Hello Stalkers!
In the previous report, we looked at selected Chernobylite reviews in gaming media. Many of them were positive for us, although there were also words of criticism in them, whether regarding the mechanics of the game or its other elements. Today we want to look at the opinions of those whose opinion we value 100 times more than from the media. Namely, yours.
So far you have put our game almost 5 thousand reviews, of which the vast majority (over 80%) are positive. There have also been some critical voices, but we're not going to turn a blind eye to them - we're taking them into account as much as possible in the Chernobylite patches etc., and even for our future projects. Thank you once again for all votes, and we’re asking for more!
It's time to see how you rated our game after its premiere. We'll look at a selection of Steam reviews. Ready? Let's go!
PLOT
The first thing that pops into your reviews is how you rated the storyline in the game. Most of you found it exciting and suspenseful. You were especially positive about making choices throughout the game and how it has a huge impact on the plot.
“Very, very interesting and exciting. And you have a lot of "own leeway" to even shape the story yourself - absolutely brilliant. You even had the feeling at the end that you really "did the right thing" with your own conviction, and that felt damn good. Many, many thanks dear developers for this "intense story", which was just really fun!”
SɢᴛFᴏᴘᴘᴇʀ
“The story is great, I really got attached to my squad mates. I genuinely got worried when they didn't come back from a mission, and I genuinely wanted to know more about them and what made them tick. And without spoiling too much, this all culminated into a great ending sequence almost akin to Mass Effect 2's suicide mission, where a ton of your choices throughout the game all come together and affect things in all the perfect ways. (With a Fallout-esque tapestry ending and everything) Chernobylite is by far one of my favorite games of 2021, and I cannot wait to see what else these devs pull off in the future.”
VortexMars
“The choices genuinely matter, and with the way the plot progresses, you question them all the way up until the end. I found myself having to enter the death chamber in my base multiple times just to balance my choices, so a certain companion didn't reach terrible status. The story immerses you from the start and keeps you immersed throughout the end, and manages to deal with interdimensional subjects and explain it to where you can actually understand it. You end up caring for every companion, to where if one of them dies or disappears (yes, this can happen pretty easily if you aren't careful) you feel awful. Everyone has their own motives, has their own past, and all feel like real people.”
Jiggmin10
“Chernobylite exceeds all my expectations going into a story driven game set in modern Pripyat. Each of the five supporting characters have excellent story lines that are interconnected with your own and one another’s. Each story line is multilayered with choices that affect the outcome of the given moment and future, these choices have an effect not only on the story line in focus but other supporting characters too, so choose wisely and take into consideration past and potential future choices. There is so much more to the game it would be hard to give it all justice, in short the companion, hideout and mission select systems remind me a lot of ‘This War of Mine’.”
^4JB^7L^1ZR
There were also voices on the other hand - the story was accused of being linear, and that it lacks depth, and the side missions - to put it mildly - are disturbing. And some found the ending unsatisfactory.
“The story itself is interesting, but it isn't deep, and the characters are arch-typical Slavic tropes who thankfully have some interesting things to say. Expect a lot of real takes about the fall of the Soviet Union, real world conflicts, and bleak philosophy in some quality Russian voice acting or...awful English. The main narrative is interesting, but as shallow as a puddle, with a plot twist directly taken from STALKER.”
Isabelle
“The story-line is extremely straight, the world looks scary only first two hours, then you would just run and kill everything as non-stoppable machine. Some events are so schizophrenic, that, make you uncomfortable. Game have so much of "let's do this to get that, but next step is still locked because it is not a time to unlock it yet" that drives you mad, you would run on the same locations over and over again. The ending it does not give sufficient free will, and it's pure "WTF".”
svx
“The story was disappointing to me personally, as there is a correct way to play the game. That way is to make the wrong decision over and over and go back in time to fix your 'mistakes' until you make the right one. It does tie in well to the story, and the ending is a lovecraftian loco interdimensional hoopla that some people may find shiny and enjoyable, but the minute to minute game was meh.”
GOAT James
GRAPHICS
You also devoted a lot of space to graphics in your reviews. You especially praised the realistic representation of all the visited places, as well as their lighting, which strongly influences the atmosphere.
“The photo-scanned environments are amazing, far more detailed than I ever would have expected.”
VortexMars
“The game is gorgeous despite some of the textures showing lack of detail, the way the world is created through lighting, shadows, foliage, ambient occlusion and other effects such as fog, mist, time of day are what make this game look as good as any.”
^4JB^7L^1ZR
“Regarding the maps, I can say that the developers really made a lot of effort to implement Chernobyl true to detail, which was also implemented very well and authentically for the most part. You can tell that the developers were really on site and wanted to bring a lot of things into the game 1-to-1. Props for that!”
SɢᴛFᴏᴘᴘᴇʀ
“The graphics are gorgeous and the character animations, in my opinion, feel rather natural. The way the lighting and weather system work are nothing short of beautiful. Even on lower graphics settings, this looks like a Triple A game.”
Colt
However, not everyone liked it. Some said directly that the game looks great on the screenshots, but not really in the game itself.
“The screenshots are not actually representative of what the graphics in the game are, you can find on YouTube many content creators running maxed with maxed rigs, it looks nothing like the 'photos'. This is obviously concept art that they're advertising.”
Clarity
“The graphics are very, very basic. It reminds me of old Metro Exodus. The screenshots make the game look nice, but when you actually playing it, it isn't that great.”
