Journey into the Wife – Review of the game “Chernobylite”

Chernobylite is the most ambitious and probably the best project of Farm51 in Gliwice so far. Which does not mean that there were no stumbles.

We have a great time for fans of postapo games. Just a few months ago, the highly rated NieR Replicant had its premiere , in December the Polish Dying Light 2 will be available for sale , and in 2022 the long-awaited STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl will finally be released . It is probably those who were waiting for the latter position who paid special attention to the latest title from Farm51. Although it is still a very different experience, the action was set in a similar reality, and thanks to the support of the community on Kickstarter, the game has come a long way from a relatively simple “walking simulator” to production with elements of survival, RPG and FPS. How did that connection come out?

A long time ago in Chernobyl

History is without doubt the heart of Chernobylite ; during the fictional campaign, we will have to direct the fate of Igor – a scientist and former employee of the Chernobyl power plant. 30 years ago, during the famous catastrophe, the protagonist’s beloved went missing. Unexpectedly, however, he receives a package with a photo of a woman, who in turn haunts him in mysterious dreams. Torn by doubts, Igor sets off to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in the hope of finding Tatiana. The starting point of the story seems quite clichéd, but it is only a false impression, lulling you to sleep in the first minutes. It quickly turns out that it will not be so easy to get to the power plant, and what’s more, research is being carried out on a mysterious mineral – Chernobylite, and mutated monsters appear in the zone.

So a large part of the game was devoted to the preparations for the second attempt to enter the power plant. Although the Heist option is unlocked immediately after the prologue, it is not recommended, not only due to the difficulty level, but also due to the story content. By carrying out new missions every day, Igor meets new companions ready to support him, who in turn contribute their own threads. In addition, the protagonist conducts several investigations revealing the secrets of Chernobylite, Tatiana and the activities carried out by the enemy private army, the NAR. You have to tell the creators that Chernobylite is a really well-written game. History is intriguing from the very beginning, especially when it comes to exploring the loreinteresting world. The team filled with expressive characters also makes a good impression, which, combined with the talent of the scriptwriters, makes the dialogues great to listen to. Especially when you turn on the Russian soundtrack, which further enhances the atmosphere in neglected Soviet areas.

All the more glad that such a good story has a non-linear character. For a smaller scale game, Chernobylite has surprisingly many tough choices to make. What’s more, their consequences will often become visible some time later and may affect the course of the final mission. However, the decisions are ultimately not that much important, because of some (fortunately completely optional) mechanics that arouse mixed feelings in me, but because of its relationship to the plot, I will skip the details.

Survive in the zone

As I mentioned, the Chernobylite corethey are preparations for the main task in the Chernobyl power plant and it is closely related to the gameplay. This one is divided into consecutive days. Every morning, Igor assigns to himself and other characters the available tasks. These are not only for discovering stories, but also for gathering resources. In the production, the elements of survival are emphasized quite strongly. Between missions, we are expanding the base to be able to improve equipment and increase the morale of the team. Resources are also needed to create consumables, ammunition and traps for use in the zone. In practice, however, these mechanics are not very complex and on an average level of difficulty, I have never had difficulties obtaining elements for crafting or food rations that we share in a team (careful exploration is enough).

Even more rudimentary are systems borrowed from RPGs. Admittedly, as already mentioned, the election system works surprisingly well and allows you to direct the threads. The gameplay, however, is as linear as possible, and what’s more, the game has very little available equipment. The character development system is interesting though. The experience points gained can be exchanged for specific skills with different team members. Each of them is able to teach Igor a different type of ability. For example, the ex-military, Oliver, will naturally specialize in combat, and the experienced stalker Mikhail will show you how to get resources more efficiently. What’s more, development has not been reduced to the simple selection of items from the skill tree, but short learning scenes have been prepared, often combined with simple tutorials. As you can guess, Igor will encounter hostile characters more than once. There are several weapons available with a quite successful system of action, but the developers clearly promote ammo saving and stealthy operation. It is a pity that the stealth mechanisms have not been further elaborated then.

Repeatability remains the biggest disadvantage. In the game, we will find only a few not very large maps, on which we will often return to already known locations in subsequent missions.

The beauty of contamination

It’s good that at least the place of action is explored with great pleasure. This is not surprising as the production started just as a “walking simulator”. Therefore, we will spend a lot of time slowly traversing the Exclusion Zone, gathering resources and discovering history. And it looks beautiful in its apocalyptic nature. Although it may not be the peak of today’s graphic possibilities (flaws are visible especially in the appearance and behavior of other characters), thanks to the use of photogrammetry technology, it was possible to create an environment full of details, saturated with a dense post-apocalyptic climate, which is particularly noticeable in the buildings that we can see. visit. An additional atmosphere is added by realistic lighting and variable weather effects. Nothing remains, just run the screenshot tool and generate some wallpapers, which will allow you to immerse yourself in the game world for longer. The more so as the journey is accompanied by a very atmospheric, melancholic music track.

Chernobylite is an uneven, but really solid position. The new production of Farm51 bends under the weight of elements of different genres, which are not sufficiently developed separately, and the repetition in places is tiring, but it is more than rewarded by a very good story from the border of post-apo and horror. Fortunately, most of the 16 hours needed to complete the campaign don’t suffer from a lack of content, and the interesting story choices encourage re-play. Especially since this is another opportunity to plunge into the carefully created world of the Chernobyl wife. I hope that the next project of the studio in Gliwice will make an even better impression on me.