The futuristic sci-fi shooter La Quimera is one of a handful of single-player, story-driven FPS titles set for release in 2025, and it comes as the first game from new studio Reburn. Originally known as 4A Games Ukraine — one of the core developers behind the excellent Metro FPS titles — Reburn started work on La Quimera as the newly rebranded studio's debut title in 2020, with an originally targeted release date of April 25, 2025. But after La Quimera's release date came and went without the title's launch, Reburn provided an update regarding the state of the game that helped clarify some of the reasons for the last-minute delay. After spending time with La Quimera and completing just about everything the game has to offer in its current state, it's safe to say a 25th-hour postponement was the right move, as the title clearly needed some more time in the oven.
At its best, La Quimera feels like a relic of a bygone era. In an age where most first-person shooters are multiplayer-focused experiences that offer live-service replayability and a subscription model, a fully single-player, story-driven experience feels downright refreshing. In a lot of ways, it's heavily reminiscent of the kinds of FPS titles we used to get on the PS2, ahead of the noticeable shift toward online gaming that came courtesy of Xbox Live and Halo 2. Unfortunately for La Quimera, though, its adherence to the genre's past also shines through in its overly simplistic gameplay and mechanics, which aren't done any favors by the game's sporadic technical performance and litany of persistent, and incredibly frustrating, bugs.
A potential saving grace for La Quimera would have been its surprisingly short length, but that's another area in which the title feels underbaked. Reburn has now shifted plans to release La Quimera into Early Access when it does finally arrive — at a date which is, coincidentally, still TBA. But even in Early Access, the amount of content on offer in La Quimera's current state just isn't enough, with the game feeling like it ends just as soon as it began. Throw in a lackluster story that borrows liberally from other, better games in the FPS genre (namely, Crysis), grating voice acting, and sub-par writing, and you have a title that can't be saved by some solid arcade-style shooting.
La Quimera Delayed on The Day It Was Supposed to Release
Former Metro developer Reburn's debut game, La Quimera, sees an unexpected delay on the very day it was set to launch.
La Quimera's Story & Voice Acting Leave a Lot to Be Desired
On paper, La Quimera's story and premise are actually pretty compelling. Set 40 years in the future, La Quimera takes place in the fictional Latin American state of Nuevo Caracas. It's never clearly explained where Nuevo Caracas is supposed to be in terms of geography, but the fact that many of the characters speak Portuguese gives at least some indication that it's a sort of futuristic principality within today's nation of Brazil. Following an event known as "Activation Day", in which rogue AI robots began to decimate humanity, Nuevo Caracas is split between its gleaming metropolitan cities and the downtrodden barrios, along with a wall separating them both from the robot-infested Active Zone.
In this heavily stratified, dystopian vision of the future, the state of Nuevo Caracas has no officially sanctioned military. Instead, peacekeeping is handled entirely by groups of PMCs who each take contracts in a race to become the most in-demand and powerful paramilitary organization. You step into the shoes of a nameless "everyman" protagonist who happens to be the newest recruit for the Palomo PMC, which currently sits at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of power and influence. When a search and rescue mission to retrieve the daughter of Nuevo Caracas' leader, Chairman Mendoza, goes awry, you get inadvertently roped into an experimental program to outfit a willing PMC with neural-linked exoskeletons.
If that sounds eerily familiar to what a potential mix between Far Cry and Crysis, that's because it is. Except, in La Quimera's case, the execution of that initially interesting story premise falls completely flat due to some very bad writing and voice acting that borders on caricature. To make matters worse, the short length of La Quimera's current build means players are left on a cliffhanger right after all the major pieces come into play. The elements were there for La Quimera's story to prop up the game's interactive elements, but instead, it leaves you feeling like you just played through the pilot episode of a show that ends up getting canceled.
Gameplay and Progression in La Quimera Are Both Too Familiar and Paper-Thin
The main silver lining of La Quimera is its simple, yet satisfying, gunplay, with the game ultimately feeling like a 6th-gen shooter with Unreal Engine 5 visuals. Players will select missions in La Quimera from the Palomo PMC headquarters, getting the chance to outfit the protagonist in the Armory before they head out. Weapons come in two varieties — ballistic weapons for human targets, and energy weapons for shielded enemies and robots. Any weapon is effective against any target, but to maximize your efficiency in combat, you'll need to bring one of each into a mission to account for all contingencies.
Along with a fairly standard loadout of pistols, assault rifles, and SMGs, players will have access to grenades and a limited supply of medkits. Health only recharges to a point, and ammo is scarce, so scouring the environment for pick-ups is essential. Once players reach the point in the story where they acquire their Crysis-style exosuit, though, things really begin to open up. Instead of giving players all the available abilities and options up-front a-la Crysis, La Quimera requires players to choose from a selection of abilities for their exosuit. You'll begin with the incredibly useful Scan ability that allows you to see and shoot enemies through walls, and eventually unlock hacking, shields, assault drones, and more.
