There are widely reported bugs that will prevent the player from proceeding in the game and will require starting a new save file, and even then it might not work. At this point, there's no hope of a patch. The core game experience is pretty fun, but if i can't play it, it gets one star.
I see a lot of comparisons to Fallout, and I see that in the UI, not the gameplay. Since every character has the same questions with different answers, there's very little organic conversaton, it's just wading through walls of text that, while flavorful, are just repetitive. The good news is the writing is much improved from the first game, but the bad news is the logic isn't. Apparently I'm softlocked, and since they decided to remove the console, I can't repair the game. It's not even a logical break, it's just a bug where a character disappears. Unless you feel like following a walkthrough, it's very possible it'll happen to you, too. Combat is dull, the gameplay is slow, and the plot isn't enough to carry the day. The world suffers from a lack of a baseline. Someone asks me if I can find him seeds that grow goats. In the real world, or even Fallout, this would be pure insantiy. In this world, with mutants with mind control, vampires, and who knows what else, it's unclear. Should I call this man crazy? Is this just something that happens? Games like Stalker greate atmosphere and tone by creating a world much like ours, then having small but sharp breaks. There is no terror like the world suddenly not playing by its own rules; the uncanny valley of "this is just wrong." Sadlly, Atom's world puts forth so many fantastic elements, there's no real tone of dispair or horror, this is simply the setting. A mutant is closer to an elf in fantasy than some great threat. Plenty of people love the game, but it's buggy, slow, repetitive, and just not very fun. Obviously they see something I don't or value different things in a game. Even if it was free of mechanical errors, it simply doesn't stand out. It was clearly made with love and passion, but I can't recommend it.
The story starts strong and after something like 60 hours and 80% of the game done . . . I'm just tired of it. There's still some interesting stuff going on, but it's getting less relatable and interesting. Go to some place. Kill for a while. Leave. Non-combat gameplay is fine. Make some rolls, rule an empire, it's more Kingmaker than Wrath of the Righteous, thankfully. It's fine and supported the story well for some time. Combat will either appeal to the min-maxer who loves stacking buffs for an hour and micromanaging every character, or it'll annoy with a "not another battle!" feeling every time you hit a speedbump. That's personal preference, you know what you like. Some design decisions are baffling. I couldn't find a location once because I had to go back the way I came. Confusing, but whatever, mistakes happen. Then I found a maze where the exits don't always go to the same location. Between each screen transition, a loading screen. They were small areas, they could've all fit on one map, but they needed a full scene load. Do you want to go from the bridge to the planetary map? Loading screen. Planetary to system? Loading screen. Guess which screens you'll be cycling through constatnly. There are some neat concepts, like the rumor system, but a lot of the game is traveling around, on foot or in space, looking for the next interaction. This isn't about linearity, this is pixel hunting on the map once you've cleared it out to find the poorly marked path to the next area. From a terrible leveling system to gameplay loops that feel tacked on (the colony management is very inoffensive, but a time-sink) it's just not a fun game. If you need a 40k fix . . . it might work for you. I found it had the Star Wars problem, where it needed to explain everything and strip away all mystery. But, it's a huge time-killer. If you have too much time and spare game budget, this will kill your time. It's one of those "Have I been playing all day?" games.
So, I love the time I spent in this game. I did need to look up some words, but we'll get to that later. It's fun, it's polished, it's beautiful, and it was obviously made with love. It did drag after a while, however. This is due to its central issue: balance. I would be harsher except the devs explained it excellently. I'll paraphrase. This game's "leveling" system is based on you guessing words. You get letters from combat and treasure chests. It's novel, it's fun, but you may see the problem already. Someone who's top-notch at guessing words or playing on stream will just breeze through the words, while others won't. I made it through to the last boss with only about 10% of the words cleared. This is a known issue, but they're working on addressing it. While I was playing, they patched in an option to get more letters from each battle to speed the process. I don't think it's a perfect solution, but it helps, and they're obiously looking to balance for more players. Faster collection should reduce the grindiness and progression for more casual solo gamers. Since it's an option, it shouldn't hurt group or stream play. My only real complaint, is I'm not sure I want to replay it. There are a few side-missions I didn't finish or missed, and there's a big scavenger hunt I skipped, but at this time, replay value seems to revolve around your interest in trying new, absurd responses to people and situations. Well, and the card game is . . . not great. But again, they're working on it. Two things to note, my score and the date of this review (20JUN2024). I did love this game, and it's so polished and detailed, I won't give it any less than five stars, and since it's in active development and addressing my major and minor concerns, it will likely address the issues in this review. If you think you're interested, I highly recommend it.
