Chernobylite: Review

Chernobylite is at the same time a shooter, a horror game, and a survival game in the Exclusion Zone of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, where there is something from "Stalker" Tarkovsky, and from games of the same name GSC Game World with all this post-Soviet surroundings, funny swearing men and health bottles of alcohol. Moreover, the authors were Poles from a well-known studio The Farm 51, worked in People Can Fly on the Painkiller series . It would seem that what could go wrong here?

Looking for a woman..

Chernobylite — the game is primarily about the plot, but the story itself turned out to be ambiguous. We play for Igor Khiminyuk, a former physicist from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who, 30 years after the disaster, decided to return and find his bride Tatyana – she disappeared in Pripyat just three decades ago, and in recent years she began to appear in Igor’s dreams and even talk to him.

However, we don’t find out all this right away, and at first nothing is really clear. And if the relationship between the main character and the ghostly girl is intriguing in a good way, and is presented very emotionally, on the verge of horror and drama, then communication with a certain Oliver is rather puzzling.

It’s clear that he’s a mercenary. It is not clear why Oliver helps his grandfather-scientist, whom he calls Igor, to get into the zone, which is well guarded by the military, in search of a missing woman there, if there are only two of them, and the woman disappeared there 30 years ago… Then, naturally, it turns out that the “bloody KGB” is to blame for everything (Tatyana and Igor himself were under the hood of the KGB) and Soviet scientists who conducted bad experiments. In general, a standard set for almost any game coming from Poland – unless, of course, it is based on The Witcher, where it is still difficult to insert the KGB.

The plot is everything

On the other hand, it’s still interesting to follow the story. Firstly, the personality of the main character turned out to be colorful and intriguing, who himself participated in experiments (for purely scientific purposes) and had a hand in the appearance of the titular Chernobylite – a special mineral that infects the Zone and is used to travel through space and time. Igor even made a device with which he opens portals and moves between dimensions. It is around Chernobylite and all these space-time tricks that the lion’s share of the plot intrigue is built.

Secondly, I liked the fact that you need to look for documents and objects that shed light on the past of Igor and his fiancee and, in principle, what was going on here, what experiments were carried out, and so on. When enough such clues are found, you can run a simulation program – in fact, this is a reproduction of events, which is arranged in a traditional surreal way in such cases – for example, we run along islands hanging in the air and listen to the dialogues of ghosts.

In general, all this mysticism – and this is the third thing – is placed in Chernobylite at a good director’s level. While exploring the Zone, we can get to a “point of interest” (there are always several of them on the map), and there we will see Tatyana playing the violin… next to hers (or not hers after all?) graves. Let’s approach – she will disappear; Let’s turn around – and behind our backs – a crystal monster, saturated with chernobylite, rushes at us. Shouts and curses at the developers who use such screamers, but it really works. There are also a lot of dolls here that can watch TV, broadcasting footage of the same Tatyana, and after we turn it off..

That is, it is also a good horror. And even without screamers, the authors know how to tense and create an atmosphere. The hero constantly sees uncomfortable memories, his bride often appears and disappears either in a dream or in reality, plays the violin beautifully, communicates with us, warns about something. And then another character we met will say that he also saw her and she asked me to tell her – there is no need to look for her, she lies in the grave… All this is reminiscent of some scenes from "Solaris" the same Tarkovsky.

You are not alone!

Finally, in Chernobylite we meet other interesting characters in their own way. Well, it is clear that they do not lay claim to the laurels of the heroes of Planescape: Torment, but fit into the images of typical inhabitants of games and books on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and similar “stalkerlights” – our domestic peasants, all these Volodya, Sashka, Tramps and Locksmiths, who do not mince words and communicate with joyful obscenities.

Many, naturally, are foolish – one, named Cockroach, raves about rats and declares that he is the only one capable of resisting the Rat King. Another sits on his haunches and says that he is a representative of the cool local gang, clarifies that he is its last representative, and offers to buy a box with random contents from him once a day – this is such an ironic reference to loot boxes.

The third, Misha, who provided the warehouse for our base, first asks to hack the NAR servers (these are the same bad military men who guard the Zone and ensure that strange experiments are carried out in it), then he lures the villains into a trap, for some reason explodes barrels of gas, and when we come to save him, he begins to rave and ask his mother for a “crystal.”.

