If I could sum up my review, that's the phrase: Shaking me right to the core.

Quick disclaimer: this is one of the first 2d games I've played in a long time.

I bought the game during the fundraiser to support Ukraine without expecting much. Still, thought to play it to distract from current events.

And yet this game just simply somewhat amplified my narrow understanding of what is happening in the world.

During my gameplay, I tried to avoid "internet tips" as much as possible. Tried to think how would I survive. Jeez, after the first ~10 days I understood how miserable I was. It gave some fraction of understanding of what it would be in war. Constant hunger, lack of parts, materials, not even talking about weapons. Playing this game for the first time by thinking about some moral codex is nearly impossible I would dare to say. Stealing, upgrading workbenches making guns to defend my shelter what worked for me.

This is one of those games where you want to sit peacefully by yourself and dig in the story, read all the notes when you go scavenging, follow your characters' emotions and stop for a moment how would you feel in that kind of situation. Even when my characters survived the war I had so many mixed feelings while reading all the decisions I made, what I could do different during the next gameplay, but then again there is a thought that in real world you would not be able just simply "restart" or start from scratch with the current knowledge base.