Chernobylite: Complete Edition Review (Dash)
It got repetitive in the last third, as I found myself having to visit the same area 3 times in a row with no other reward than to finish the mission. Up until then it never bothered me, but as I had finished exploring the entire game, it became too routine and too fetch questy. I ended up doing a long string of missions where I had all the resources I could ever need, ran past everything in my way and just pushed to end the game asap.
Progression is strange, you can technically get end game weapons and armor if you just beeline it to those items. You'd suffer in other aspects, but you could still do it. I only ever used the starting revolver, the railgun throughout, and ended up building a fully upgraded AK and finished the last part with it.
The Zone is sad (but in a good way), and you spend a lot of time pondering what happened to the people of Pripyat, and what it must have been like to go through the disaster first hand. The developers obviously wanted to put a lot of weight on authenticity when it comes to the world around you, and it shows. Sometimes it's beautiful, sometimes it's scary, sometimes it's awful.
Base building is cool albeit simple and a bit lacklustre, resource gathering is pretty good, to hell with mushrooms. Listen, get a mushroom farm started, it's important.
The way a simple kindergarden could hold so much significance. Holy..
The dolls get stupid after a few encounters, I get the metaphor, but why rely so heavily on them, they're EVERYWHERE.
Jump scares are bullshit, I only got got like.. 2 times (very heavily got got), despite several attempts both before and after, the game could have easily leaned more on atmosphere and spook and made it out really well.
The game allows you to control your choices in the world, your fate and the fate of your companions. Choices matter and it's refreshing, and even if it's simple, it is executed very well mechanically.
The story isn't anything groundbreaking, but it kept me wanting to finish the game and connect the dots till the ending.
Combat could be a lot better, but sneaking gameplay is surprisingly decent, but becomes trivial near the end at normal difficulty. Combat is handled kinda weird here. Guns feel okay, but getting shot is very punishing, especially by certain enemies. Taking cover is mandatory, as enemies will always shoot you if they have a line of sight, no matter how insignificant, but hey the game has functional leaning!
Graphically, while not amazing, it's everything but bad, certain things are quite impressive. Just don't expect it to be optimized and be prepared to run at lower settings to keep a decent FPS, even with a better system.
Be prepared to have a bipolar ghost play ping pong between gaslighting and supporting you, it will never shut up, and you can't make it either. Like it or not, this is your life now.
Overall, it's a B-tier game, but it's worth picking up and it's fun. If you played Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and enjoyed it, I suspect you'll feel right at home here.
It's ambitious, it's great in certain places and has clear flaws in others, but overall I'm happy with my experience.
It took 27 hours to finish with all findables and achievements, and with going back and redoing missions or redoing choices. I especially reloaded a lot while being frugal in the base building early on. Radios are your friend.