Stasis is a point-and-click, sci-fi, horror adventure game played from a unique isometric perspective. Stasis intertwines a gruesome narrative with retro adventure gameplay. Combine items, interact with computers and solve puzzles while experiencing the gritty atmosphere. In the distant future, aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft, John Maracheck awakes from stasis. He must push himself to new physical and emotional limits and unravel the mysteries around him. John is in tremendous pain, his wife and daughter are missing, and time is running out as the Groomlake plunges further into the swirling blue methane clouds of Neptune.
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:( This has potential but it gets stale surprisingly fast.
STASIS is a decent space horror game with disturbing graphics and an interesting storyline. I'm surprised this game was made by a three man-studio, as the quality of the game feels much higher than that!
The story itself is pretty trope-y, you play as your Regular Joe waking up on a spaceship and you start looking for your family. However it does lead into something more, something worse and it does tie into a really good ending with twists and turns. Reading the PDAs that are available gives more background lore, making the setting even better. The characters might be trope-y but they're not over the top and the voice acting is actually really good.
Gameplay-wise it's puzzle solving with simple point n click mechanics and sometimes timing involved. It makes the good flow on and you can instead focus on the story and the environments, which are both beautiful and terrifying. This game is visually appealing, however at times maybe a bit too dark graphically speaking. However the game is dark itself as well, based on both the storyline and the fact that your character can meet his death in several gruesome ways, both self-inflicted and by the surrounding environment.
I recommend this to any space horror fan! It's really good and I can't wait for the upcoming sequel! In the meanwhile I'll play the other games released by this dev.
The story itself is pretty trope-y, you play as your Regular Joe waking up on a spaceship and you start looking for your family. However it does lead into something more, something worse and it does tie into a really good ending with twists and turns. Reading the PDAs that are available gives more background lore, making the setting even better. The characters might be trope-y but they're not over the top and the voice acting is actually really good.
Gameplay-wise it's puzzle solving with simple point n click mechanics and sometimes timing involved. It makes the good flow on and you can instead focus on the story and the environments, which are both beautiful and terrifying. This game is visually appealing, however at times maybe a bit too dark graphically speaking. However the game is dark itself as well, based on both the storyline and the fact that your character can meet his death in several gruesome ways, both self-inflicted and by the surrounding environment.
I recommend this to any space horror fan! It's really good and I can't wait for the upcoming sequel! In the meanwhile I'll play the other games released by this dev.
Great visuals, sound effects and general atmosphere. Unfortunately the story was absolutely awful.
Stasis is another game whose devs, I imagine, think is better than it actually is. It's fine. Competent. It's very tropey and not especially innovative. The narrative is a mix-n-match of various horror movie and sci fi dystopia tropes and gimmicks. A mostly abandoned space ship full of body horror bugs and fungus people with stasis pods and futuristic surgery devices, jump scares and gross out moments.
The story isn't poorly written. It's fine. It's just not that interesting. It's not new for anyone who's read enough sci fi, enough horror, played enough games in either genre.
A few things, really don't help. The voice acting is very bad. It takes any possible weight out of the scariest or saddest moments. Given the entire game is very dark and grim, the horrible voice acting kneecaps the experience badly. Ripping out tension and emotion. I'd've just preferred it unvoiced.
Some of the maps are far too dark. You have to crank brightness and gamma settings or it's just too dark. And when you brighten them up it's all muddy (because it's supposed to be dark). This might not be so bad if several of the games puzzles weren't wildly obtuse and requiring the player to pixel hunt for seemingly irrelevant items.
Sure they end up getting fitted together in ways that end up making some sense but taking an hour to double and triple back across a couple different rooms for two or three puzzles pixel hunting for entrails in a small corner of the map takes a ton of the weight and suspense out of the game.
Stasis was fine. It's definitely worthwhile if you got it on GoG for free or found it for a buck on Steam. But it's not a mustplay even for fans of the genre.
The story isn't poorly written. It's fine. It's just not that interesting. It's not new for anyone who's read enough sci fi, enough horror, played enough games in either genre.
A few things, really don't help. The voice acting is very bad. It takes any possible weight out of the scariest or saddest moments. Given the entire game is very dark and grim, the horrible voice acting kneecaps the experience badly. Ripping out tension and emotion. I'd've just preferred it unvoiced.
