Gorky 17

This game is a little simplistic and might seem awkward at first. However, if you are a fan of turn based games (Jagged Alliance, X-Com) then you are very likely to like this one. It's a little reminiscent of chess rules: units can move in lines or in diagonal and weapons have range and linear restriction. The story is interesting enough, though nothing outstanding - the voice overs are good. Your choice is very simple - if you wish that more X-Com-like games were released, then you definitely want to give this one a try.

Great atmosphere, AWESOME music and solid gameplay. Don't get scared by the comments about high difficulty, just save after every battle and try to find every crate. You get a game over when any of the characters die, but every time you get an option to redo the fight. At first you might be frustrated by the lack of resources (especially rifle ammo), but by the end you will be drowning in weapons and ammo. The axe and the pistol are all your friends, so don't forget about them when you have to finish an enemy on 10 hp. Also you get flat damage bonuses when attacking from the side (+2) and from the back (+4). Also, the best weapons in the game have unlimited ammo, but the have to recharge for a number of turns after every use. Stunning (and later on freezing) your enemies is the key to conserving ammunition and health packs. To conserve health even more, give the med packs you want to use to Joan and use them from her for a bonus 15% to healing. But don't give her with too much of your supplies, because you might regret it. This is one of the games that are the most fun when played the second time. Especially satisfying are the ways you can exploit the game mechanics and defeat some of the bosses with melee weapons only.

Ok, the game in general it's entertaining, I like it. It's a turn based game with guns and melee weapons, the story it's ok, it makes you wonder "why" things happens but the end will be a bit rushed up for me. One of "genre" tags is RPG, but we can not say it is a true one, you don't make any moral choices or such and you can not customize your pg (you can only increase some stats at lvl up, at the end all characters will be pretty much the same), also the "riddles" are pretty easy. The concepts for the backgrounds and monsters are very good, also the ost isn't bad. I saw many people say that this game it's kind of difficoult but I have to admit that the difficoulty it's "high" on the start but from 1/3 of the game will be a lot more easy, at least in my opinion. Well I'll give it 75/100 and a good 4 stars out of 5.

Gorky 17 is a quirky cross-genre game. It's gameplay fits most cleanly into the tactical RPG genre, with it's fixed directional weapons and chess-like mechanics resembling games like fire emblem or shining force, but it borrows many cues from the survival horror genre that work much better than expected. The game borrows from the "Chernobyl" school of horror, with most enemies being irradiated mutants and unethical experiments made manifest. The low-poly blobs of body horror elicit more chuckles than gasps, but the game keeps the action tense by limiting medical supplies and ammunition, and eschewing a rest mechanic. It doesn't take long to realize every rifle bullet needs to be rationed and used to maximum effect, and positioning is critical to minimizing injuries every round. The "survival" emphasis feels novel in a genre awash with uncontrolled power curves. This comes at a cost in complexity, however. Gorky 17 is not a deep RPG. Weapon skills increase with use which is nice, and while level-ups are frequent, the stat increases are small and feel inconsequential. There's very little in the way of customization, and you will almost always base your character progression on what you think will increase survival odds the most- feeling more like a puzzle, than a customizable role. Not a bad thing, but notable. Those chess-like mechanics do break immersion somewhat as well. Most weapons can only be used orthogonally which feels arbitrary, and all creatures block line of sight regardless of size (ankle-biters can and do block brutes the size of a truck)- but these rigid rules make the combat more comprehensible, which is important given how unforgiving it is. Despite it's grimy atmosphere, I found Gorky 17 to be a refreshing experience. Rarely in RPGs do I think about resource consumption beyond the current fight- but here, there is no rest, and no shop. Encouraging players to consider the longer arc of combat is something other games could learn from.

The game's visuals are pretty good, the monsters are suitably creepy, the backgrounds are fairly detailed, and the characters are distinct in both personality and looks. The entire time I played this game however, I wanted it to end. Not because it was bad, but because it did a great job of building a fierce and dangerous atmosphere. The tactics gameplay requires actual thought and is very difficult. As a tactics veteran I got stuck on a lot of fights. The dwindling ammo counts and generally highly limited resources means you never quite get to a point where you can relax, even "easy" fights have to be done in the most efficient way possible. If you like tactics games, get this. It is cheap, and while not the longest is still a great value. I owned the game on steam and there were minor technical issues, especially when alt+tabbing.