Recent reviews by Goopus

10/10 anus clenching simulator

Played during the free weekend and got about 80% through the main story.

Positives:
My favorite movement/ speed game
Game feel
Atmosphere
Combat & movement feels amazing
Music
Level design is great and varied
Very challenging, especially at first

Negatives:
Price point a little high, 6-12 hours depending on how you play
Learning curve could turn you off (most negative reviews mention this)
Weird puzzle sections that I didn't love
Lots of resetting, some trial and error.

This game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rad, I don't know how to explain it but the movement feels amazing once you get comfortable with it. You don't have stats that improve (although you do get new abilities) rather you master the mechanics over time, and the learning curve can be steap. However it feels amazing to be zipping around a room killing enemies while remembering getting killed over and over again by a single mob hours before.

On that note, this game is difficult, uncompromisingly so, especially the boss fights and a choice few of the platforming challenges(took like 30 tries on the core with the lazers). If you don't like constantly resetting, you will not like this game. It takes time to master the movement and it's often so fast that getting through some of the rooms relies on memorization. Some of the rooms feel like I would never have been able to clear them on the first try. But again, it feels amazing to struggle with a room, and then finally execute it perfectly. If you enjoy games where the primary advancement is achieving mastery of mechanics like I do, you'll love this. I even enjoy the more basic platforming, lovely *game feel*.


Story is cool but imo secondary to gameplay, something about a cyber punk dystopian future, an evil regime and resistance fighters.
Atmosphere and level design is great, it feels like flying around a delapated mega city and it has some sick music that fits perfectly with the tone.

My only complaint is the length vs price point. I finished most of the main campaign in about 8 hours. But that's only because I reset over and over trying to get many of the rooms perfect. In reality, if you rush through and master the boss rooms, you could probably finish in closer to 3 hours. There is a hardcore mode I haven't tried and some time trials but overall the game is $30 for 10-12 hours optimistically, maybe closer to 6-8 if you don't do extra stuff. I don't mind this, I would rather have 8 hours of tightly crafted content than 50 hours of fetch quests, repetive combat and collectable hunting. Even so, the game feels a bit short for $30. I remember the free weekend ending, being so excited to buy the game to finish and thinking, "Wow, $30 really?". In hindsight, had I purchased for $30 I wouldn't feel ripped off, just mildly disappointed. If you play through twice, do all bonus content and achievement hunt, I could see someone getting 20+ hours. I think the right person could definitely find enjoyment in doing everything this game has to offer.

I'm about 6 hours in, will update review when I finish.

TLDR: What the game is not, hardcore survival sim where every bullet and resource matters; what it is, a wonderfully atmospheric, story focused RPG with an emphasis on choices and light survival & base management elements.
If you are looking for a hardcore survival game with lots of engaging gameplay, difficult survival decisions and tight combat, this game is not for you, maybe wait for a sale. If you're looking for a creative, well told story with lots of atmosphere, interesting (and impactful) decisions, beautiful environments, sci-fi elements and compelling characters; all complemented with lite combat & management elements then this game will be right up your alley.

Firstly the basic premise. You're a scientist traveling to post disaster Chernobyl in search of your wife. The search centers around a power plant, the point of the game is gathering resources, information and people to execute a heist on the plant and presumably retrieve your wife. The map is split into zones and gameplay split into days. Each day you deploy yourself (and your crew) to gather supplies from the zones. Important to note this is not an open world game like STALKER. Although it definitely does reward exploration, I've already had a few moments where I stumbled into something interesting off the beaten path. I think the system works well for this game, it contributes to the feeling of haveing limited time and resources even if the actual gameplay doesn't always deliver on this, it also means every area is wonderfully detailed, another big plus of this game.

On any given day you'll spawn into an area, search for resources, fight humans & radiation monsters and maybe complete a side quest that will further the story. Side quests are boring, even the main story one, although occasionally they'll take you to an especially interesting area. They are always (so far) 'move to this location & interact with this item' often with an interesting choice toward the end. I like the way these are handled, they mostly feel difficult, like each option is viable but will end with someone being unhappy. The design of the monsters is great and especially in the early game, there are some genuinely scary moments with them. The problem for me, comes during combat, maybe the game will ramp up but so far the combat is very easy. The game heavily implies that resources are limited, you'll be creeping through the wasteland avoiding combat, scavenging and trying to get out alive. I played the first few missions like this before realizing it's much easier and faster to just run through everything. Very quickly I didn't feel threatened by anything. Human enemies are simple, die quickly and ammo is plentiful. This for me ruins some of the atmosphere of the game, especially because the combat is only serviceable, nothing incredibly deep or difficult. To it's credit, I'm not all the way through and maybe something will change, I'm also doing my first play through on normal, maybe hard is the way to go.

