STASIS

If System Shock were a 2D isometric point and click adventure or if Sanitarium had a SciFi theme. Graphics, sound, and story are all very immersive. Fans of SciFi horror movies like Event Horizon will be right at home. The price point seems fair, you will definately get value for your money, but I'm speaking from the point of view of a kickstarter backer so I feel somewhat distant from the amount I paid in the beginning.

The game is visually great, looks and feels like an older adventure, but unfortunately, on the technical side it feels old too. For instance, the options menu is not in the game, you have to open a file in the games dictionary, where you've installed it. Sound is also managed over there, so be ready to change it there first because it was damn loud on the first start. The puzzles are fun and reasonable at first, but later in the game, it gets really absurd, especially when you pick up items, that feel completely random, if you don't have any idea why you're picking those things up. Also, be careful to really check everything in a room! Some areas are a pain to backtrack, because John, the player character, is extremely slow in some areas. The story and world is okay, felt very generic though with lots of tropes and clichés. Definitely pick it up, if you like old school adventures, if you're searching for a good story and/or clunky gameplay isn't your thing, you should maybe look somewhere else.

Well, no, it's not really from the 90s, but it sure looks and plays like it was. The (pre-rendered) graphics look somewhat lowres/blurry and the animations are wooden. The movement is sluggish and neither dialogues nor (inevitable) death animations can be skipped. Most puzzles are straight forward but some suddenly involve guessing. Besides there is the typical 90s style "try and die" game design all the time where you walk into a room, click on something and are suddenly killed with no proper hint that this would happen. Anyway, there are no clues whatsoever from the protagonist - his only response is "this will break it" or "that's crazy". Taken the outdated design and implementation, the limited playtime, the predictable B-movie story and dull ending, this certainly isn't the "masterpiece" that other reviewers saw in it. Then again, it's not bad either and for sure quite unique in its genre. At least I couldn't name many isometric point'n'click SciFi horror adventures. So if you're into this and like game mechanics from the 90s, you could actually enjoy it. But honestly, it's nothing you'd regret to have never played, either.

This game has all the makings of a cult classic. Excellent storyline, incredible atmosphere, nostalgia factor (anybody who played Sanitarium can instantly recognize the influence), some very good writing... Unfortunately, it all falls flat because the puzzle logic is terribly illogical. I'll give you an example: if you want to hold a door open, you use a dirty wet towel on it! Because that makes perfect sense, right? Well, regardless, the way the game goes about not informing you your actions are insufficient is both infuriating and insufficient. In this example, you open the door and the door closes immediately. The character gives no indication that he expects something else. The game gives no indication that it's expecting you to keep the door open. There is no prompt, dialogue, symbol, pointer or anything to make you think that you're supposed to hold that door open with anything, and only by using every single item in my inventory with every single item in the room did I finally manage to hold that door open for long enough to proceed in the game. In basically every point and click adventure game I've played, the game gives you some sort of prompt or indication that your current action is insufficient. Not in this game. You can remain stuck in one place, doing the same things over and over and the game AT NO POINT will try to give you any sort of hint or prod to look at something else or look at something differently. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying puzzle solutions should be spoon fed to people, but when your puzzle logic is obtuse, having no prompt that what you're doing is wrong only leads to frustration. Some of the puzzles in this game are so stupidly obscure that a walkthrough is the only way to move forward. Which is very unfortunate since all the other elements of the game are top notch

Like scary stuff? No? Me either. But I love adventure games and there hasn't been one that knocked my socks off in a while. This game was a real gem from an indie company. Puzzles are logical to solve, and hints are scattered throughout the ship. I had to use a walkthrough for two puzzles. The rest I was happy to put my adventure game skills to good use and solve without much trouble. The game was scary but not totally reliant on jump scares. If you like getting your heart rate up, put on some headphones and get immersed in it. The ambient sounds range from quiet to loud, whispering to screaming. Combined with the gory visuals of a ship torn apart by it's own horrible experimentation, the game made me take it seriously. The writing was great and story played out really well. I won't spoil anything but I *liked* it when I finished it and look forward to it's sequel Cayne to continue the story. It was cheap, well designed, and while it took about 4-5 hours to beat I have to say I loved it from start to finish (it was hard to take a break!) There was just so much I needed to know, so much I needed to see-- and so much I instantly regretted as the deeper I went, the more horrific it got. Seriously, if you like adventure games- do yourself a favor and get it. It is totally worth your time and at a low cost, money well spent!