Sker Ritual (2024)

Leaving aside its connection with its survival horror forebear, Sker Ritual is a very conventional and competent multiplayer zombie shooter. It is at its best with a full team of friends who are prepared for its relentless pace and transparently “gamey” nature. Those looking for a more cerebral experience, or one that satisfies narratively, ought to look elsewhere.

Sker Ritual is a classic horror cooperative shooter (also playable in single player) in which you'll find elements already seen in similar games, from Call of Duty's Zombie mode to Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor. Technical issued highlighted the need for updates to make the gaming experience smoother and more satisfying. We also hope that the developers will get busy releasing new content in the near future because the four maps now available quickly tend towards repetitiveness.

Overall, Sker Ritual was a lot more of what I wanted and way more than I could have expected from it. Is this going to be a Call of Duty: Zombies killer? Maybe not as of now, but it’s clearly a really good step in the right direction, as that series simply doesn’t care about having to improve anymore. Even though it’s completely different from its predecessor, Sker Ritual is a pleasant surprise, a well-polished game, and something I definitely plan to continue returning to often, especially if there are any big content updates in the future.

Sker Ritual responds to the incessant demand from COD Zombies orphans by offering a game that traces almost every part of the mode presented by Treyarch sixteen years ago. If you're a fan of co-operative FPS titles and don't mind a few momentary technical glitches, Sker Ritual is a product not to be missed, all the more so if you spent hours upon hours in Call of Duty's undead-filled maps.

It may not have the visual flair and marvelous shooting of Treyarch’s creations, on top of some annoying connection woes at launch – but since they seemingly abandoned the classic formula, Sker Ritual satisfyingly fills that classic Zombies-shaped hole in our hearts, proposing a fun game, already packed with content and quite cheap. Do we need much more? All in all, it’s a very promising start for Sker Ritual – I’m eager to see patches, balance changes, DLCs or even a sequel tackle the few shortcomings, because, underneath it all, it has all the elements that made us fall in love with the Zombies formula and then some. Bravo!