On one occasion, members of my group spent 15 minutes handing out resources and walling off access points before a particularly difficult encounter, only to end up dying almost instantly. There are twisted and jagged enemies that can take out your party in nanoseconds you will have to avoid them in total darkness. There are sequences in GTFO where your quartet will have to crawl through the dirt in total silence, so as not to alert the sleeping goliats as you pass. There is no scenario in which it is a simple shooting gallery (victory is rarely achieved by emptying the magazines blindly against the hordes), but is reminiscent of the logistics of a tough World of Warcraft dungeon. But unlike his clear inspirations (Left 4 Dead, Payday, and the like) GTFO demands an intense and uncompromising degree of cooperation. The objectives vary at each level, but most of the time your team will have to unearth some kind of abandoned artifact and return to the safety of the group in one piece. It’s one of the most frustrating tests I’ve endured in a co-op video game, but the more GTFO breaks my heart, the more I have developed a dangerous taste for its unyielding cruelty. I have seen various groups disintegrate on the fourth or fifth attempt, as it was evident that our coordination was not up to scratch.

I’ve seen my teammates crumble with 2% to go to the final surge, which has been too much for our dwindling ammo. An absolute barrage of hideous aberrations besiege your defenses as GTFO proves just how wicked it can be. The circle drifts lazily down the damp corridors and stairs, and the group of four huddle around its edges, aiming their sights, shooting at everything that moves. An orange circle appears on the ground, and everyone has to stand on it at the same time to fill a bar at the top of the screen.

At the end of C1, one of the many brutal missions currently available in GTFO, your expedition team will be trapped at the bottom of a long-forgotten laboratory.

Gtfo cosmetics