I've never played another game that lets you choose your 2 different boots separately."

Two different boots. One on each foot.

It is daft, it is wonderful, and it says everything about a design philosophy: instead of a "footwear" slot with one item in it, the game models each foot separately. Which means you can combine a fast boot with a durable one, or simply wear whatever you found because that is all there was.

The rest follows the same logic: you create unique builds by combining weapons, gear, tools and enchantments. You modify and enchant your arsenal. Whether you are a gun-blazing risk-taker or a careful strategist, the game follows.

And the cooking, then

Since that review sits among the most helpful, it needs addressing.

SULFUR has a food preparation system developed enough that part of its community has made it their identity. You do not simply consume healing items found on the floor: you cook, and what you prepare matters.

In a genre where food is usually an icon that restores health, pushing the system far enough that players joke about calling it a cooking game is the sign of a studio that put depth where nobody expected any.

The complaints, and one is serious

83 per cent positive out of 6,550 reviews. Very good, but not unanimous.

Enemy spawn generation. That is the most specific and most repeated complaint, and one player details it in a way that leaves no room for doubt: nothing, nothing, two enemies, nothing, three enemies, nothing, nothing, thirty-seven enemies plus five elites, two enemies.

He adds that this does not strike him as ideal game flow, which is an elegant understatement.

The same player has since updated his review to note the issue has been worked on, which is to the studio's credit. But it is exactly the kind of thing a 1.0 should have settled, and it is what to verify over the coming weeks.

And the price went up. 29.99 euros for the full version, against a markedly lower early access rate over two years. That is legitimate and it is also a threshold: at thirty euros, SULFUR gets compared with bigger productions.

What the community says about the rest

The positive reports resemble each other closely, and they all cite the same four things: the feel of the weapons, the loot variety, the art direction, and the soundtrack.

One player writes that this is another reason why indie gaming is constantly coming out on top at the moment, with great gunplay, great loot variety, a fantastic art style, sound and music alongside interesting characters.

Another, whom I quote because he is honest about what he is: "this is my application to the Sulfur advertisement program because I've sold 12 copies of this game by talking about it enough."

A game whose players spontaneously turn into sales reps has solved the hardest part.

Who should buy it

If you always wanted to try an extraction shooter without getting shot by a stranger at hour three, this is precisely the way in. And the field is not crowded.

If you like tinkering with a character, the weapons-gear-tools-enchantments combination system is deep, and the two boots are only the visible tip.

And if pacing matters to you more than freedom, wait and see what the 1.0 did to enemy generation. It is the game's only real complaint, and it is structural.

Thirty euros, 6,550 reviews, two years of early access behind it. If you have been hesitating for a long while, now is the moment to look. We have also written a guide to getting started, because the game explains its opening economy rather badly.

Got two mismatched boots? Show them on the InsertCoins Discord, it is everybody's favourite detail.