Chernobylite

After checking the game in Early Access, I am very positively surprised. The creators have incredibly reproduced the atmosphere of the Zone - the atmosphere is dense and the graphics are surprisingly good. Associations with the STALKER series are perfectly in place, although a huge map is missing - individual locations are separate maps to which we get from the base. I don't know if this mechanics will survive until the final version, but it would be great if instead of choosing a point on the map they had at their disposal a whole hub from which one could go to other places. The game also has an intriguing story, combining sci-fi themes, the missing wife of the main character, his participation in the Chernobyl disaster. The creators skilfully combined the atmosphere of horror and survival. The only thing that causes mixed feelings is the expansion of the base in the fashion of Fallout 4 - we set up craft tables, generators - I like it on average :P At least for the expansion no horendual amounts of raw materials are required. Currently, the game has quite a lot of content, several locations are missing, and the optimization is not the best, but it's Early Acces - I've seen projects in a much worse technical condition. To sum up - I definitely recommend the title, especially to fans of the Stalker series. I hope that the creators will add some "momentum" to the size of the maps to feel the enormity of the Zone.

I've had to restart my game twice now. On my third attempt, I just stopped playing. After I get to a point in the game (No spoilers) It takes away my radiation detector and teleportation gun for no reason, they just disappear, then I can't leave a mission. I just get stuck in the same mission with no way of leaving the mission front. As far as I'm concerned, this game is still in Alpha.

I played this game for over 40 hours so here's my opinion that I divided into five points. 1) Story and characters I really liked the story of Chernobylite and characters. I just wanted to know what will happen and how everything got so messed up. Plus your team is a band of really weird but nice characters. I love Mikhail and yes, listening to "Sex, Kvas and Hard Bass" changed my opinion about music. 2) Sound And while we are talking about music I also liked it. It adds to the atmosphere and it is enjoyable. I didn't got bored. Weapons do not kick like a mule and maybe they went into a more realistic approach with. Anyway I hoped that shotgun will have this more kickass sound, but that's just me. 3) Weapons I like the idea of modding them, but I just wish there could have been more of them. Like two pistols, two shotguns etc. And the fact that I can't get my hands on NAR carbine is just something that I cannot forget. I mean this gun looks awesome! I want to try it and shoot stuff with it and... oh well. 4) Scary moments are nice There are some scary moments in this game and while they are fun I hoped that there will be more of them. Farm 51 if you will ever read this please, try to expand on them and give us more of them in your next game or expanions or sequel or wherever they would fit just fine. 5) Leveling up Getting skills is nice. More damage, better scanner, more HP etc. But why in God's name did you had to put this info about new level in the center of the screen? And why you slow gameplay while doing it? In the corner would be fine, instead I can't see a damn thing when shooting to enemies. Anyway it's not a fast paced FPS like DOOM, instead you have to take it slow to eliminate enemies, think about your base, supplies, reducing harmful efect during missions etc. This game is good and I had fun with it, but I also think, that it has potential to be something really, really awesome. Maybe in sequel?

The game definitely has potential, especially in terms of its atmosphere. But in its current state, it is poorly optimized (I meet the recommended system requirements and I am nowhere near 60 fps on medium), little content (they say 8 hours, but only a couple guns), and they advertise exploration but there is not much you can do. Not worth a buy for now, maybe down the road.

What doesn't work: - Unrealistic and arbitrary time limit on missions - puts pressure - breaks immersion - breaks learning experience where you need to make mistakes and try again - Annoying save system - single slot auto-save at unclear locations - cannot learn and try again - frustrating - Not an open world exploration game - random invisible walls you cannot pass - lots of "fences" to block you artificially, super annoying - nice "world map" from base window - move to locations with magic portal gun - Combat elements are terrible - are random soldiers enemies or are we meeting them? - magic "camouflage" indicators that tell you you are seen, emies are hard to spot othewise - you cannot pick up machine guns everyone has, you have a 6-shooter gun - combat feels super-unpolished, should we avoid enemies, should we shoot everone? This game is unsure what it wants to be. It's not an exploration game because it runs you down with clock and silly soldiers in small, cramped and dense areas. It's not a combat game because it feels terrible to fight anything. It's not a building game because you need to tediously collect resources in those timed missions. The story might be interesting but I never got far enough to know more. Perhaps those are just early, pre-release mistakes but it doesn't feel good as a game at all. The basic mechanics is tedious, annoying and frustrating.