Let's immediately put all the dots above "i" - this is not Fallout. This is a game "inspired by" Fallout. It has many shortcomings - not the best optimization, very unfair difficulty curve of combat, the constant need for micromanagement of resources, a lot of backtracking. But this game has an undeniable advantage - the atmosphere. This game feels old-school and if you want "the spirit of that era of the late 1990s" - then you should try this game. However, be prepared for the roughness of the gameplay and cumbersome interface. In other words, this is a niche game specifically suited for GOG's core playerbase. Insomnia: The Ark plays like a remnant of another time and for someone it will be deal-stopper, for others - quite the opposite.
For me personally it's solid 4 of 5, but - it's me. Your opinion may wary.
The small team that developed this game, set their goals unrealistically high, and un-surprisingly they did not achieve everything they wanted, but they did achieve surprisingly much.
The game stands out from the start with its intense atmosphere, outstanding art-style and the extremely detailed world.
The story is exceptional and unique, also very well told.
There is a lot of lore information and the quests are quite meaningful, even the most mundane delivery mission can have unexpected moral twists and turns.
Matter of taste, but i found the combat to be very interesting and engaging. What seems at first as an unfair difficulty curve, turns out to be quite easy IF the player is willing to invest the effort to understand the combat mechanics and the equipment functionality.
Also worth mentioning that some missions that you can pursue from the start, are very hard or not even doable unless you have a minimum of equipment and/or skills. This will probably frustrate some players, since its a dated design, but i enjoyed this aspect.
Despite considering that the game deserves 5 stars, i have to mention some shortcomings, that depending on player taste and expectations, might or might not be important for you.
There are some bugs, most of the big ones have been ironed out in the last patch, but there are still some left (some text is in russian, some armor can not be repaired, the hunger meter goes off screen when hunger advances).
The inventory management is awkward, but a lot of problems can be avoided by using the "sort" button frequently.
Armor and weapon degrading plays an arguably excessive role, you will spend a lot of resources keeping your equipment up to snuff.
Managing your resources (money, ammo, repairs, food, equipment) successfully, requires some effort and understanding.
No teleports and fast travel.
Depending on how you go about doing the quests, some may become unavailable/unfinishable.
This game is among the best i played and most unique.
Review Date: 2/18/20
Now due to issues, I haven't been able to complete the game in full so keep that in mind while reading this.
Now first the positives
Atmosphere: The worldbuilding and environments go hand in hand very well. Pulls off a ruined world in the areas you explore to even the characters you interact with. The maps aren't too complex or large so getting lost was not an issue for me.
Combat: This was the second-best feature for me. Shots and melee do TONS of damage to not just you but nearly EVERYONE. Reloading takes time and materials need to consistently be repaired. Bullets and Explosion can do environmental damages. Healing from damages is slow are leaves you vulnerable. It's tense and takes quick thinking when fighting in tight areas.
Leveling: Honestly this was simple to use and it's upfront of the stats that will improve and by how much. Allows your companions to level up as well.
Now let's get into why its a 3/5 for me:
Bugs: This reason this is an in-progress review is a bug that breaks the main quest and as of this review I can't move past it. Hoping that 1.7 will have the fix I need.
Quest issues: some quests is straight forward and easy to understand but some are either not fully translated or are poorly explained on what the quest giver wants. Honestly, I needed to ask online for some of the quests.
Unexplained mechanics: Now unlike some, I don't have too much of an issue with keeping up stats like hunger or thirst when it's done well. Here you have to keep those up as well a different stat: Somina. Somina is an instant game over when you reach the limit. That fine but there are no gauges to read, only icon warnings. It makes it hard to know which relief items to use.
Final Thought:
It's is a Kickstarter project with heart and good gameplay elements but some of the issues are game-breaking and poorly implemented. I will revise my review as soon as can.
The game is clearly unfinished.
It is full of Bugs, many of them gamebreaking.
It is a ahame, because the game clearly has a lot of potential. The Setting is cool, and the atmosphere is great.
But with all the Bugs, crashes and awful controlls it is impossible to play.
Worst of all, the support team never ansered on any request. That is just low.
I like this game, a lot, but it does make it hard to like it.
The Good:
A compelling story and a magnificent environment that the story takes place in. The characters around are interesting, and the intrigue pulls you in.
I got tens of hours worth of fun from this game, and some parts of the story of this world i will remember for a long long time.
The combat which at first feels completely clunky and outdated actually turned out to be pretty satisfying.
The ambiance is really well done.
The Bad:
There are games that are hard, and there are games that make playing them hard not because of skill levels, difficulty or any such thing, but because of bad design. This game has one of the worst designs i've seen.
Now i'm not in favor of quest markers, but the design should be such that makes sense and allows the player to progress. It is hard to count how many times i was completely stuck because i had no idea about some small unclear detail i needed to do. The journal is no help, and the mission flow and area design - my god - it's just frustratingly bad.
Honestly if you don't just fall in love with the game like i did early on, you might end up rage quitting it after discovering you spend hours stuck on a quest with a generic description not understanding what you are missing, Fuck's sakes Mono, there had to be some kind of clarity to things.
The ugly:
The bugs are insane. Think bethesda, but with less clipping and more game breaking.
Some quests and conversations are simply not translated from the original language, luckily i do speak russian, but i pitty the fool who'll try this game without Russian.
Followers are actually vanishing reappearing in a different part of the map and run to you getting killed.
Leveling is broken or something, you hit lvl 10 very fast but past lvl 13 you'll make almost no progress.
If you dare putpoints into wrong skills, you won't be able to complete main game quests (bug or more bad design?)
