Recent reviews by Fiasco

Attempt no.1: Executed in the public square.
Attempt no.2: Banished.
Attempt no.3: Passed a Pleasure House law - saved the human race.

Pros:
- Cool (pun intended) atmosphere and art style;
- Deep development / management trees;
- True society manager (as opposed to city building manager);
- Very complex management mechanics; success is not reduced to a management blueprint;
- It does have replay value, especially if you like experimenting with the lives of those tiny ungrateful bast...ahem that call themselves "your people";
- Everything is based on common sense logic;
- It's got an ending (yeah, that's a pro in my book; doesn't become obsolete).

Stuff that could be improved (can't really qualify these things as cons):
- For all the efforts to create an immersive connection with your population, it quickly becomes a game of numbers. Not sure deep immersion is possible anyway in this genre.
- Deceptive learning curve. The game does well on teaching you the basics, but you'll have to discover all its intricate mechanics by process of trial and error. You'll lose some hair.

Cons:
- I definitely hate this genre. I wonder why the hell I keep craving to boot this game up every day.

Conclusions:

Q: Should you get this game?
A: Yes. It's a quite unique and exquisite experience.

Q: Should you expect the ride of your life?
A: Nope. It's one of those games that delivers an exceptional experience within the limits of its scope, but those limits are very tight. It'll make you want to step on your city's streets, but it'll never let you.

Q: Is it worth it's price?
A: Yes!

I struggled to survive the urge of putting down this game. I failed. Spectacularly.

I don’t have the arrogance of claiming I’ve actually played this game (considering my play time). And that’s exactly the problem: trying to play it was so annoying that I simply couldn’t go further with it. And the reason was NOT its difficulty, but its poorly built structure.

At its heart it’s a survival puzzle game. Its shape however feels like a pile of features cobbled together with little to no structure, balance, or even common sense. It’s like absolutely everything was sacrificed in order to deliver a highly difficult survival experience, leading unfortunately to a product that in the end is simply not entertaining.

Pros:
- Very few and heavily overweighed by the cons, so not even worth mentioning.

Note - Before I go into cons, I want to clarify one thing: I know making this game was a one man job and I do appreciate the dedication, work and passion of indie developers. However, many of them have a habit of discarding most of their predecessors’ knowledge and trying to reinvent the wheel. That’s simply wrong. You’ll understand what I mean in a moment.

So, cons:
- The movement mechanics are horrific. It’s like you’re drunk. It makes exploring the game’s tight and cluttered environments a truly annoying experience. This happens because the movement model is based on a realistic body movement. This is WRONG. The real life perception is not like that. Sure, your body moves in a complex way when you walk or do whatever, but the eyes balance this movement so your perception is linear and it doesn’t make you dizzy. Body inertia is not registered by the eyes. You don’t use such a model for first person view games. It’s meant for 3rd person view. Others have tried this and failed. This is one example of not learning from other developers’ experience.
- The “grab” mechanic is supposed to create and deepen immersion, but every attempt makes you feel like you just survived a stroke and 90% of your body is numb. Having a cluttered and highly interactive environment is fantastic, but having to interact with it like you’ve got stumps instead or hands is painful. Why introduce such a feature if you’re going to do it wrong?
- When hand holding and tutorials are taken out of the equation in a professional manner, they are actually replaced by more subtle ways of educating the player about the game’s environments and mechanics: specific colors and patterns, lights, visual effects, etc. There’s almost none of that in the game. So let’s take a look at the “common sense” notion now: as a crew member of a space ship, you’d expect to have a pretty good idea of the ship’s layout and things like…where a damn fire extinguisher would be. But as a player YOU DON’T! You’re a dude playing a game at your computer, in your underwear!
- The graphics optimization, while serviceable, is poor enough to add to the frustration generated by the issues above.

I usually cut indie games a slack, on account of them being…well…indie. But I definitely can NOT recommend this one to a friend.

First well developed single player third person view survival game since State of Decay.

Pros:
- Rich array of survival mechanics. Some balance is still needed, but the current state is serviceable.
- Complex (yet a tad too intricate) crafting and base development systems.
- A rich enough array of game items – weapons, gear and gadgets.
- The survival experience is engaging and satisfying. Also, it pushes you to play smart.
- Even though the game’s world is not exactly amazing (or large), it does give you reasons to explore it.
- It allows for a wide variety of approaches and gameplay experiences, depending on your desired play style.
- Great graphics.
- Fluid gameplay mechanics.
- You can change your character’s appearance at any time.
- There is a story. Yes, that’s about everything good I can say about the story. But I’ve seen worse.
- Doesn’t feel excessively grindy.