Some of the maps are far too dark. You have to crank brightness and gamma settings or it's just too dark. And when you brighten them up it's all muddy (because it's supposed to be dark). This might not be so bad if several of the games puzzles weren't wildly obtuse and requiring the player to pixel hunt for seemingly irrelevant items.
Sure they end up getting fitted together in ways that end up making some sense but taking an hour to double and triple back across a couple different rooms for two or three puzzles pixel hunting for entrails in a small corner of the map takes a ton of the weight and suspense out of the game.
Stasis was fine. It's definitely worthwhile if you got it on GoG for free or found it for a buck on Steam. But it's not a mustplay even for fans of the genre.
Looks like I got distracted from Spooktober a bit too early -- Stasis was the next game on my list and happens to be an excellent dark sci-fi horror isometric point and click adventure.
The story is a pastiche of just about every sci-fi horror trope going back to Alien, but it manages to have its own character. You wake up on a ship that turns out to be a research vessel -- in deep space to avoid having to comply with regulations, of course. You don't have amnesia, but you also don't know how you ended up on the ship. You start off seeing instruments for flesh harvesting and some cloning projects gone awry, and things only continue to spiral into the darker and more uncomfortable from there.
The dialogue is generally well written, though there are a few lapses that had me raising an eyebrow. What really gives the game its narrative oomph is the PDAs from various crew members scattered about the ship. They not only fleshed out the greater world, but provided interesting insights into the crew and the sordid and sometimes sultry details of what happened leading up to the start of the game.
The isometric view along with the excellently crafted and very detailed 2D graphics, evoked a bit of the feel of the old infinity engine games. The level design along with well used lighting, and some truly weird and eerie sound effects set an superbly bizarre and disconcerting mood for the story.
As far as the point and click adventure puzzles... they were mostly ok. There is a bit of moon logic here and there, and one early puzzle had a couple more steps than it needed leaving me confused as to whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, the game could have used some extra clues as to why actions were failing to get you back on the right track. Still, I only resorted to a guide once at the very beginning, and many of the puzzles were satisfying to solve.
All in all, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year, and I've played a lot of games this year. I've heard the sequel, Bone Totem, was an improvement in just about every way, so I'm pretty darn excited to start that up next.
The story is a pastiche of just about every sci-fi horror trope going back to Alien, but it manages to have its own character. You wake up on a ship that turns out to be a research vessel -- in deep space to avoid having to comply with regulations, of course. You don't have amnesia, but you also don't know how you ended up on the ship. You start off seeing instruments for flesh harvesting and some cloning projects gone awry, and things only continue to spiral into the darker and more uncomfortable from there.
The dialogue is generally well written, though there are a few lapses that had me raising an eyebrow. What really gives the game its narrative oomph is the PDAs from various crew members scattered about the ship. They not only fleshed out the greater world, but provided interesting insights into the crew and the sordid and sometimes sultry details of what happened leading up to the start of the game.
The isometric view along with the excellently crafted and very detailed 2D graphics, evoked a bit of the feel of the old infinity engine games. The level design along with well used lighting, and some truly weird and eerie sound effects set an superbly bizarre and disconcerting mood for the story.
As far as the point and click adventure puzzles... they were mostly ok. There is a bit of moon logic here and there, and one early puzzle had a couple more steps than it needed leaving me confused as to whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, the game could have used some extra clues as to why actions were failing to get you back on the right track. Still, I only resorted to a guide once at the very beginning, and many of the puzzles were satisfying to solve.
All in all, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year, and I've played a lot of games this year. I've heard the sequel, Bone Totem, was an improvement in just about every way, so I'm pretty darn excited to start that up next.
Kultovní izometrické Sanitarium meets neméně kultovní tituly System Shock, BioForge či filmový Horizont událostí.
Debutujícím autorům se výtečně podařilo vybudovat intenzivní znepokojivou atmosféru všudypřítomné tenze; a to čistě skrze (zdánlivě?) temné koridory, příběh či dialogy a navzdory nijak zvlášť zdařilé grafice (nic moc technická stránka umocněna navíc nepřítomností Options nabídky). Z ohledu "omáčky kolem" toho lze této výpravě do hlubin vesmíru i duše hlavní postavy vytknout málo. Děj je sice poněkud přímočarý, ale povětšinou dobře podaný (až na závěrečnou čtvrtinu) a ne hloupě napsaný. S ohledem na rozsah jde o ukecaný titul, který však povětšinou prázdně netlachá.
