Recent reviews by CJanitorC

For a long time I have been a fan of the "Don't escape" games and this one is of course its peak. I loved the more random possibilities during the days you had to survive.

With that being said, while I know the game has a narrative and is by no means meant to be long, I only wish that Scriptwelder thinks of making a Don't escape game into a sort of RPG, where the point is to survive for as long as possible against harder conditions or even more limited time.

A narrative is great but nothing beats a great gameplay, if both can be combined, even better. But until this day come, I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys post-apocalyptic settings.

Although this game is only in it's Alpha stage I must say that I am greatly looking forward new updates, new stuff, new ideas. With that out of the way, let's go with along with this review. Keep in mind I stand on a neutral ground, there are good and bad points noted in each section of this review, should you wish to point something out, by all means you are more than welcome to do so.

Difficulty Settings ; While all three difficulty bring their flavors, I've tried the "Pilgrim" difficulty and I must say, it's too easy, when I read the wolves would only attacked when provoked I assumed that they would act like bears on the medium difficulty. They would stand their ground and growl at you. but no, they run with their tail between their legs. I think Wolves and bears should act like this on Pilgrim, they don't attack intentionally but if they spot you they stand their ground and dissuade you from getting closer, if you stand your ground too long or walk up to them, that would be considered as "provoked" which to me sounds more fair, adds a little bit more challenge to the player and makes the animals react in a more realistic manner. And flares would actually have a use in Pilgrim difficulty.

Graphics ; There is little to say other than they are stunning but also reminds me a little bit of Dishonored, a painting like world. Simple yet... breathtaking. I hope this won't change in the future.
Gameplay...

Calories ; A very interesting concept sure, but it seems that it's impossible to go over 2500 calories, I think over eating should be a thing, however doing so causes the player to suffer stomach aches if they really go over 2500 and in doing so their movements are sluggish and slow or perhaps even cause vomiting which in itself would cause losing water and calories in the body.

Weather ; The weather of this game is what make it shine through many other survival titles, a blizzard can easily make a simple looting run for supplies into a living nightmare. Should I stick in the cabin in which I currently am or risk going outside with a blinding blizzard and probably get lost or run into wolves along the way back to the safehouse. Though it would be nice to have means to tell what kind of weather might be coming during the day or the next. For example we often identify pink clouds in the evening as a sign that a sunny day will come, such signs could be implemented in the future.

Crafting/repair ; The crafting is well done, though it does deserve some fixing here and there. For instance sewing and fixing some objects ought to take more time. Or cleaning a gun should only need to be done once or twice since I've never seen anyone clean their gun over 15 times. if the barrel is that unclean you might as well just harvest it's base materials. As for the skins, I think there could be much more use out of them. Creating a bed for example and perhaps even a safehouse or if that's impossible create articles such as a working bench or crates to store items in a house that a player often comes back to or considers a safehouse.

Fishing/Hunting/looting ; Fishing is a nice part of the game, patience and reward but I've never seen anyone manage to get that many fishes without using any kind of bait. It would be nice to have to harvest some plants or find something that could be used as such for fishes. Hunting is the core for survival, it's rather well done though I would like for it to be harder than that to kill animals, a deer for example, you can go prone and literally crawl right next to it and shoot it right in the eye for an instakill and bears should be able to be killed with one well placed shot but of course, miss and get ready to be mauled to near death besides it's near impossible to carry the whole load of meat and guts a bear wields so it risk vs reward situation. Looting, the first things that end up in your hands are the most important part until you find a rifle or bow, but as soon as you are able to hunt down animals, such supplies turn into nothing more than a burden. I think they should have a use to other food, which in itself would increase the crafting possibilites.

Cooking ; Among the things that makes this game shine, the ability to craft many things found outside, but while this game is still in it's alpha stage, I believe it could use an even bigger variety to the crafting and cooking. For example you were able to kill many animals within a few days but all that meat is going to go away fast unless cooked but there should be the ability to have dried meat or someting of the sort, in itself the food's calorie value would be lower BUT it would last much longer, again risk vs reward.

Weapons ; While a rifle and a bow are the most common weapons to be found, I do believe it would be best to have a wider variety of weapons. Being able to craft a bow is great but I think the bow itself needs something to help aim more, because right now, it's really hard to aim with. I am aware that with enough practice I should be able to get it right, it's still very hard to get used to. As for a rifle while there isn't an infinite amount of bullets, it would be nice to see more than just that like a shotgun or perhas a .22 rifle to hunt rabbits rather than just use snares to get them.