What happens if we expect a game to be something else than what it actually is? Obviously it's our own fault. But what if the game itself insinuates that it is indeed something else by showing heavy similarities to one of the best horror movies ever made[en.wikipedia.org]?
Initially called simply Distrust, now Distrust: Polar Survival - it's never a good sign when a brief description of the game is included in the title - strangely doesn't build on the very essense of The Thing: trust, or rather the lack of it - whereas a group of Americans in an Antarctican research station are hunted by an alien lifeform that is able to take the appearance of those it came in contact with (killed, to be more precise) and soon no one knows who can be trusted, who is still a human being. Skipping this vital feature, Distrust prioritizes secondary elements instead, such as freezing cold, sleepiness and hunger which make a fine basis for a survival/resource management game, but due to this the game loses (almost) any connection to the previously mentioned masterpiece... and with horror itself as well.

After receiving a distress call and crash-landing due to a strange bright light, 2 (or 3 if we unlock the option) survivors try to stay alive and discover what caused the death of the crew members of a research station somewhere in the Arctic. The notes we find lying around provide additional details on what's happened.

While the game defines itself as a procedurally generated survival game, calling it a resource- and thus a time-management game would describe the gameplay more precisely, because that is exactly what we are going to do throughout the game's 5 zones (the 6th is a special one, the endgame). As mentioned before, instead of the core element of The Thing - yes, distrust - here we have 3 others we have to manage: warmth, stamina and satiety, shown by the bars in the upper right corner of the screen. Any of these 3 dropping to low levels leads to losing health, thus slowly - to death.
The one we'd think is the worst - cold - is the easiest to handle: all we have to do is find one of the many furnaces and light it up with either wood (dry or rotten, but we need more of the latter) or coal. This provides a fair bit of time our characters can stay and warm up in the given building, provided all the windows are closed. If there's no light in a building, our movement speed is halved. Early on furnaces are still active, on latter levels they are in ruins, so we have to repair them first. We can also use some of the many types of food (cooked potato, soup and coffee) to fight cold. Jackets are useful to slow down the rate at which we lose warmth.
We are going to have a much harder time keeping our sleepiness and hunger at decent levels, since food supplies are very limited and while sleeping isn't, it counts as a rather dangerous activity. Lack of stamina causes hallucinations and madnesses, but besides being annoying they don't change the personality of the given character - despite the description. The worst is Myopia, which prevents us from using the map when giving orders. Getting rid of them requires sleep.
Whenever any of our characters goes to sleep (either a bed or a sofa will do), there's a chance that a monster will appear randomly nearby. The game falsely claims that it occurs during deep sleep as they are summoned by delta waves, prompting us to sleep for just short sessions, but no - 'anomalies' appear even when sleeping for a few (in-game) moments...

There are 4 types of them - little floating monsters initially that can be chased away by light or warmth, but the other 2 can only be killed with a special trap (like in the movie Ghostbusters) or a pistol. Since the last type of monster can kill our characters instantaneously, bullets should be preserved to be used against it.
There are also strange alien objects scattered around, which can cause random events if touched (filling one our bars to full or empty it, but can cause immediate death as well).

The game has a slight change in gameplay as we progress through the zones: 1-3 are about scavenging and hoarding up as many useful items (/everything) as we can. On the 4th and 5th zones however we should waste no time searching around and just rush through for multiple reasons:
- all buildings are dark and unheated, many are in ruins (repairing and refuelling them takes a lot of time)
- as opposed to the earlier levels, there aren't many items to be found
- the anomalies that appear here are very dangerous
Obviously what we can't skip, we must always do and that is opening the exit gate to reach the next zone, this is the primary objective of the game afterall. The required task - just like everything else in the game - is procedurally generated. They can either be unlocked by a simple key, may require an access code, or even a snowplough to move the snow away.

While I see procedural generation as a lazy solution as opposed to a creatively thought-out and well-made level design, I must admit that it works in this case, there are many things we may encounter each time - even if many probably won't bother after 2-3 failed AND 2-3 successful playthroughs. A successful one takes 4-5 hours depending on luck and the game has 4 endings + 12 extra unlockable characters, each with different attributes and a unique trait.

With procedural generation comes the most problematic element: dependence on luck. Although everything can be countered, we can still find ourselves in a dead end, despite having a great deal of resources just minutes ago. This especially applies to our toolkit of which we may (/will) eventually run out completely (all items lose durability on use) and we need it for pretty much everything throughout the later zones. The coin-toss checks, which can cause critical success or failure, random food poisonings and cuts are just additional nuances compared to this.

In order to play the game with all its functions, challenge mode should be chosen, as certain endings are available only here, adventure is the easy one, where functions of different buildings are shown as soon as we enter a new zone.
As soon as we reach the - final - 6th zone, we basically won. Depending on the choices we make here, we get 1 of the 4 endings with 1 requiring a special prerequisite.

steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3413547823

As unfair as the game may seem at times, success is almost guaranteed if we follow a few basics:
- our characters should never be idle - time works against us, the icon above their head shows what they are doing and when they are going to finish
- pause the game while scrolling through the map
- choose wisely and take advantage of our characters' special traits
- quick solutions are not always the best - crowbars open doors quickly, but will break them and freeze the room - except for interior doors

Co-op mode, while easier in theory - 2 players controlling 2 characters - the fact that players have to be near each other to exchange items (in single player there is no such restriction) is such a huge disadvantage, that it outweighs the benefit of controlling characters separately.

Graphicswise the game is nice, but the monsters are characterless and the isometric view kills any horror - which the game should have utilized. The 3 tracks (1 of which is rather similar to the main theme of The Thing) the game works with are OK, but there's no voice acting.

Distrust isn't a bad game on its own, using its unique resource-management mechanics, but it's a prime example of false advertising and missed opportunities.

PROS
+ enjoyable survival/management mechanics
+ 4 different endings
+ the randomized gameplay actually works

CONS
- fails to deliver the essence of its own title
- monsters aren't scary looking
- the 'Lucky Ticket' achievement can't be unlocked anymore

RATING
5/10

Ultimately it is about resource management, but the atmosphere is what i will remember!