Problémy je tak třeba hledat spíše v adventurní složce jako takové. Což, jak jistě uznáte, je u starosvětsky klasicky pojaté klikací adventury na pováženou. Že se tu dá tu a tam zemřít by nijak nevadilo, kdyby to nebylo na bázi pokus/omyl, kdy se vám v nějaké obrazovce něco přihodí, co jste ovšem nemohli vědět a příště si na to dáte pozor. Je to na překážku, protože ona zmíněné tenze tu neplyne ze strachu či obavy o úmrtí postavy a díky možnosti ukládání to nemá žádný dopad. Tedy krom zbytečného rozčarování hráče, který se podivuje "proč to tam vůbec dávali, když to nemá vliv na hru, hráče ani prožitek". Prapodivný pathfinding hlavní postavy vyvolává neustálé nechápavé kroucení hlavou. Dalším problémem je sice občasné, ale o to více jako pěst na oko působící pofidérní řešení puzzlů. V trhlé německé komediální adventuře by podobné designové prohřešky prošly, v seriózním a dospělém kabátku již o něco hůře. O poznání hůře. Zvlášť když většina hádanek je přeci jen řešením v logice ukotvená. Problémová je pak již zmíněná závěrečná pasáž, která do té doby komorní až intimní atmosféru zkope do kuličky neopodstatněným (a především nikým nechtěným) utržením se ze řetězů.
STASIS tedy jako adventura vyloženě nenadchne, ale obstojí více než solidně a dá vzpomenout na staré dobré devadesátkové adventury podobného ražení, kterým ostudu nedělá. Jako atmosférický a dějový zážitek z ranku hard sci-fi psychohorroru za hřích a těch cca osm hodin ovšem stojí. Až na to proklaté finále.
Debutujícím autorům se výtečně podařilo vybudovat intenzivní znepokojivou atmosféru všudypřítomné tenze; a to čistě skrze (zdánlivě?) temné koridory, příběh či dialogy a navzdory nijak zvlášť zdařilé grafice (nic moc technická stránka umocněna navíc nepřítomností Options nabídky). Z ohledu "omáčky kolem" toho lze této výpravě do hlubin vesmíru i duše hlavní postavy vytknout málo. Děj je sice poněkud přímočarý, ale povětšinou dobře podaný (až na závěrečnou čtvrtinu) a ne hloupě napsaný. S ohledem na rozsah jde o ukecaný titul, který však povětšinou prázdně netlachá.
Problémy je tak třeba hledat spíše v adventurní složce jako takové. Což, jak jistě uznáte, je u starosvětsky klasicky pojaté klikací adventury na pováženou. Že se tu dá tu a tam zemřít by nijak nevadilo, kdyby to nebylo na bázi pokus/omyl, kdy se vám v nějaké obrazovce něco přihodí, co jste ovšem nemohli vědět a příště si na to dáte pozor. Je to na překážku, protože ona zmíněné tenze tu neplyne ze strachu či obavy o úmrtí postavy a díky možnosti ukládání to nemá žádný dopad. Tedy krom zbytečného rozčarování hráče, který se podivuje "proč to tam vůbec dávali, když to nemá vliv na hru, hráče ani prožitek". Prapodivný pathfinding hlavní postavy vyvolává neustálé nechápavé kroucení hlavou. Dalším problémem je sice občasné, ale o to více jako pěst na oko působící pofidérní řešení puzzlů. V trhlé německé komediální adventuře by podobné designové prohřešky prošly, v seriózním a dospělém kabátku již o něco hůře. O poznání hůře. Zvlášť když většina hádanek je přeci jen řešením v logice ukotvená. Problémová je pak již zmíněná závěrečná pasáž, která do té doby komorní až intimní atmosféru zkope do kuličky neopodstatněným (a především nikým nechtěným) utržením se ze řetězů.
STASIS tedy jako adventura vyloženě nenadchne, ale obstojí více než solidně a dá vzpomenout na staré dobré devadesátkové adventury podobného ražení, kterým ostudu nedělá. Jako atmosférický a dějový zážitek z ranku hard sci-fi psychohorroru za hřích a těch cca osm hodin ovšem stojí. Až na to proklaté finále.