izigame.me

Does anyone else think its weird that we got a game that tons of people are comparing to the Elder Scrolls where a fungal plague turns people into monsters, and then just a couple months later we got a game tons of people are comparing to Fallout where a fungal plague turns people into monsters?
Just... kinda noticed that and had a "huh" moment.
Anyways...

Actually more like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. than Fallout

... or so I hear, I've never played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. save for like an hour of it back a decade ago so the memories are stale indeed.
What I did find was a fun little romp through Merry Ol' England enjoying the lovely British countryside, having a nice cup of tea, meeting the locals, then shooting them in the head and rifling through their pockets.
Also, just to dissuade a few things about the compariosons:
How this game ISN'T Fallout

Its not set in the near future, or the future at all for that matter.
The game takes place in 1962, and is actually set five years after England's own 'three mile island' incident which, in truth, wasn't even that bad. A minor leak that was quickly contained. Well this game asks "what if instead of radiation, it was some bizarre fungus from outer space?" then they ask "what if it was bad, like really bad?" then they ask "Would anyone like to go beat up some Droogs?"
There's no actual quest directions.
The game doesn't automatically pin targets to your compass or minimap, which honestly I really like. You'll find, instead, "leads."
i.e. You'll be out exploring and find a body in a ditch with a letter reading 'Must remember I buried it at (X:Y co-ordinates.)' Then you open your map, find the spot he's talking about, pin the most likely bit, and head over there. Once there you begin combing the area for what they're talking about, or whip out your metal detector and get detecting. It makes the gameplay feel much more engaging than just checking items off your to-do list.
Its set in England rather than America
Duh.
There's only one Vault, but its gigantic and has entrances and exits on every map.
The main thrust of the game is reactivaitng this huge interconnected science lab to reach "Oberon." This takes you across several areas to reactivate terminals by plugging Atomic Batteries into them to power them up, then going in and fighting your way through a bunch of infected humans/killer robots/the aforementioned droogs to reconnect to the main hub. Do this with all four and the path opens to your goal where you decide the fate of the region and possibly all of humanity.

What I liked
The lack of quest markers actually made the game feel more engaging to me.
I honestly can't remember the last time I had to actually work out where to go for something in a game like this. Normally its just 'oh there's the marker, off I go then' but in this case you have to organically search, follow up leads, find spots on the map and explore them, and the like. Its not really a brain-melter for most of them, like finding a note that says "I hid the key to the radio tower in the quarry cave," and then looking out the window of said tower and saying "Yep, looks like a quarry to me," but it still felt more fun than just going to the spot marked on your map by the will of the force or whatever.
The enemies are a real threat that take strategy, reflexes, and more than a little luck sometimes.
If the enemies ambush you, you will likely die in a hail of gunfire or at the claws of a zombified human. Enemies move in groups, they will plan, they will react to finding their friend's bodies, and they will call for help. That being said, the human ones aren't idiots. If you're holding a gun and they're not, they'll back away and hold their hands up as if to surrender. If you put away your weapon and walk away before they start attacking, they'll sometimes let you rather than attack, showing a degree of intelligence not often seen in games like these.
Also the robot enemies... bit of advice... AIM FOR THE HEAD. If you blow up the robot's head they lose their ability to aim as their sensor array gets busted. From there just keep shooting there (or at the fuel tanks on the flamethrower ones) until they overheat and fall to a knee. When they do the atomic battery powering them pops out of their back. If you're quick you can run behind them and yank it out to both gain the battery for your own use and shut down the robot, effectively 'killing' it! Rifles and explosives are your best friends for these guys, a good grenade will usually send one into overheat mode immediately if you throw it right.
Its interesting to see a game that isn't really post-apocalypse so much as soon to be apocalypse maybe.
Spoiler warning here... but basically the story is thus:
Oberon is the codename of a meteorite that landed in this part of England and was discovered by slate miners, but rather than just a hunk of space rock its almost akin to an egg. The scientists were working with the contents to develop various medical enhancements when things went tits up and suddenly mushroom apocalypse yet again (really its funny how often that happens lately. Avowed, Last of Us, Resident Evil VII and VIII... whats up with game devs being so intrigued by the idea of 'the fungus amongus?')
From there you have several choices when you reach Oberon; use the self destruct to blow Oberon to bajeezus and back, use a poisoned sample of the fungus to 'kill' Oberon but not blow it up per-se, steal a hunk of Oberon for a woman you meet who is totally not a spy for a foreign power oh dear me no and THEN kill Oberon via poison or kaboom, or use a growth serum to EMPOWER Oberon and help him take over the world via myconid mind control.
But while you're doing this... life is still pretty much going on in this part of England. The pub is still open, the shops are still running, life continues on even as the area teeters on the bring of calamity. Presumably the rest of the world is as it was in 1962 and may not even be aware of whats going on with this whole mess... at least unless you take that last option under the spoiler tags in which case I'm sure a gentleman named Joel would like to have a loud angry word with you.
What I Didn't Like
Fast Travel? Whats that? Never heard of it...
Yeah, there's no fast travel. You want to get back to town? Make like the Ministry of Silly Walks and boing your way back buddy. This isn't a huge problem as each region isn't that big and its pretty straightforward, but it does mean you may have to fight your way back which can be a drain on resources and health, and it is time consuming so if you were hoping to go back to town from the ass-end of the woods to turn in your quest before you had to go to work I'm afraid I have bad news for you.
Atomic Batteries are the core of how you progress through the main story... and also they're fucking everywhere.
Remember how I said above that you can just rip the batteries out of robots and then use them yourself? Well... here's the thing. You only actually need seven of the buggers total for the whole game, and thats if you're going for a specific ending. If not, five will do fine. Thing is, there's a SHITload of robots, and you can find the batteries lying around.
They make decent barter material if you're low on resources, but your inventory space is very limited and having to carry them to the shopkeeper is a real pain in the tuckus.

TL;DR: A good game, but it has its flaws. Overall I had fun and am looking forward to DLC.