Cons (not game breaking ones, though):
- The body necessities need some balance. That dude’s got one hell of a metabolism, eatin’ them 3 goats a day. Also, the fast oxygen depletion cripples exploration. Not so good in an open world game.
- Annoying save system. No checkpoints.
- The story is kinda’…brain numbing. Boring, with no depth.
- The world also has no depth. You’re in an alternate universe on a destroyed Earth, but you don’t see or learn almost anything about that world.
- The characters are cardboard posters and the acting is cheesy. The main protagonist doesn’t say one word throughout the whole game. I get the strong and silent type, but that dude is simply a mute.
- The choice KONAMI’s made for micro-transactions is…a tad offensive (selling save slots, for example), but it doesn’t really hinder your gameplay.
- Annoyingly intricate menus.

Other stuff:
- The so called political issues behind this release shouldn’t be a deterrent. Life changes and goes on. The game is fun.
- There are a ton of reused assets and game mechanics from MGSV, so the game is obviously overpriced in relation to its production costs. However, the results are satisfying nonetheless. I’ve paid more for a lot less.

Conclusion:
- It’s not a GOTY candidate or anything, but it provides an entertaining experience. If you feel you’re getting scammed on account of the reused assets issue, wait for a discount.

Best world design I've ever seen in an open world game. It really makes you want to explore each and every corner.

Worst combat system I've ever experienced. It's not difficult. It's bad design and badly constructed. Clunky, unbalanced and unfair. Even the ranged weapons are bad. They feel like throwing rocks through a pipe. It even looks like that. This problem takes away all the pleasure of exploring that marvelous world.

The story is fine, but everything else is average or below average and it looks and feels dated (like 5 years ago). About halfway into the story I simply didn't feel like going ahead. Everything about the game felt...annoying.

So no, I don't recommend it. If you're used to high quality products, this is not for you.

Old-school story driven RPG. Cool concept and art, good and very well constructed story, every quest is handcrafted. On the down side - clunky mechanics (yet the combat system is serviceable) and it has a general feeling of "average" and "kinda' dated".

Pros:
- Cool concept and art style. Also - reasonably good graphics.
- Catchy story and very well built. It managed to pleasantly surprise me a couple of times.
- Main and side quests are all handcrafted. No fetch quests and no "side activities" crap (as in..."bang your head against this wall 100 times and you'll get an achievement"; none of that).
- Intricate and satisfying character development system. You can really feel the benefits of evolving your character's skills in a specific direction.
- Cool gear upgrade system (crafting). You can improve your weapons and armor in different ways and change upgrades at will. Also, each modification can be visually noticed on your gear.
- The main protagonist's followers get well built identities, by involving you in quite meaningful personal quests.
- Even though the combat system is a tad clunky (poor PC port, I'd say), it gets enjoyable once you evolve your skills. Also, the variety in the combat styles (you've got 3 options) feels good and gives identity to your character, especially since you can only develop about 1 and a half skill tree (out of 4) during a play-through (the 4th one is your electrical powers skill tree, which is meant to be developed along with one of the combat styles).
- There is replay value (forge different alliances, develop different combat styles).

Cons:
- Very clunky and dated movement mechanics. That dude actually walks like he's got a huge stick up his...
- Barren environments. They look good in the beginning, but they lack enough clutter to make them immersive and also the environment interactions are almost non-existent. You only get to touch doors, chests, lockers and garbage cans. This, once again, makes the game feel dated.
- Really bad voice acting. All characters talk like they're on the run, voices don't match characters' appearance and I often felt many NPCs were voiced by the same person. This also tends to take away some of the "color" of your followers' personalities.
- A lot of backtracking through a bunch of small maze-like maps (sort of small sand-boxes). The maze-like structure and the clunky movement mechanics make you wish for fast travel points. There are none and by the end of the game this becomes really annoying.
- Face animations are kinda' stiff.

Even though it has a slow start, at the end of most play sessions I was craving to boot it up again to see what happens next. If you're a dedicated RPG fan, you should play this one. Also, it's worth its current full price (30 bucks for 45 hours on one play-through is fair).

Early access version: felt promising.

Released version: feels like a promising early access version.

On a more serious note, it simply feels half baked in every direction. I find it very hard to find an incentive to boot it up again. And on every of those few occasions when I actually manage to do it, I turn it off after about half hour.

I ended up watching a YouTube walk-through to see what the story was about. Found it utterly childish. Glad I didn't get through the whole game to see it.

It's worth maybe half price, and only if you're an insanely dedicated survival fan, with nothing else to play.

Don't get me wrong: it's not trash and the developers put some passion into it (I followed the development). However, as a final product, I strongly stand by the above statements.

As an artistic expression, it’s a masterpiece. As a game-play experience…it shoots itself in the foot.

Pros:
- Retro-futuristic, cyberpunk noir atmosphere and story-telling.
- Rutger Hauer’s voice acting is absolutely fantastic.
- The story is OK and easy to follow.
- Great graphics and themed visual effects.
- Cool crime scene investigation mechanics.
- Cool dystopian world, albeit you can only experience it from the inside of a building.
- Does a very good job with projecting modern day phobias…up to the point when it actually starts to work against itself. I think it’s the first time I’ve experienced claustrophobia.

