This isn't just a hard game that you need to learn. It's sloppy and poorly designed. - Half of the time you can't click to select a character because clicking things is very buggy (in a game where you only click things). - The crafting system isn't balanced, at all. This is an understatement. - Most play throughs end exactly the same way (die of starvation around day 15-20), which doesn't encourage repeat play throughs the way difficult roguelikes do. - There are no subtle mechanics to learn and you'll rarely die by a fault of your own. It's all RNG. - The game loop: Sleep in the bed, repair the bed, pee in the bucket, repair the bucket, use the shower, repair the shower, go on an expedition, come back with 30 items you can't use. There's not much room for fun there. I really wanted to like this game, but it's just bad. Don't even buy it on discount. Go play anything else. You were warned. And to the developers, I'm sorry but you should have put more work into this before releasing it. And instead of putting out the Stasis update you should have fixed the core game.
First off it runs in Linux with Lutris (Wine), though I had to lower some of the settings. Second, I used a PS controller and the default mapping worked fine for me. Tbh I didn't really like this game until I was 4 or 5 upgrades in. Basically, there's a hover mechanic with the water hose but your water supply is finite, so you run out very quickly at the start and have to wait for the gauge to refill. But after some upgrades you start to rely on it more, which is actually pretty fun to use. Presentation is very well done for a 2.5D game and I loved the synth-based music. It's a shame there's no soundtrack available for download as it's one of the highlights. The story is a bit nonsensical but it's whatever. It's not a central focus. The levels are randomly generated but are more or less the same each time you play through a location, with paths only branching in different ways. The main point of fun is in the upgrade system making it easier to run through levels. Toward the end it has a really comfy flow to it. Some other reviews have said that the game is too hard, but it actually gets a bit too easy after a certain point. The real score is probably closer to a 3.8 but I'm being generous because I liked the presentation and the feel of the hover mechanic so much. There's not a whole lot of depth outside of that but it was enough to keep me hooked until I finished everything. I would definitely play a sequel if they ever made one.
As many others have said, this (as of this review) free game is better than a lot of paid games. If you're like me and add games to your library just because they're free but never play them, you should give this one a chance. I was surprised by how quickly it hooked me. And once it did, I dropped everything else I was playing because it was just a lot more fun. I guess this could be considered a Metroidvania, but I think it has more in common with the classic side-scrolling Action RPGs like Faxanadu, Cadash, etc. You do get access to new areas as you collect items, but I'm talking about overall feel here. This is honestly a good thing as it doesn't weigh itself down with trying to force itself to fit that genre. It has its own unique flow. There's so much personality here in the world and characters. There's the essential element of mystery, seeing a blocked off item or area and wondering how you might be able to access it later, and then a feeling of reward when you finally reach them. A common problem with "retro" games like this is unbalanced difficulty. I've played a lot of games like this where the difficulty just spikes and you wonder if the developer was just having a bad day or something. There are some spikes here with some of the boss fights, but it's nothing too crazy, and I didn't get stuck on any one thing for too long. I'm giving it five stars relative to other games of its type. It hits all the right notes, it kept me interested throughout, and most of all it was just fun to play.
RAFTING Some reviews say the rafting is unfair, but I've gone 10+ miles without bumping into anything. It can be mastered. It's one of the more relaxing parts of the game once you get the hang of it. COMBAT There are ways to kill every animal, but fighting them directly is discouraged. There are a few weapons, but they're meant to be used with traps. You can also pit animals against each other. There are ways to defend from every animal except for bears. Same as with rafting, defense can be mastered. STORY It's strangely at odds with itself. There's the obvious theme of natural disaster or climate change (the flood is never explained), but the game also highlights the self-determination and grit of the American south. Some characters are little more than caricatures, while others are more positive takes. In the developer commentary, they show their fondness for southern culture, but the characters and texts sometimes come off as demeaning. Maybe they wanted to show the good and bad together. I don't know. Whatever the message, it's not forced. There's some emotional depth, particularly with the dog as your only companion. GRAPHICS Unique style. Fixed camera perspective. Not much else to say. SOUND There are a lot of subtle audio cues. Some you'll hear upon entering an area, some only in close proximity. In most cases, you're given fair warning of danger if you're paying attention. MUSIC I disabled the music. It wasn't bad, but playing without it added to the desolate atmosphere. BUGS There are some bugs. These were mostly minor annoyances that I learned to work around. Nothing game-breaking. REPLAYABILITY I've survived 200+ days in-game. Completing all of the tasks and getting a "perfect" inventory took about as long. Things get harder the longer you play, but past that point it starts to get repetitive. The stress of survival lasts nearly until then. CONCLUSION It's not perfect, but there's a flow to it that's enjoyable, even addicting once you "get" it.
