INSOMNIA: The Ark

The art, atmosphere and story are very compelling. Unfortunately it is shoved into a game that could be considered early access. From the monsters that have Russian names (which aren't names at all but actually the action you are to perform) to the strange dance you have to do to interact with objects, you'll constantly question whether the story is really worth it. It is terribly infuriated to have an interesting game world to explore...but not be able to look up!

...but it was reeeeeally good before it broke on me. I was seriously digging it. But then I hit a game breaking bug at around 10 hours, and just didn't have it in me to restart. Against my better judgement, I am going to give it another go one day. It really is awesome, when it works. And people claim to have finished it, so I'll roll the dice again. If you do get it, save often, and into many different files. Like, make a backup save at the start of each new quest. (And just...hang on to electrical components and AI modules. Don't get rid of them. Trust me. You're welcome.)

This game is a first-time experience for me in that I have found a terrific game that contains elements that ruin it. I have either found well-crafted games or poor quality games. Insomnia: the Ark could be a great game. The atmosphere is very detailed and comprehensive, very interesting and unique. The art is excellent. I love this game. Unfortunately, the developers have incorporated point-and-click mini-games into gameplay that render the game essentially unplayable. There are timers on these mini-games and you have less than 30 seconds to succeed. Failure means death or being stuck in a dead end, un able to continue the story. Supposedly, character points allow skill-building to improve the mini-game timers but I saw no effect. For lock-picking to obtain items from containers, you get limited tries based on rare lockpicks. The mini-games have no tutorial nor clear instructions. They are unlike anything in the game or anything I have ever seen. They are maddening and seem like torture from the developers. Hey- I paid my money for the game. Can I please play it now? I cannot. Why? Extremely stupid mini-games have blocked my experience. On my computer, my mouse actually is slowed by the mini-game so clicking on points necessary in a timed experience is impeded to impossibility. Plus, like some other players, I experience mobility disability, so rapidly moving a mouse around in precise points is like an insult to our disability. It is unecessary and should not be integral to gameplay. It ruins the game. I want to give the game 5 stars, but the mini-games render it no stars. If I had known about them in advance, I would not have purchased the game.

Depending on what one likes, this game can be a diamond or garbage. I personally play RPGs mostly for the story and the world, asking for sufficient amount of gameplay to deserve to be called a game and not a visual novel, so in this regard Insomnia certainly shines. The lore of the world is original, the story is multi-layered and makes you want to find out what's going on, the dialogue is smart and the few notable characters that you'll be interacting with, while not really Dostoevsky-tier, have a nice (although maybe unintentional) psychological depth. 5/5 so far. The problems that cut 1.5 - 2 stars are with the tools which you have to work with to go through the story and this is normally where the fun and the interactive challenge should be injected to get the real game. While it is very clear that the devs tried hard to deliver in this department, it's equally clear that they didn't have the time, budget or both to deliver something polished. The bugs are numerous and typically of the nuisance type (I have not encountered game-breaking ones though), the AI is stupid, the combat sits on the no man's land between tactical and frustrating due to the weird controls, the journal is confusing to follow, clicking on things doesn't always result in what you expect from the first try, etc. The game does a terrible job at explaining you its core mechanics and even though you have lots of stats to deal with, you'll hardly know what each one does, except the most obvious ones like "Health". The travel is SLOW both on foot at each level and on the world map and seems to get slower when you're encumbered, fast travel of sorts is available only when you enter a given location. There's a ton of stuff to collect and you never know what is useful - normally you find out that you should not have discarded some obvious junk after you do it - so you end up like a pack mule. And many more. In short - it's worth it if you are looking for a good story and have some patience.

The game is amazing! Even with few minor bugs and "unfinished". It is a must for all RPG gamers. The bugs can be avoided by saving often. There is always possibility how to pass the quest even without some skills (spoiler: computers rulezz;) already playing +100hrs and story is finally unraveling. It is not easy, but often you can choose different paths how to approach the task given. Twice I was searching for walkthrough when stucked hard. And there are only few with very vague description :D If Cyberpunk would have a storyline and was playable like this - nothing could beat it. Insomnia is in much aspects better and you will spent hours without realizing it. In the beginning I was afraid when some wrote about bugs and how it is unfinished - now I can only tell you > play for yourself. Good spent money and time.