Intravenous Review

Do you even know how fucked you are?!

After writing way more than I intended about Fallout in my last post, I want to write about a simpler and much less known game today. The game in question is a 2D top-down stealth game called Intravenous, which was released in 2021. It was developed by Explosive Squat Games, a Lithuanian indie studio.

At first glance, it’s easy to categorize Intravenous as a Hotline Miami clone. This was also what drew my attention to the game, as Hotline Miami is one of my all-time favorites. However, Intravenous plays very differently from Hotline Miami, as it’s primarily focused on stealth. While we’re (potentially) well-armed in Intravenous, we’re also dramatically outnumbered. As a result, stealth is often the smarter way to finish a level. But before I describe the gameplay in more detail, let’s first briefly talk about the setting.

Setting and Story

Intravenous takes place in a rather generic contemporary urban setting. At the beginning of the game, our character Steve spends an evening drinking i…