Zakky090
“Graphically, the game looks like Modern Warfare except with worse animations.”
eboyarama
AUDIO
The audio layer of the game was also widely commented on by you. You especially like the soundtrack of Mikołaj Stroiński's highway. Warm words were also spoken in the context of sound design, which, combined with visuals and Russian voice-overs, builds the atmosphere in the game.
“I'm having a great time! It's got great ambience and atmosphere! The Sound Design is insane! Well Worth the money! Love it and can't wait to see more from these devs!”
The Messenger B
“Tatyana voice lines scared me more than the game itself. And I hate the little girl giggling in the shack, scares me to bits.”
sevenn
“Great production values, especially the voice acting and sound design.”
RedDevSe7en
“Atmosphere and music? Phenomenal, the first time you step into the open map... UGH, unforgettable. Great sound, great music, great ambience, great ideas! Keep going fellas”
A COOLER NAHYON
“(...) sneaking down through ramshackle corridors, among leaves and cracking twigs while slowly immersing yourself in the eerily soothing ambient music unique to each level - you won't notice the downsides”
Sailenthropus
But even in this area, not everything was perfect. While a lot of you praised the game for its great Russian voice over (greater immersion), the English version received mixed ratings.
“The (English) voice-overs aren't great. A number of them sound as though the actors simply read the lines off a piece of paper, hoping for the best, and never actually interacted with one another, or fathomed the tone, context and setting.”
Lycaerix
GAMEPLAY
In short, what is the backbone of Chernobylite. This consists of, among others, building a base, crafting, fighting enemies, sneaking... Everything that was supposed to bring fun to the player. Here you gave a real show of writing - you wrote down to the smallest detail about what you liked, what could be improved, what to add, what to give up. We got reading for long evenings.
“The gameplay and environment are super immersive as well. Base building is fun, although I wish we had some more space in our base. The survival aspects are well-thought-out to make resources on your mind, but not so much that you can't focus on the story. The stealth is well-made, and it always feels like your fault when you get caught. The gunplay is much better in the full release. All the customization and the 2 futuristic super guns make it so when you do go guns blazing, it's still fun. The armor is nice, although making plates for it was annoying. Gearing up your companions was a logical thing to do, and becomes more essentially the latter in the game you go. Upgrading skills was really nice, even if some companions had much better skills than others.”
Jiggmin10
“Gameplay-wise, the game features an intelligent and solid combination of different game mechanics that, although they don't stand out for their originality, do because of how well they are combined. Chernobylite is not focused on killing or shooting - despite being allowed, but does reward and encourages strategical, non-lethal, and stealth-based play styles. The gameplay needs your patience and is strongly focused on the best management of daytime, weather, resources, and player inventory.”
RodroG
“The main thing that surprised me was the amount of mechanics and gameplay loop. It's more akin to Deus Ex than STALKER, as you go from managing a base in a sort of lite version of Fallout 4's base building (but nowhere near as obnoxious) where you place objects individually to make up your base that all require resources you get while on missions, and manage stats of the base and the companions that live in it with you. Afterwards, you send said companions on missions with lots of modifiers, and take one up yourself that sends you to a Deus Ex style area, not an entire map but a small sliver of one that you're free to explore and carry out the mission as you choose. Gather resources, talk to people, kill enemies, do the objective, then you return. Repeat and watch as the story unfolds, and all the while prepare slowly for the heist at the end and obtain clues for the (very necessary and highly recommended to do) dream sequences that unfold the story further. Absolutely worth a purchase. Great game, and I wish that we'd get more experimental but polished experiences of the AA middle-market level like this like we used to.”
looking for small dads
“Chernobylite is an absolutely beautiful game that manages to set itself apart from other games that also take place in the Zone, and does so incredibly well. It does so with some interesting gameplay concepts that you don't really expect from a Chernobyl game, and management/base management style gameplay on the side.”
EvilApple
“Chernobylite is a surprising game. It's an amalgam of different gameplay, features, and even genres. On paper, it sounds very odd, and in reality it works surprisingly well. There's a bit of everything, and while your mileage may vary, it offers a very good balance of everything. Everything is wrapped up in a beautifully crafted atmosphere. I feel I got more that I bargained for. The base-building/management part is rather satisfying, the survival aspects are "asynchronous" (This War of Mine style), meaning you get the good of psychological pressure, without minute-to-minute micro-management. Overall, the gameplay is chunked in a way that allow you to focus on a single type of experience at once (during a mission, you play a more classical/stealth FPS, etc.), meaning each different gameplay don't step on each other's toe, allowing you to effectively don't care so much about the part that don't interest you so much, if any.”
Nebukam
“The gunplay is decent. The sneaking and general gameplay is pretty good, but exploration and discovery are the primary attractions.”
RogueThrax
“There are a lot of gameplay mechanics in Chenobylite, and it can be a bit overwhelming at first. However, by the end of the game, they all feel pretty simple or shallow, but I appreciate that they all worked. In my opinion, this is the game where the rough elements are worth overlooking. The developers focused on the right elements to make sure the overall product is fun, and I look forward to seeing what they release next.”
jjbruch
“It's fun. Limited bugs (physics) but no game breaking problems. Story is fun, gameplay is also fun. Focus is much more on survival and resource management than combat, which makes sense for the setting and adds to the atmosphere. Great sci-fi with branching choices that matter significantly.”
Uncanny Danny
And how do YOU rate Chernobylite?
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016800/Chernobylite/