All this is accompanied by an https://seven-casino-uk.net/login/ appropriate level of Russian voice acting, creating the feeling of being at a half-drunk skit party. In other cases, this would be a definite minus, but for “stalkerlights” such Russian folk flavor is part of the compulsory program – and in combination with sometimes frightening horror, surreal, mysticism and lyrical notes of a ghost girl on the violin, this creates a special atmosphere.

Many of the characters are associated with situations of moral choice. The same Cockroach, at the first meeting, will offer to decide – to blow up the bad Narov radar, which is illuminating the entire Zone, or to use it for yourself to upgrade your hand-held “environment analyzer” (the same radar, but pocket-sized). In another case, Oliver proposed to remove a certain Kostya, whom the NAR considers a traitor, so they started a hunt for him. It would seem that the person could become our ally, but Kostya doesn’t really tell us anything about himself, and therefore Oliver seemed shady, perhaps even a spy. We decide for ourselves whether to kill him or let him go.

These and other situations have consequences. For example, in the case of the radar, I first chose the second option, to which the Cockroach was offended and at the next meeting tried to get rid of me. Then I replayed the situation, blew up the radar, and after that the crazy old man no longer tried to remove Igor, but, on the contrary, became his ally.

Moreover, in order to replay certain events, it is not necessary to load a save – just… die. After the death of a character, we find ourselves in an intermediate space-time hub, where we can review the decisions we have made and, for a certain amount of Chernobylite, change them – or forget them for free, so that upon returning to life in a new time loop they would not have happened yet. And after building on the basis of a special furnace, you can die, change past events and make other decisions without the risk of losing valuable items and resources in case of death.

Habitual concerns

All this story content is strung together with typical survival game mechanics. To complete our task and find Tatyana, we must prepare well – find allies, arrange a base, stock up on resources and equipment. When everything is ready, we will find enough evidence and restore most of the events that shed light on what is happening, when in addition to Oliver, other characters appear in our ranks, such as a sniper, a spy, or the same Cockroach, who gives a NAR form for camouflage – then it is better to go on the decisive plot raid. The latter, by the way, is interestingly presented and invites you to make difficult decisions in the process of preparation and distribution of roles.

Until then, we will be engaged in crafting at the base and making forays into the Zone, plot-based or related purely to the search for resources. Igor himself goes to the plot missions, and we send allies, whose number is gradually increasing, to collect and extract, choosing from the list of missions. It’s better to give them better weapons and armor in advance – this will increase the performance of your partners and their chances of success.

After returning to the base, we look at the results and distribute rations – the more we give, the faster they and the main character will recover their physical and moral health. The worse the psychological state, the less chance of success in completing tasks, and Igor’s health begins to waste under increased stress.

In addition, the fair distribution of rations, as well as some of our other actions and decisions (for example, to come to the aid of Mikhail’s comrade when he asks us for it), affect relations with allies.

After distribution of rations in the evening you can start construction. In a mode that clearly refers to Fallout 4, we use resources to build all sorts of machines for processing materials or unnecessary items, making master keys, medicines, ammunition, weapons and modifications to them (sights, barrels, butts, silencers, and so on). There are also more advanced buildings that allow you to process chernobylite or craft the coolest weapons (railgun) and high-tech types of armor aimed at open combat or stealth.

True, the more such machines and machines, the more energy generators are needed and the worse the situation with air purification, radiation and comfort at the base. And this also negatively affects the performance of characters vacationing here. It is also necessary to arrange additional sleeping places, place potted plants, televisions, light sources, air purifiers and radiation absorbers.

You can also start learning new skills before going to bed – allies help with this. We gain experience for every successful action, and achieving new levels gives us skill points. Each partner has his own skill line: someone will increase the damage from a pistol; someone will teach you how to silently eliminate enemies without killing them (this does not worsen our psychological state), how to move more quietly and inconspicuously; someone will show you how to get more resources or increase your inventory capacity.

