Cryostasis

[gdf]

I have a bunch of games that I've done little more than "sample", so today I wheeled out Call of Juarez for a while and in the last hour I've continued with Cryostasis.

The concept is obviously great, and despite the linearity it never feels terribly restrictive because, in that situation, you'd obviously just follow a route through the ship. Very film-like on the whole, but the interactivity adds so much scope. It's especially effective as all events are experienced through the player character's eyes (or mind) - basically, exactly how a horror game should be done. Remo was right about that annoying tooltip, but for the most part the UI is clean and suitable, with the touches like frosting around the screen and breath sucking you in. I actually felt cold whilst playing it.

What's annoying is the lack of Russian voice acting. The "English language/Russian accent" stuff sounds fucking atrocious and totally breaks the illusion. I was disappointed that I couldn't find a patch or anything of the sort to change this.

Anyone else played it?

[ThunderPeel2001]

What's annoying is the lack of Russian voice acting. The "English language/Russian accent" stuff sounds fucking atrocious and totally breaks the illusion. I was disappointed that I couldn't find a patch or anything of the sort to change this.

Haven't played the game, but this aspect of it reminds me of Enemy At The Gates... aka British people playing Russians! Oh look, it's Cockney geezah Bob Hoskins as a Russian General... which the same accent he uses for every film. I'd much rather have had them faking Russian accents... although I realise that makes no sense.

[James]

I bought and started it not long after Giant Bomb posted their review, based largely on what I judged to be some very cool screenshots. That's utterly daft, I know, but it looked like it was doing some interesting things, visually. I've only played one or two sessions, but that's more because of all the other things there are to be playing than any fault with Cryostasis. I want to return to it sometime.

[ethanThomas]

I've been playing it a bit recently. I can't play in very long increments because the game doesn't run very consistently on my computer and low framerate + first person perspective =

Other than that I really like it, at it's best Cryostasis feels like a cross between Condemned and Bioshock. The linear first person brawler bits from Condemned plus the exploring a decrepit waterlogged (also icy, very icy) environment trying to piece together what happened to the previous occupants from Bioshock.

[Korax]

I bought this game fairly soon after it was released, but just got around to playing it. If you can get over the voice acting and the fact that the engine doesn't seem to have been optimized at all (I built the PC I'm playing on around six months ago, and I'm lucky to get 30 FPS), it's quite a good game. The story and tone during the later parts are completely different from what you might expect from playing the first few hours.

I also happened to have FRAPS ready when I found the infamous cow flashback:

0XkAzrNnFao

[Hyetal]

That cow scene brought some serious chills to my bones. Mostly because the atmosphere and scenery had put me into an incredibly poignant mood. The way the story centered around this guy's ability to change the past was pretty damn cool. I highly recommend the game for the very original experience.

One thing I especially liked was that when the character felt cold, I started feeling cold. Likewise when he warmed up. The respite from the icy surroundings was surprisingly welcoming.

[brkl]

That's not how they kill cows though

[Korax]

One thing I especially liked was that when the character felt cold, I started feeling cold. Likewise when he warmed up. The respite from the icy surroundings was surprisingly welcoming.

The place where I live doesn't have the greatest insulation, and it's the middle of winter. The icy feeling was made even more so because of the occasional chilly draft blowing across the room.

That's not how they kill cows though

I'm no expert on the history of cow slaughtering, but in the story, that event occurs on a Russian ship, during the late 1960's early 1980's. For all I know, that's exactly how it was done.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Lord Korax

[brkl]

Nah, it's too slow. What they do is have this guy with a pneumatic bolt gun.

[Nappi]

Nah, it's too slow. What they do is have this guy with a pneumatic bolt gun.

[brkl]

Exactly!

[miffy495]

Gonna dig up a thread!

Gonna put my thoughts in it!

Gonna get yelled at for bringing up old stuff!

So, I just bought this game for about $3.50 in the Steam sale and played for around 3 hours today. I really like it! It took a while to find graphics settings that work (this thing is a fucking hog), but once I did I found that even with the settings lowered it still managed to look really good. I've really been digging the atmosphere as well. It's sucking me in more than most games have. I was really glad that it's 25 degrees out today too, as even with the crazy hot weather I was feeling chills from the atmosphere. It was a huge rush of relief to find any source of heat I could, and I got jumpy quite a few times. The earlier comparison to Condemned was pretty apt. Anyone who has even a passing interest, it'll be crazy cheap for one more day, so do it. I actually feel kinda bad that I paid so little for it, especially as regular price is something like $13 now, but oh well. I'll just say here that I feel like it's worth much more than it's currently going for, so you may as well grab it while it's hot.

Anyone else have fresh impressions from the game? I know I'm not the only one who bought it this week.

[Thompson]

Gonna dig up a thread!

