Chernobylite promises one of the most believable experiences yet in the history of the franchise, but also, one of the most detailed experiences into the Exclusion Zone, but one can only wonder: Does it deliver and just how well? Let’s take a look into the horror-survival title Chernobylite in our review.
Pros:
+Amazingly detailed atmospheres and surroundings that bring the Exclusion Zone to life
+Life and death situations take a toll on Igor
+Combat isn’t as necessary as a sense of awareness and stealth
+Re-used zones never feel the same as the world evolves
Cons:
-Item management can be a bit overwhelming from time to time
-Framerate and some technical issues can disrupt the experience
It’s quiet, sometimes, just sometimes, it’s too quiet in these old and decrepit buildings that have once served as homes, hospitals, schools, and I’m sure, plenty more. The only thing that seems to give off any life is the soft chirp of my geiger counter as I slink past a few of the guards that call the Exclusion Zone their home.
One’s groaning about not wanting to be here, something about needing a drink or something or another. The other blatantly not agreeing with what’s being said. It’s fine though. They haven’t detected me yet as I slip past them, taking note of the green glowing Chernobylite in the corridor just past the two chatterboxes squawking away about their readiness to head home and get some food.
Before I knew it, however, something had changed. They’d spotted me, yelling orders to one another to stop me whilst they could, and the others responding would begin calling for backup. This isn’t the first time this type of ordeal has occurred, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. This was the experience I frequently had when slinking through the shadows in Chernobylite, using stealth to my advantage, avoiding firefights if I could, and occasionally using my attention to detail to my advantage. Only to my surprise, did I learn, there was plenty more that would await me just down the road.
Chernobylite is an exciting thriller that both exceeds expectations and somehow falls short of them in a number of ways
Once upon a time, I’d admit, Chernobylite would have failed to exceed my expectations. My experience thus far – seeing as new content is to be delivered soon – has been about what I had expected. A title that would thrust me into the shoes of a scientist, one who was not molded to see battle, but would if he needed to in order to find his long lost Tatyana.
Along the way, he would learn to wield weapons, use the shadows to his advantage, scavenge what belongings he could from the world about him, and upgrade the items he would need in order to survive. Not just him, but rather, his fellow survivors, and to upgrade the station that they call home.
However, our dear doctor has a secret: He has learned to control Chernobylite in order to open portals to travel through the world around him, undertaking various tasks, and ultimately discovering the truth about the world about him. Especially an enemy we’d come to know as the Black Stalker who ultimately comes off as a nuisance more than he does an unstable wrecking ball like Mr. X or Nemesis.
In many ways, many of the chernobylite created creatures or perhaps, rather, creatures that caused that wormhole-like zone their home would begin to roam the lands of Chernobyl. Sadly, some of their draw makes them a bit more of a problem than they should be. They are irritating, problematic, and require precious resources you don’t have much of in order to take them out.
Combat isn’t great, but it isn’t horrible, it’s just okay in Chernobylite
Since we are on the topic of combat, which we should talk about early, we need to mention that it is okay at best. The reason behind this could be partially due to the design of our protagonist himself, a man who isn’t trained for combat, but fights if he must. He learns his training from fellow members of his camp, using his talent points you earn in order to obtain new abilities as you proceed through each and every mission.
His aim isn’t the best, you’ll find that early on, he can shoot the wide-side of a barn better than he could a bottle from a few feet away. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t improve over time. Truth is? He does. It takes time, some patience, but he does get better. Not spectacular, but he does get better.
This does make finding creatures imbued by chernobylite a lot harder to fight against than your human adversaries. They are faster, stronger, and take quite a bit more damage. This means your pistol isn’t as useful as it once was, your rifle will give you a fighting chance, but at the cost of your sanity.
Speaking of sanity, you will find that you will lose it with every enemy that you’ve taken out. You’ll have to balance it out through taking “healing salve” type remedies that you can craft as you go through the story. Same with healing salves, etc, if you wish to stay alive. The reason being? You don’t have a steady heal over time. Nope, you have to pay attention, a lot of it or start over from your previous save, which could leave you a mission or two behind if you aren’t careful.
It is worth noting that the stealth mechanics is where this game truly shines. Slinking through the shadows, collecting what items you can to craft, upgrade your base, and make items is rather enjoyable. It’s almost the best way to explore the game until you begin to get upgrade benches to add scopes and attachments to your weapons, even crafting some that are rather futuristic and take advantage of chernobylite itself, and ultimately giving yourself an edge against your foes.
But how does base building tie into all of this? Well, it ties into everything you do through and through. It affects how your rag-tag group of survivors can do when sent out on their very own missions. Their missions don’t just affect their mentality or their health, but also how the base fairs, and just how well things work out for everyone in the end.