Cons:
- Only one, but a big one: a huge lack of balance in delivering its triggers. Your visual and auditory senses are purely assaulted by a multitude of invasive flickering images and screeching sounds, up to the point when it becomes annoying, especially if you’re using headphones. Also, the so called “dream” sessions are too long and there is too much use of fake jump scares.

Reason for negative rating: The “special effects” became tiring and annoying. After a few hours, every attempt of having a new play session ended with…”hmmm…maybe later”.

I initially rated this game down, on account of having a somewhat uninspired ending. However, upon washing off that last impression, I realized playing it was a pleasant and enjoyable experience, all throughout its course. So yes, I do recommend this game.

TARTARUS is the kind of niche puzzle game that you’ll enjoy as long as it touches a sensitive string. For me, it did. The retro-futuristic sci-fi environment is very well designed and heavily detailed. It sent me right back into my childhood, when I found it natural for a computer to fill up an entire room and to communicate strictly through a text screen. They did a really great job in this regard.

Pros:
- Gorgeous retro-futuristic sci-fi environment design.
- Immersive environmental sound. In the beginning I also noticed some atmospheric sounds which didn’t exactly make sense, as they felt like trying to create a tension that wasn’t actually backed up by anything (there are no monsters and no dangerous hazards in the game). But then…they just disappeared. Felt better without them.
- Interesting type of puzzles, built around managing to decipher text monitors and finding a way to use them for controlling the ship’s various systems. No need to know anything about computers and there’s nothing to give you brain damage (quoting a dev with this last part).
- Good writing and decent voice acting.

Cons:
- The “story” content is strictly related to your current situation. No side stories, notes, lore, mails, character background…nothing. It makes that entire environment feel lifeless.
- The whole environment is completely stiff and locked away, except if it’s related to your current course of action. You can’t interact with anything but what you need in order to move the story further. I did manage to find what seemed to be a hidden R&R room, but once again – the only thing I could do was look around.
- Like I said, the voice acting was decent, but…they used an aussie accent that didn’t feel right. I might be wrong, but to me it sounded like the actors were trying to imitate the accent. The main protagonist also didn’t sound believable at times. Felt like he was too relaxed for his situation.
- No first person presence (body, hands, etc.).
- Uninspired ending. After using the controls strictly to haul your behind from A to B throughout the entire game, suddenly dexterity and reaction time matter. Also, I kept expecting a story twist in the end. There was none. No ending cut-scene either. Credits rollover.

Play time – about 8 hours for me, but I spent some time soaking in the scenery and also I’m not exactly smart or fast when it comes to puzzles.

Price…compared to what the gaming market offers for this kind of money, it’s definitely worth it.

Two important things to know about this game, before anything else:

1. It’s not the usual early access game. It’s an episodic content release. Some features do get polished along the way, but they are all already implemented.

2. It’s not Alien Isolation, nor any kind of survival, horror or puzzle game. The “Search & Rescue Operations” part of the title can be misleading. It’s a narrative driven game. Firewatch in space.

Now, after putting these subjects out of the way, it’s not the kind of game that would support a “pros versus cons” type of review. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll find out it is very good exactly where it’s supposed to be. Everything else is…low budget.

Amazing voice acting. Fluid, realistic and immersive.

Great writing. Put together with the voice acting, leads to a captivating experience.

Old-school sci-fi story – no gore, more philosophical. At least from what’s there now.

Very well constructed storytelling. You’ll get just enough information to understand what’s (probably) going on, compelling you to go further. The written information is well dosed, not boring you with unnecessary lore, yet also not feeling lackluster or chopped up.

Not so great environments. They look good in the beginning, but soon you’ll realize that’s where the compromises of the low budget went. Repetitive assets, little to no clutter, too shiny, too clean, sometimes textures are out of scale. There are a couple of spots giving you a moment of awe, but that’s it. This part needs heavy improvement. Makes the game feel dated. Adding at least more clutter could do the trick.

Also – not a puzzle game. You WILL need to figure out some stuff, but they aren’t exactly puzzles, but just “not so straightforward” actions, meant only to make you feel participating to the story.

Conclusion:

All in all, it’s a pleasant experience. It is worth its price, maybe even a tad more when it’s done, but make sure you understand what you’re buying. Play the demo. What you’ll see there is exactly what you’ll get in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Very good looking, OK story, highly satisfying combat. The game-play is all about fighting and there is not a lot of variety in the combat system (only one type of weapon and just a few types of enemies - tactics wise), so it gets repetitive. However, after you've played the campaign (which unfortunately is quite short), the gladiator arenas are a great way to blow off some steam when you've got a half hour time window. I often find myself chopping limbs and piercing necks during my morning coffee.