The presentation is pretty good, and the gameplay loop is a huge improvement over their previous game (My Lovely Daughter). But it's not very fun. It's easy to optimize the game, and if you value your time you will, since all you do between purchases (of one kind or another) is wait for resources to accrue. The conversations are unclear as to what is and isn't an appropriate answer, and they're divorced from the gameplay proper. The daily loop is to gather resources, have a chat, maybe spend resources, then repeat. The chats may affect the end game, but not the resource loop. The resource loop doesn't affect the ending or story. These are simple, disjoint systems put together into an interesting but not terribly fun game. It can take a long time to 100% everything, but pursuing 42 (I think) different endings with barely any change isn't for me. I kinda wish I could give it three and half stars, but it's ultimately forgettable and it brings nothing new to the genre, or overlapping genres. However, it's graphically very nice, and it's a polished game. The developers are obviously developing with passion and are improving, but I would only recommend this if you wanted to support an upcoming dev team rather than expecting a great game.
The gameplay is a terrible slog and a grind. It has little planning or agency, and is basically choose a useful combination, then wait. For hundreds of slow turns and unskippable animations. Graphics and music are solid, plot is thin but not bad. I'm not sure what the intent was, but it certainly meant something to the creators, but it didn't make any sense to me. The shocking stuff was shocking once, then it was just a mechanic. I really don't recommend the game, but it was made with care. It's just not fun, and games need to be fun.
So, there's some great stuff in here. Acting is good, there are some breathtaking locations, and Mr. Hands? Wonderful. The writing is middle fo the road Cyberpunk 2077, not great, but some nice moments. There's some neat consequence where V can point out they're the one that did (blank) so are you sure you want to mess with them. That's interesting. But then the gameplay happens. I started the DLC at level 46 and pretty heavily kitted out. I was a monster, and it often felt like it, but then there's all the instant kills and nonsense scripted sequences. Hope you like jump puzzles and scripted "run from/fight the giant thing" segments, complete with QTEs, because that's your first couple hours! Hope you like swimming around in a flooded tunnel with no map and no waypoints! I heard you like Alien Isolation, so here's a level from Alien Isolation, complete with tail through your chest insta-kills! Against someone who's been tanking missiles and getting run through with mantis blades and laughing for about the last 40 hours of gameplay. Second heart? Nope. Sneaking? It just drops from the ceiling. Running? It's faster than you. Now, these can work in games built around them, but CP2077 has its own gameplay loop, and changing the loop entirely simply doesn't work. A:I worked because you learned the world and its rules before the merciless killing machine showed up. Here? Doors randomly lock behind you, there's no visual language to warn you about situations, and every single gameplay mechanic you've learned and built around is discarded. This doesn't work. There's plenty to love here, but it's marred by terrible gameplay decisions and moments that feel good for a time, but lead nowhere. Seriously, was anyone asking for more instant death, jump puzzles, and scripted battles? Like why give me the ability to hack cars if every chase has quickhacks blocked? Just baffling gameplay decisions.
Strangeland is difficult to define without giving too much away, but you may still be looking for answers at the end. I loved Primordia, and the production values here are the same or better, but the thread of a plot is a bit more blurry. Many of the concepts and symbols aren't entirely clear to everyone. The Black Dog is obvious to many, but not a phrase others have heard. Combined with a protaganist that doesn't have an arc so much as travels through this strange land (I will not apologize for the pun) as an observer through most of the game. The world itself is more of the star, with classic point and click levels of exploration. It's very well constructed, but, once again, isn't as clear as I think it was meant to be. A playthrough may be around four hours, and may end with more confusion than payoff. I had only heavy suspicions about what was intended to be clear about the plot. However, the game features annotations and commentary that finishes painting the scene, and can be used to get a better handle on the plot. Even skipping a chunk of dialogue, animations, and time spent pondering puzzles, that was another four hours of game time. As a grand experiment or a philisophical art piece, it's top tier. As a game, it lacks a compelling journey, and the hero is a bit bland despite terrific voice acting. Speaking of, the voice acting, visual and audio effects, and art are all amazingly at home, making it all the better. I desperately wish I could give it four and a half stars, but the hero lacks a journey, and I can't give it five stars. I still highly recommend it if you are interested enough to read this far. It's worth your time if you're interested in these kinds of worlds.
I received this game for free from GOG. I'm unhappy giving this game a 3 star rating because it's obvious the love and meaning put into it, but I need to be honest. The gameplay is lacking, even considering it's trying to be simple. There's a lot of trial and error, fetch quests, and backtracking. The occasional time-sensitive gameplay elements are usually incredibly tight to the point of annoyance. The story isn't terribly compelling for me, but it may speak to others. It's simplistic and on the nose, but done with passion and may have suffered from translation issues. There's little character growth or investment, but it's obvious that the creator feels something and wants the player to feel the same. Horror elements are lacking and done poorly. Atmopshere is almost entirely accomplished through very overblown music, and at one point I thought about how typical it would be with any other soundtrack. It may be frightening if you settle into the mood, but I didn't think it was worthy of any title of "horror," psychological or not. Now that I've torn into the game, why do I give it three stars? Because every step feels like it's important to the developer. Every sprite, every word, every interaction feels like it's supposed to express this deep feeling . . . and that's very endearing. I don't know if it's worth a purchase, I'm glad I got it for free and I won't play it again, but I think it's a solid, heartfelt game that is actually a complete game. If you're interested in rewarding that, it's probably worth a purchase, but don't expect too much from it. I do expect to see good things from this developer in the future.