But to unlock these upgrades, as well as the different armor pieces for your exosuit, you'll need currency. Scattered throughout each level are data disks, hackable laptops, cash drops, and other pick-ups that players who carefully search each level will easily find. All of these contribute to a bank of credits that can be spent on upgrades when visiting the Armory ahead of a mission. Unfortunately, during my playthrough, I encountered a bug in which none of my pick-ups registered due to my bank being "full", resulting in me having to rely solely on the credits that I obtained as a reward for completing missions. To add insult to injury, the game communicates that many of the pick-ups acquired in each level can be "sold" for credits, but there's no discernable in-game vendor in which to do so. So not only is La Quimera's current progression model fairly thin and basic, it also happens to be broken in a way that undercuts the experience.
The same can be said for La Quimera's technical performance and stability, which are unpredictable at best. In terms of its visual fidelity, La Quimera looks fantastic. When the game is running as intended and bugs aren't getting in the way of the experience, La Quimera regularly wows with consistently solid framerates and some impressive art direction that makes the most of Unreal Engine 5. Bugs are to be expected in an Early Access release, but the degree to which they impact the moment-to-moment gameplay in La Quimera's current state is something that's hard to look past. On occasion, La Quimera will just stop allowing you to aim down sights, outright remove important HUD elements, or glitch during the saving and loading process, requiring restarts of a previously completed section.
La Quimera Feels Like a Throwback to a Past Better Left There
As with everything, context in La Quimera is important. Reburn is a studio split between Kyiv, Ukraine, and Malta, and the team has been directly affected by the ongoing conflict in that region. With the right time to smooth out La Quimera's rough edges and remove some of the bugs that absolutely break gameplay or progression, La Quimera could easily be a very solid, if not simplistic, FPS title that calls back to the golden era of single-player, story-driven shooters. On the other hand, the value of a dollar is different for everyone, and the current state of La Quimera makes it hard to recommend spending money on what amounts to a very short slice of gameplay.
For what it's worth, I spent a total of 5.4 hours with La Quimera according to Steam, and that includes playing through all four of the game's missions (the tutorial and three available story missions) twice. In that time, I also was able to unlock roughly 80% of the Steam achievements, meaning it's entirely possible to fully 100% everything La Quimera has to offer in a single session.
At many points, La Quimera feels like playing a PS2-era shooter in an Unreal Engine 5 skin. But the lack of content, combined with a story that feels like an unofficial knock-off or direct-to-video sequel of a better FPS, make the game hard to recommend in its current state. As it stands, La Quimera is the equivalent of video game junk food — it might taste good and provide a bit of momentary satisfaction, but you'll ultimately be left feeling empty and hungry for more.
La Quimera
- Developer(s)
- Reburn
- Publisher(s)
- Reburn
WHERE TO PLAY
Year 2064. The majority of nation states have become extinct. A series of natural and human-caused catastrophes in the 2030s and 2040s triggered the collapse of global systems, led to the fragmentation of human communities. The political entities in this new world are microstates and even amidst the current inter-state and corporate conflicts, typically see no point in maintaining their own armies, having to rely on mercenary
forces — the "golden age" of private military companies, so called PMCs, has arrived.
As PMC operatives, you’ll take on intense high-risk campaign in a dystopian world of
future Latin America across a breathtaking megalopolis and lush jungle combining
highly advanced weaponry and technology battling against rival factions.
EXPLORE TOGETHER
An engaging story-driven atmospheric shooter experience regardless if you play alone
or as a part of the cooperating team. Team up with fellow mercenaries to coordinate
tactics, combine firepower with combat abilities and share resources.
BUILD YOUR PERFECT ARSENAL
Acquiring the right tools is crucial in this unforgiving world. Choose from a selection
of distinct weapons. Customize your exoskeleton with a range of parts. Every weapon,
ability, exoskeleton will allow you to craft the perfect combination for desired play
style and enemy type.
FIGHT THROUGH THE HOSTILE FACTIONS
Face off against factions in intense battles, each with their own specifics – lightly armed charging bandits, stealthy long-range sharpshooters or heavy shielded and armed elite fighters.
BATTLE THE ROBOTIC ENEMIES
With resistance to conventional weapons, and their ability to fly, crawl on ceilings, and
scale walls makes these robotic foes tough, unpredictable and deadly. Some of the more advanced military models require you to discover unique tactics to bring them down
for good.
TAKE ADVANTAGE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
A personal combat AI assistant will guide you with tactical information in danger, and
serve as a guide in the quieter locations.
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Some fairly solid shooting mechanics
- Strong sound design and occasionally excellent-looking visuals
- Too little content in its current state
- Underbaked systems that are hampered by several progression bugs
- Writing and voice acting that do little to prop up an all too familiar sci-fi plot
La Quimera was originally slated for release on PC on April 25, 2025, but has since been delayed indefinitely. The Best War Games was provided with a PC code for this review.