As of its initial Early Access release, Fortune’s Run is already one of the most exciting imsim/shooter projects I’ve played in many years. And if the developers can keep up the current level of quality for future content drops, the game may very well grow from the hidden gem it already is into a full-on cult classic. But be aware: Fortune’s Run is a two-person project with many idiosyncrasies that make it feel very special to fans of niche imsim/shooters like me, but may turn many others off. If you love the original System Shock despite its rough edges, and E.Y.E. - Divine Cybermancy precisely because of its eclectic design, Fortune’s Run will scratch that itch for you, and leave you wanting more!

At its core, Fortune’s Run is a first-person shooter with imsim elements. That means you’ll be spending a lot of time navigating believable environments, sneaking up on enemies, stacking boxes to reach air vents to crawl through, and using surgical staplers to fix your broken legs. But the shooter DNA is still strong in Fortune’s Run, so don’t expect to be able to avoid combat entirely. This becomes very noticeable with the boss fights in the Early Access build, only one of which is completely avoidable, as far as I can tell. And while the boss arenas do sometimes feature environmental hazards you can use against your enemy, there simply aren’t many specific ways to take those bosses down if, for example, you want to focus entirely on the stealth aspect of the game. This is perhaps the biggest potential caveat I currently see in the game: While the actual levels give you tons of different options to play as you want, the boss fights may turn into roadblocks for players who just aren’t any good at shooters.

Though if you are at least decent at playing shooters, you’ll really appreciate all the different player expression tools Fortune’s Run offers. Notably, the game has a very robust melee system, with punches, (jump) kicks and slides as well as invincibility frames, guard breaks and stagger attacks. Fortune’s Run takes your basic fists and turns them from a simple fallback option into a sophisticated and genuinely useful choice of weapon. We also get the ability to block ranged attacks with well-timed melee weapon attacks – and we definitely need that edge, as firefights in Fortune’s Run are always quick and extremely deadly! Where the dynamics in many other shooters are geared more towards a constant flow of action, Fortune’s Run oscillates between slow, methodical exploration and lightning-fast hyper-violence, almost feeling like a first-person Hotline Miami at times. Luckily, Fortune’s Run allows you to save whenever and wherever you want – so unlike Hotline Miami, you don’t need to replay the entire level when you’re inevitably killed by some shotgun-toting goon who snuck behind your back.

The environments also make Fortune’s Run stand out among its peers, as it feels like all of the levels in the current Early Access build were created as believable environments first, and video game levels second. Sure, that can lead to some of the idiosyncrasies I’ve hinted at above. For example, you’re taught wall-jumping in the tutorial, but you won’t really need to use it much inside the cramped interior of the space station which constitutes the game’s huge first level. Once you go for a spacewalk, however, that system really comes into its own – not to mention the extensive use you’ll have to make of wall-jumping when playing the demo level (which is included in the Early Access version and will become part of the campaign eventually). So instead of making the space station unrealistically big on the inside to accommodate all the traversal options the game offers, the developers decided to stick with believability, even if that means certain systems won’t be very useful in all parts of the level. Don’t worry: Fortune’s Run has plenty of other systems you can utilize inside the space station instead, and figuring out how to approach any given situation is a huge part of the fun, after all.

You may think that’s a weird or even flawed design decision, but I love the fact that this gives all the levels a chance to be distinct and mechanically believable environments in their own right, sometimes with unique mechanics specifically designed for them. Here’s an example: The space station in question generates artificial gravity by constantly rotating about its own axis, but your shuttle is docked at the center axis. Thus, you can actually move freely on the inner walls of the shuttle once it’s docked, as you’re effectively weightless. You then use guide rails and a ladder to drag yourself towards the rotating outer ring of the station, and now there’s gravity! You’ll also open some airlocks that lead to broken-off hallways, which can blow you out of the space station as the room behind you explosively depressurizes. These little details appear to have been programmed specifically for this level – not because shifting gravity and decompression will be a core gameplay mechanic throughout the entire game (I assume), but because this one level required these ideas to be implemented.

I’m also happy to say that Fortune’s Run is shaping up to be a retro shooter that actually cares about things like world building, plot and characterization. Sure, the current Early Access content isn’t enough to come to a definite conclusion on how good the overall story will be, but just from what’s there, I already find Mozah and her troubled past very emotionally engaging, and some of the themes already brought up will definitely excite you if you enjoy cyberpunk stories. And I mean the gritty and politically subversive original Mirrorshades/Burning Chrome style of cyberpunk. In the case of Fortune’s Run, this means tackling topics like economic oppression, commodification of people, and colonial cultural hegemony – and I just can’t deny it: I love it when games dare to explore weighty subjects!