Base building isn’t just necessary, it’s a must and it benefits everyone you recruit in Chernobylite
Unlike Fallout, Skyrim, and or Outerworlds, there is something important about this feature. Base building is an absolute must. It doesn’t affect just your main protagonist, but everyone that calls that base home. Every single one of them gains benefits from the purified air, clean water, fresh beds, food, and various amenities that the base has to offer.
They also will benefit from the armor and weapons you will create as well as upgrade once you give it to them. Each of the items crafted do come with both positives and negatives. Some may use more energy, cause more discomfort, and leave you with less creature comforts, more radiation, and even perhaps less happy denizens.
These crafting tables also come with massive benefits such as new weapon attachments, the ability to craft chernobylite-powered weapons, and various other items – armor included. Just take note when this is said: The amount of resources needed could take several expeditions before you can craft a single piece of armor and even a dozen or so hours of gameplay if you don’t just bolt through the story.
If you do bolt through the story, you will find it may be a bit more difficult than expected as some of the crafted items you will need you won’t be able to craft until some side-story missions are undertaken by you and or your companions.
Chernobylite does take advantage of the crafting, base building, and community that you form as you play
Unlike Fallout, Skyrim, and or Outerworlds, there is something important about this feature. Base building is an absolute must. It doesn’t affect just your main protagonist, but everyone that calls that base home. Every single one of them gains benefits from the purified air, clean water, fresh beds, food, and various amenities that the base has to offer.
They also will benefit from the armor and weapons you will create as well as upgrade once you give it to them. Each of the items crafted do come with both positives and negatives. Some may use more energy, cause more discomfort, and leave you with less creature comforts, more radiation, and even perhaps less happy denizens.
These crafting tables also come with massive benefits such as new weapon attachments, the ability to craft chernobylite-powered weapons, and various other items – armor included. Just take note when this is said: The amount of resources needed could take several expeditions before you can craft a single piece of armor and even a dozen or so hours of gameplay if you don’t just bolt through the story.
If you do bolt through the story, you will find it may be a bit more difficult than expected as some of the crafted items you will need you won’t be able to craft until some side-story missions are undertaken by you and or your companions. These resources can be used by using an emitter from your geiger counter, allowing you to hunt them down, obtain what you need, and ultimately making your way into the more powerful equipment you can find and make.
The downside is that this experience is ultimately hindered by performance issues, long load times, and of course, intermittent crashes. It’s something that can be considered a major fallback and a damned shame due to just how beautiful Chernobylite actually is.
Chernobylite is a beautifully crafted game that uses its real world 3D scans of Chernobyl to bring it to life despite its performance hitches
One of the key drawbacks to Chernobylite isn’t that it isn’t a beautiful game. Rather, it is insanely beautiful and offers one of the best-looking experiences that the Exclusion Zone has to offer. Everything feels authentic, creepy, and just as lethal as the one in the world we live in. You’ll find that the detail is just as eerie as the photos you can see in books and online or going there.
It’s a world that is ultimately held down by its performance issues, even on a PlayStation 4 Pro and a PlayStation 5. While we did primarily play on a PlayStation 5 version, it is worth mentioning that the performance is subpar, oftentimes going below 30 FPS. While 30 FPS is the target, it doesn’t always go there and sit, but rather, dipping below it and not showing any signs of getting better.
While the graphics, atmospheric designs, and the level of detail are superb. While the performance issues are troubling, it is worth taking the risk, giving it a chance, and appreciating the level of detail that The Farm 51 has put into their game. It just leaves a lot of hope for performance upgrades to ensure that the game can perform to the best of its abilities in the future.
The Conclusion
I must confess, Chernobylite is one of those games I was unsure about giving a chance. It was one that I’d watched streamers play, ultimately unsure about how I would feel about it myself. Instead, once I dove in, I was compelled to keep going despite the performance hitches. I was interested in seeing just how far the game could go, what experiences it could deliver, and just how much more unique the experience could be.
Chernobylite
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
Version(s) Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Developer: The Farm 51
Publisher: All In! Games
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $29.99
What I was left with was a sense of satisfaction by the time I got to the end of the game, I was excited, happy, and appreciative of the experience I had been given. I was given something unique, something that titles such as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have been trying to capitalize on since their inception. The only thing this game does differently? It delivers the scares, the insecurities, and its 3D scans to its advantage. Here’s to hoping performance gets beefed up in an update.
Our review is based upon a retail version of the game that was provided to us by the publisher for this review. For information about our ethics policy please click here.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native video game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook today.