Cryostasis, for PC
Rating: 7.8/10; Good
Recommended for fans of Horror, though FPS fans may not find enough action here.
Cryostasis is a hybrid first person shooter-survival horror. The premise for the story is located on the back of the box and in the manual, but not within the game, which is disappointing. I cannot remember if I read the manual years ago when I first got the game, and did not bother to read it just before playing. I had no idea what was going on, as there is no narrative whatsoever during the opening and first level. The story picks up later as you “mental echo” certain corpses to experience the past from their perspective and try to prevent their deaths.
The atmosphere in the game is excellent, and everything complements the spooky, chilling desolation the game portrays. From the crunch of walking, the creaking of old metal walkways, the biting wind blowing from outside, and even your own breath to the visual effects such as ice covering the surfaces and hanging down as icicles (both of which can melt in real time if the heat is raised!), fog of your breath and frozen condensation on your goggles. Also the slowness of the game, from the extremely limited stamina to the slow movement and reloading speeds; I know I would have a hard time moving around and using a gun if I was cold and wearing heavy winter clothing and gloves. All of this combines into a sensation of COLD. You should get chills from playing this game just because of this portrayal of the environment. Add to that the chills from fear and spookiness. The enemies are frightening and are often scripted to perform actions that create psychological horror or jump scares, with the latter having a good chance of a cheap instant death.
Despite all of that though, the game is rather easy. Heat sources are plentiful, and you can usually backtrack to heal. Enemies are never encountered when you are forced into low health without access to heat, and enemies generally appear by themselves. If you have to fight multiple enemies at once, they usually have delayed spawn. Getting hit by the enemies does not hurt all that much, so there is little fear of death (other than those corner camping jump scare axe wielders). Ammo is also plentiful. The game needs difficulty settings. I would have enjoyed a harder difficulty with less max health, less ammo and more enemies. A bonus arena survival mode or something outside the main game would also add to replayability.
Much of the challenge in the game comes from the mental echoes. Some are very simple, while others come with time limits and wrong actions. There were a couple that stumped me and I had to look up online, while plenty took several tries to figure out. There is no penalty for failure though. The final boss fight is a mental echo, and it completely throws the rules of the game out the window. On the plus side, you can freely retry the fight without penalty, while on the minus the entire fight is confusing and makes little sense.
Overall, I enjoyed the game and am glad that I purchased it as I believe more games like this should be made. It loses most points on the lack of difficulty and replay.
Pro
- customized keymapping
- excellent setting, visuals and sound effects
- ice that melts in real time as temperature rises
- icicles that can be knocked down
- good ladder controls; I never once fell off a ladder (unlike some
games)
- ammo is represented on screen by the bullet, box or clip (rather than
just a number like most games)
- sniper scope shows what it is pointing at when you are not aiming,
and aiming down it does not change the view; you literally raise the
scope closer to see what is there
- melee combat is more than just pressing the attack button (there are
specific moves/combos and block)
- save anytime
- objectives are usually highlighted by colored lights
- plenty of things to do both in the present and mental echoes that are
interesting that are not about shooting things (the puzzles)
- lack of in game music helps the setting
Con
- no opening story in game
- sound glitched when outside the ship; static distortion for a while
and then mute until I went back inside. Too many sound channels
maybe? I did not have the latest patch.
- extreme cold environments which kill you if you spend enough time
there; the time to death is too quick because you pretty much have to
take a flawless route through or die
- ammo pickups are deleted if you pick them up without being able to
carry the full amount (the excess is deleted)
- ammo pickups dropped by enemies are deleted upon game load
- the valve weapon is lame. You cannot use the pipes that some enemies
use, or the shovels on the walls
- the axe cannot block
- no effects on enemies for precision shots. Seems like no bonus
damage for headshots, or damage penalty for limb shots. No crippling
or stunning for shots to vital areas (like reduced accuracy for a
shot to the hand)
- no melee attacks with guns
- some of the voice audio was difficult to understand and required
subtitles on (when the voice was coming through a speaker in game
rather than a nearby person)
- having “aim down sight” and “use” bound to the same key is odd
- no difficulty settings
- entire concept of the final boss fight, and how you do not use any of
the guns and ammo you have collected up to that point
- ending consists of 3 mutually exclusive mental echoes and it is not apparent that you are making a choice between the 3. There is no
reason the developers could not have had to experience all 3 and then
go to the ending