The other key gameplay element is basebuilding which seems at first like a series of difficult choices but doesn't quite deliver. You have to manage air quality, comfort level and radiation all while building machines to upgrade your equipment. For example, you can build a bench to craft weapons, but now your base comfort goes down so you have to build a TV to keep your crew happy, or a generator to power your machines, but it spews pollution which needs to be nullified by an air scrubber. You'd think this would lead to interesting decisions about what to build when, but resources are so plentiful even by day 5 it feels like walking through the motions. Like, "Okay, built a new machine, better build an air quality thing and a generator." Plop them all down and you're done. I didn't find myself considering my decisions, it was too easy to keep the various levels (comfort, power, etc) up. Again, maybe the game has to be experienced on hard.

This is my biggest problem with the game, I'm someone who loves a gamey game, and this is not really that game. It also has a sanity mechanic, health, radiation, stealth, skill points and more but none of it feels deep. It feels tacked on and like I'm just keeping bars full instead of managing survival.

Let's talk about the good, which in my opinion is the rest of the game. Voice acting stands out to me. The game defaults to Russian language with English subs and I think that's the way to play it. I tried with the English voice and found it to be a step down from Russian. You'll meet a variety of characters that are interesting with their own back stories & motivations that often clash with one another. You'll be presented with choices that will upset one crew member but please another. You'll have to manage their loyalty to you too, leading to difficult decisions.

I love the way the story is presented so far, and the game has some truly haunting visuals and compelling characters that are keeping me excited to see what happens next. There are moments of well executed horror as well. So far there have been quite a few 'dream sequence' type scenes that are all well done. Oh and I forgot, the game also veers quickly into some wacky sci-fi stuff like worm holes, alternative dimensions etc. Which sounds campy but works well in this setting and I find believable.

I like the main character and am intrigued by his mission to find his wife, so far it's heavily implied that he's not just going to find her. Is she a ghost, a radiation hallucination, was she ever alive at all?

Over all, despite it's issues, I would generally recommend this game, despite being let down by the gameplay, I'm finding the other elements interesting enough to keep me playing.

TLDR: I'm 3 hours in so far. Definitely worth full price, a steal at $10. Feels and sounds amazing. It has some of those same 'flow' moments I remember from DOOM where you're intensely focused, the music hits just right and the feeling is nearly orgasmic. Cool atmosphere, interesting variety of enemies that require different approaches and some of the tightest combat I've played. Also, if the first hour feels terrible, give it a chance, the combat takes some getting used to.

Before buying this I saw a quote saying it was like DOOM meets Might and Magic. I can say now, that is a somewhat appropriate comparison. I'd say it's closer to DOOM with swords and kicking, and I mean that as a compliment. This game really captures the fast frenetic pace of classic FPS's and to my surprise, the first person sword play feels great. Combat feels weighty yet fast, aided by really solid sound design and animations. I've only gotten a small taste of the sound track so far, but I've been very impressed with what I've heard. It's not afraid to have quiet moments with subtle ambiance and then explode into something brain melting.

Fairly early on, you get 4 weapons and each feels distinct and useful in different scenarios. They all affect movement speed differently, you can parry with some and block with others, and enemy variety mean's you'll be quick swapping between them often, which feels great.

There's a progression system that feels tacked on, but doesn't detract. You could look at it as a way of slowly introducing new tools.

As for story, I have no idea. There are inscriptions to find and an opening cut scene...which I skipped, not because it was bad, but because I wanted to get into the game that badly. You'll have to check a different review for notes on story.

Minor complaints:

These don't detract from the game, but there are a few mechanics thrown in that feel like they don't belong and were added to invite comparison. For example, it has the same 'pick up lost souls' mechanic from Dark Souls, I found myself quickly ignoring them because there are no items to buy and levels seem to come quickly and effortlessly anyway. Some of the borrowed mechanics are great, for example the 'rally' system from bloodborne where you restore lost health by dealing damage, it works great and is a great addition. But at the same time it has a master system, where you master a weapon once you've used it enough, but the reward is a 5% damage increase...completely insignificant. Similarly the upgrade system is shallow and feels like a weird addition. It doesn't add anything and the level ups are incremental increases to speed, health and damage, which are also not noticable. I find myself leveling as quickly as possible at health fountains to get back into the game. It doesn't feel like you're building a character, for example there isn't room to build a speedy glass cannon as opposed to a tank because there are no other RPG elements.
My biggest wish for the future of this game is that is isn't afraid to take risks and be it's self, because it does frantic first person melee combat so well already.

I would say this game has a lot of potential to be a great game. However I've noticed there are still a lot of problems with the A.I and some of the interactions with the environment. Stuff like it will tell me I’m hungry and then not let me eat my food. The other problem is I was not able to save my game, I slept at my house but it seems like my game did not save. Like I said, there’s a lot of potential.