There's never. ever. EVER. a dull moment in this game. There's always something to do, some new item to craft, another boss to fight, some unique architecture to build, etc. And you're not just going from one upgrade tier to the next like in a lot of other open world crafting games. I've put hundreds of hours into this game over multiple consoles (PC version is best) and can't remember a single moment in all of that time that I ever ran out of stuff to do. It just never happens. But ultimately, and despite the absolutely insane amount of content, what makes this game worth playing is that it's just plain fun. Even when you die, it's fun. Single-player or multiplayer, it doesn't matter. This game is awesome either way. And props to the developer for updating it numerous times even after the "final" update, and for always keeping the GOG version current.
I played this right after finishing Bad Dream: Coma. They were my first games in the series, so I didn't go in to either of them expecting anything specific. There are a few major differences from Coma. You have an inventory but it's mostly unobtrusive and you interact with it less. After a certain point you can also move freely from one locale to another. This gives the game a much more "open" feel to it. Consequently there's backtracking, but it never got to the point of annoyance for me. The puzzles are generally much more intuitive than in Coma, though there are still some "Huh..." moments when you finally figure something out. One of the biggest differences is the apparent lack of branching paths. I can see why this might be a disappointment to players who enjoyed that aspect of Coma, but it's clear that the developer wanted to tell a specific story from start to finish. So I can't really fault them for going that route as an artistic decision. As a result of this, it's a longer game but it probably has less replay value. But even then I think I clocked in about the same amount of time for each of the two, though I spent much less time being "stuck" in this game, and I'm including multiple replays of Coma in that time vs one playthrough for Fever, so there's probably more actual gameplay here. But ultimately it's apples and oranges (and both are good). Graphically, it's the more polished of the two games but a little less ugly/dark. The music is again fairly minimalistic, but what's there is good. Story-wise, this game is maybe even more "meta" than the first and the stories are tied together in a strange and unique way. All in all it's a worthy follow-up. Just don't go in expecting a rehash of Coma. Personally, I'm glad that it isn't, and I'm curious now to see where the developer might take it from here.
To be honest, my first impression of this game wasn't very positive. But I'm glad I kept playing because I got a lot out of it. After my first playthrough getting the bad ending, I was actually happy to be done with it. But curiosity got the better of me and I started another play through for the good ending. And then for the neutral ending. And then, as the game description above suggests, I started wondering, "What if I did this or that differently in that chapter?" And so I played through a few more times, and every time I did something even a little bit differently I was rewarded with some different outcome later in the game. Sometimes the differences are very subtle. But in the case of playing for either the good or bad ending, they're basically entirely different games. Every action has a unique consequence. As others have said, the atmosphere is very distinct and memorable. There are a few scenes that really stuck with me even after moving on. There's no narrative or forced message of any kind. It just tells a story in a way that's unique enough to be remembered. A few downsides. It can be very frustrating when something really small changes on a screen and you don't notice it straight away. Some of the puzzles can be very counter-intuitive as well, but I think that some of the complaints can be explained by player confusion over object interaction indicators. In short, a question mark means you need a specific item to interact with an object. A hand means you can interact with it straight away. There are one or two more rare indicators, so pay attention to any cursor changes. The music is fairly minimal but adds to the atmosphere. There's not much else to say about the sound. What's there is good. I got it on sale, but I think it would have been worth it even at full price. It's not a perfect game, but it's a very memorable experience. What more could you ask for from a game like this?
