There are plenty of games out there that just seem like they are copies of well-known series, but there are also a ton of games that do something unique with either the gameplay, story and even the atmosphere. If you have seen anything on the game we are talking about today, then you might have some questions on what it is about and how it plays.
If you are like us and saw the game on Steam and thought about getting it, I am just going to tell you to watch the video because we will be telling you all the important things, without spoilers, that may help in your decision to purchase it or not. This is our Review of Chernobylite.
How Long is the Game?
The first and most important question that you can probably ask is how long is the game exactly. Well, that depends on how long you want to play it for. A few things go into how long you spend and the first thing is the difficulty setting. Obviously, the harder the game is, the longer it is going to take to beat it.
For us, we beat the game after about 16 hours which is a lot longer than we expected. We played on the Medium difficulty and the higher the difficulty, the longer it will take to beat. We heard that in the hardest setting, it will probably take almost double the amount of time because of how difficult the game gets. The other thing that can determine the game time is just generally how long you want to play it for.
You honestly don’t need to only play the story missions. You can go and explore the world freely and the more you play it, the more the areas change. It is totally up to you to determine how long you want to play the game.
How is the Combat?
The combat can be seen as if Escape from Tarkov and Hunt Showdown were melded together. There is a mix of stealthy and very intense parts of the game that never really feels the same every encounter that you have. The enemy types are a little lacking in the game though. For the main military enemies that are the light medium and heavy troops, and for the creatures, there are a few different types.
There is not much uniqueness to the enemies other than the creatures, but besides that, the combat and gunplay are very satisfying. You get access to a bunch of weapons including a revolver, shotgun, and AK-47 for the main weapons. You can also get all sorts of traps and explosives to use against all the enemies in your path.
You can also choose to run past all the enemies using stealth, and stealth is also a very good way to take enemies out without making noise. You can upgrade all the weapons with parts that have pros and cons with each one and it is your job to figure out what suits your playstyle the best.
How is the Exploration?
This is the part of the game that shines in our opinion. You start with this scanner that you can use to scan the environment up to a certain radius. All the items you can loot will start glowing, and you can go and pick them up from wherever you find them.
You can also lockpick special doors to find some really good loot like a new weapon or some food rations for your base which we will talk about later. The really cool part about exploring the world is the fact that the developers actually went to the Chernobyl exclusion zone and 3D scanned over 35,000 objects and tried to make the game look as close to it as possible. Oh, and the graphics are incredible.
For a smaller developer, these graphics are very impressive and the game ran relatively well. We got a steady 70-80 fps on 1440p resolution. But the exploration is the part of the game that we had the most fun with and the graphics and atmosphere helped a lot with that. There are a ton of areas to explore and some areas will creep you out. It is not necessarily a horror game, but it does feel like it sometimes.
How is the Base Building?
People also compare this game to This War of Mine because of the survival aspect of the base building. You start with a basic empty room with multiple floors to it. You and a buddy start from nothing and it is up to you to build all the needed items for the base. You go and collect materials in the world and slowly upgrade the items in your base to be ready for your final mission which we will talk about in the story section.
As you explore, you will come across other people who you can bring back to your base and they will help you in your quest. You need to keep them fed and healthy by building things that will give your companions comfort while also keeping everything in the base balanced. You need to keep the air healthy while also having enough power to keep the air filters going. You also need to keep radiation out so you need to build special showers to eliminate all the radiation from your bodies. It is actually a very unique way of building, and it fits very well into the atmosphere of the game.
How is the Story?
Ok, this is going to be the hardest section to talk about because there is so much we can say but a lot of it would be spoilers. Without getting into spoilers, you are a scientist by the name of Igor and you are on a mission to find your wife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. You and a couple of pals infiltrate an enemy compound, the same place that made Chernobyl famous for its radiation.
One of your buddies doesn’t make it out and you failed in completing the mission so you found a place to lay low, which is the base you can build in, and you start the quest to do the final heist to get your wife back. You can actually complete the final heist right as you get to your base, but it is very unwise to try. You need intel, companions, and weaponry if you want to complete your mission.
Other than the mediocre voice acting, the story is actually very unique and interesting. As other people said, this game is not trying to be a Stalker game or anything else. It is a very unique experience that only the people who have played it will know what we are talking about.
What are the cons to the game?
This wouldn’t really be a good review if we didn’t mention any cons about the game. Yes, there are plenty of cons to it, but that doesn’t make it a bad game. All games have at least some issues to them and there are a couple of things that we want to mention.
The first con is that the combat does get a little old after you get so far into the game. As we said in the combat section, there are not really that many enemy types so the combat does get a little stale. The exploration never changes though. Another big thing is that we wish that the base area was a bit larger and have more options for different building areas.
We are not saying it is bad, but once you place everything down that you need, you overlook the base-building part of the game later towards the end of the game. Those are just a few things that we wanted to say, but if you are curious about the game, buy it and test it out for an hour or two. You can always refund it back to Steam if you aren’t a fan of the game.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Chernobylite is a very unique experience that is worth your time. We really enjoyed our time with this game and hope that you will try it out as well. It has a price tag of 30 USD and depending on how many times you are going to play it, or even the difficulty you play on will determine if you are to get your money’s worth out of it. Honestly, it is worth the money and it does have some decent replayability if you are going to play it again after a year or two.