In short: Fortune’s Run is shaping up to be a very unique and highly detailed first-person imsim/shooter that wants to tell a proper story about serious topics while setting the action in mechanically believable environments. It’s the kind of indie game where you can’t tell if you love it in spite of its quirks, or precisely because of them. A truly niche game that could only ever have been made by a tiny team with a strong vision. I, for one, can’t wait for what’s to come!


P.S.: The current Early Access build (as of September 2023) contains a detailed tutorial level, a small story-focused level and one huge story mission, which came down to a combined play time of about 8 hours for me – though I’m sure you could whittle that down to about half of that if you don’t explore every nook and cranny like I did. The Early Access build also contains a fully fleshed-out alternate tutorial and story mission which were originally released as a demo for the game and are set later in the story. The demo content will probably last you between 3 and 6 hours, in my estimation. So while you may balk at the idea of paying 20 bucks for an Early Access game with “only two proper missions”, keep in mind these are pretty meticulously designed and extensive levels offering plenty of replayability as they accommodate a wide variety of gameplay approaches.

As of build 1.1.3, GSC Game World have improved the game a lot from its initial release version. There still are a lot of rough edges, and A-Life, my main example for a non-functioning system in the game, is still not fully implemented. However, the developers have significantly improved the enemy spawning system which was the main thing that negatively impacted my experience playing the game. I still think that if you want to play the game in the best state it can be, you should probably wait a year or two for them to fully patch and update it, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself as an old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan, despite the weaknesses the game clearly has (as did all previous entries in the series).

As of right now, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a bit of a Potemkin village of a game. Everything looks and feels authentically S.T.A.L.K.E.R. at first glance – but look a little deeper and you can see that some of the underlying systems that make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game are fundamentally broken.

The most egregious example of this is the A-Life system (and, by extension, believable AI behaviour in general). Many players have noted that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobol doesn’t appear to simulate stalkers and mutants moving through the Zone dynamically, as previous entries in the series did. This means that the game relies mainly on scripted events and enemy spawns instead of having a complex world simulation that allows dynamic gameplay situations to emerge naturally. In fact, the game typically just spawns small squads of enemies close to you every once in a while, relying on its broken stealth system to make them aggro immediately.

GSC Game World have recently admitted that the A-Life system is currently severely bugged. But if you ask me, that admission itself only raises further questions, such as: Why would you put a system into the game that just randomly spawns enemies in your immediate vicinity… unless you were fully aware that your complex world simulation system simply doesn’t work? After playing the game for just a few hours, I’m already firmly convinced GSC Game World just couldn’t get the A-Life system to work, so they haphazardly slapped that atrocious enemy spawn system on it to be able to publish a minimum viable product.

And that’s kinda where I am with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol right now: Most of the time, it feels like a true return to the Zone, creating that same unique atmosphere I've fallen in love with so many years ago. But then you clear out a military checkpoint, start looting the bodies and the game just spawns a bunch of new enemies behind you in places they couldn't have possibly reached without you noticing, completely ruining your sense of immersion. And the thought that the developers were probably fully aware of stuff like this happening due to the non-functional A-Life system before they released the game doesn’t make me feel any better as a customer.

If you're not already a fan of the series, I'd suggest waiting a bit longer for GSC Game World to patch several of the in-game systems (A-Life is only one example) or, at the very least, remove the current enemy spawn system. I have high hopes that this'll still happen at some point down the road since the devs have been very good at patching out the worst of the game's bugs since launch.

If you're a hardened S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan like me, you'll still find many things to love in S.T.O.L.K.E.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol. But if anyone's gonna notice that some of the systems that are integral to the experience of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game are simply non-functional right now, it'll be the original fans.

The bottom line is: Right now is perhaps the worst time to experience S.T.O.L.K.O.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol. If you don't think you'll have the time to play through a buggy game now and return for another playthrough in a year or two, when all the systems have (hopefully) been patched in, then just wait until then. I know I'll definitely come back at that point and (hopefully) be able to change my review to the thumbs-up the game really deserved if everything worked as intended.