Zone under control

You can also build directly during forays into the Zone – traps, a fire on which we prepare calming, healing or anti-radiation tinctures, as well as special devices that affect the entire Zone. The fact is that the situation in Pripyat changes every now and then – the level of radiation gradually increases, and crystal monsters appear next to the Chernobylite accumulations, able to teleport right behind us.

Sometimes there are blowouts… I mean there are storms. When Chernobylite deposits explode, we are doused with radiation, and from somewhere out of the wormholes of the portal Black Stalker appears and shouts “I won’t let you destroy everything.”!"attacks us. At first it seems that he plays the role of the local Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, but it quickly turns out that the monster is quite possible to kill. So, it is possible to build devices that will reduce the level of radiation in the Zone, reduce the likelihood of the appearance of monsters and the occurrence of chernobylite storms. It’s just better to build everything in secluded places so that the NAR military doesn’t find it and destroy it.

Survivalist without survival

Another thing is that for a long time all this is not very relevant. For many hours, our main weapon during trips to the Zone becomes the environmental analyzer, which highlights resources, hiding places and evidence. Yes, there are NAR soldiers, but it’s quite easy to get around them – the AI ​​is stupid, sometimes the enemies don’t see us a meter behind them, and we calmly and silently eliminate many of them. Especially if it’s raining (its noise drowns out the steps), and we’re wearing camouflage rather than bulky tactical armor. After we upgrade the analyzer with the help of the Cockroach and it starts showing enemies, it will become even easier.

When a noise does arise, you can shoot the Narovites who have come running from a pistol with shots to the head – especially if you have upgraded it and installed an optical sight. At the same time, the enemies are not very skillful in trying to get around us and do not use grenades at all. Although the place where the player was last seen is thoroughly examined, it’s up to us to move around here.

In any case, at first the main interest is not the battles, but the process of collecting resources and exploring locations – all of them are extremely atmospheric, recreated using 3D scans of the real Pripyat. Interesting places, flashback scenes, jump scares, the appearance of Tanya with a violin, the search for new eccentric characters and allies – all this captivates.

However, it’s not even boredom that gradually sets in, but the feeling that the authors still didn’t deliver enough. Locations are repeated, new ones appear rarely, the supply of random encounters and events is also becoming scarce – most often the situation is repeated when we see a wounded NAR soldier next to the Chernobylite, and he asks either to shoot him or help. If we share the first aid kit, it will also help in the future.

Of course, after some time, story events and missions can invigorate us again, but this sagging pace, when we are forced to collect resources over and over again in the same locations, where two types of enemies await (and we mainly use three types of weapons!), can spoil the impressions. There is clearly a lack of more interesting areas with various anomalies, and not just chernobylite deposits.

Yes, the tension is gradually growing – from the window of the base you can see how NAR helicopters are circling over the Zone more and more often, green fumes appear, which means that in theory there will be more dangers.

Armored Narovians appear that cannot be quietly stunned, monsters crawl out of their portals more often. But still, the gun with an aim rules, the enemies don’t hit you with their AI, you no longer experience a particular shortage of resources, and in general it feels like Chernobylite How a survivor needs a challenge. What can we say if the game itself often makes autosaves and, in case of failure, allows you to load; The location of enemies and “points of interest” will change, but it’s not scary. That is, almost the main principle of survival games is lost.

And some mechanics seem, if not superfluous, then, in any case, controversial. Take the same psychological state of allies – take a look at this screenshot:

However Chernobylite is, first of all, a story game, a kind of mystical and emotional adventure with elements of survival, and not vice versa. And then everything falls into place – yes, in terms of mechanics, variety and danger of enemies, this is not Escape from Tarkov . But the authors cope with their main task – despite the “bloody KGB” and the fact that the developers clearly reconsidered the mini-series "Chernobyl", It’s really interesting to follow the history and relationships of the characters, how our decisions and the ability to change them affect what is happening.

Pros: a fascinating plot on the verge of mysticism, horror, surreal and drama; the ability to make and then change your decisions, observing how this will affect what is happening; many colorful characters; Overall, it’s enjoyable and interesting to play; enough original ideas; you can feel the “stalker” atmosphere; the game looks great and sounds great.

Cons: not all mechanics work; there is not enough challenge, variety in locations, types of weapons and enemies; weak enemy AI; There are crashes and problems with optimization.