TL; DR Suffering builds character. Suffering builds character. Suffering builds character.
Note this game should come with a warning about the mature content…
John and his family have this cozy off-planet vacation all planned out, but space travel takes a while, so first they will need to take a short nap…
What is the worst family vacation you have ever been on? That bad huh, well, unfortunately for John, him and his family are having an even tougher time. He wakes up, disoriented in an unfamiliar place, and grievously injured, neither his wife, his daughter nor anyone else is there, he is alone and trembles with the cold.
This game is incredible gripping, it is not just that you feel for John, and you want him to reunite with his family, but it is also the stories going on around him, the scattered diaries of people abandoned in their final moments. Groomlake had some awful people on it, but others tried to do good, both make for interesting reads because you get to read their rationalisation, and you get read how others viewed their actions at the time, i.e. before you woke up.
With that said, are you squeamish? Because if you are you should not play this game, John is a teacher, and he has a heard time dealing with what he sees, he pukes, and panics but he carries on because his family is somewhere on Groomlake… and what is he doing with that drill?
JOHN NO, PUT IT DOWN, JOHN!!
As for the puzzles, they are typically on the easier side, combining and using items in logical ways, or solving something trickier with clues scattered about the surrounding area. In fact, most areas are self-contained, and you will typically find and use everything in a single section before moving on, of course there are exceptions, typically tools and the like, but in those cases, you know you will use them shortly, they are not just there to clog up your inventory.
So, there was only one time when I felt the need to look up a solution, and that was because I kept missing a clue!
STASIS might also give you a newfound understanding of pool cues, did you know that they are about as sharp as knives?
I digress, a more important thing to know is that I went out of bounds twice, on accident, including the third room in the game, so make sure you save frequently to avoid replaying or resolving puzzles.
I made this review a bit silly but do not expect sillyness from STASIS, if they happen to make a joke, they will be at the gallows.