Gonna put my thoughts in it!

Gonna get yelled at for bringing up old stuff!

So, I just bought this game for about $3.50 in the Steam sale and played for around 3 hours today. I really like it! It took a while to find graphics settings that work (this thing is a fucking hog), but once I did I found that even with the settings lowered it still managed to look really good. I've really been digging the atmosphere as well. It's sucking me in more than most games have. I was really glad that it's 25 degrees out today too, as even with the crazy hot weather I was feeling chills from the atmosphere. It was a huge rush of relief to find any source of heat I could, and I got jumpy quite a few times. The earlier comparison to Condemned was pretty apt. Anyone who has even a passing interest, it'll be crazy cheap for one more day, so do it. I actually feel kinda bad that I paid so little for it, especially as regular price is something like $13 now, but oh well. I'll just say here that I feel like it's worth much more than it's currently going for, so you may as well grab it while it's hot.

Anyone else have fresh impressions from the game? I know I'm not the only one who bought it this week.

I'm going to state several simple facts and then ask you to conclude whether I should buy this game:

I'm not huge on horror games because, surprise surprise, they scare me. (I played Bioshock with the sound off and a funny podcast {Not Idle Thumbs} playing.)

My computer meets the recommended specifications.

I have a massive interest in the time travel feature thanks to Chris talking about it and making it seem awesome.

I'm not looking for a long game because, believe it or not, I really don't feel like sitting down with some 20 hour long life melter.

I don't really want to buy any more games (God damn you Steam!) unless it's a can't miss offer.

[Scratch]

I was really excited to finally play this game when I bought it during the recent steam sale. But it crashes every time after the second level. With all the other games on my plate right now I've given up on it.

[miffy495]

I'm going to state several simple facts and then ask you to conclude whether I should buy this game:

I'm not huge on horror games because, surprise surprise, they scare me. (I played Bioshock with the sound off and a funny podcast {Not Idle Thumbs} playing.)

My computer meets the recommended specifications.

I have a massive interest in the time travel feature thanks to Chris talking about it and making it seem awesome.

I'm not looking for a long game because, believe it or not, I really don't feel like sitting down with some 20 hour long life melter.

I don't really want to buy any more games (God damn you Steam!) unless it's a can't miss offer.

I can't speak to the length, as I haven't finished it myself. Maybe someone who has can help you out on that one. As for scariness, I'd say I'm more tense while playing than scared, if you dig. It's a game that's very very good at putting me on edge. With your max health constantly being determined by the ambient heat of the room that you're in (a really cool feature, by the way) throughout a lot of the game so far I've been both maxed out and clinging to a sliver of health at the same time. I have a gun, but I've only ever used it to solve puzzles so far, as ammo feels scarce enough that I think I'm better off with a fire axe except in extreme emergencies or until I come up against enemies who have firearms themselves. It's actually a really intense and adrenaline driven game. As for actual scares, I think in the first 2 hours or so I fought less than 10 enemies. They pace them really deliberately and well. You won't be rushed with all sorts of people jumping out at you. It all kind of depends on what you mean by scary. It's not "BOO!" scary, but it's very suspenseful. I prefer that kind of fear myself, so make of that what you will.

The time travel thing is indeed really cool. I'm quite impressed by the way they have you doing things as other people that your own character is not really equipped to do. Doing ship maintenance and such. Good stuff. Since your computer meets the requirements, and as it's still 75% off for 24 more hours, I'd say go for it. Even at 3-4 hours of playtime, I feel like it's been totally worth what I paid. You don't need to finish a game if you're not feeling it remember, and for less than the price of renting a console game, this is really worth checking out.

[miffy495]

A couple of things to add. First off, about length, I just checked a couple of reviews and the consensus seems to be that the game is about 10 hours. Not a major investment, but also not a trivial one. Second, I just had my first non-possession supernatural encounter.

Some weird spider-like guy showed up and hunted me for a while. Here I thought I was just dealing with people who'd been driven mad by the environment, but there always were hints at something more sinister going on. Still, seeing that thing in person, watching the realistic way that it scuttles around, and having nothing to fight it with but a rusty and painfully slow bolt-action rifle (a Mosin Nagant, I think?) was heart-pounding.

Really got to me. Freaky shit there, and made all the moreso by the incredibly good pacing of the game. Unlike recent horror games, this one is making me work to see its monsters rather than throwing everything at me in the first hour to try and wow me. I'm also dying a lot more now, but with a couple of exceptions, it feels pretty fair about it. I'm actually loving this game way more than I figured I would.

[Xeneth]

Some good stuff to be hearing as someone who caved and picked it up in the sale...

Unfortunately I have to finish one of my OTHER horror FPSs before I can fire it up- There's gotta be SOME kinda rules or my gaming life eclipses all other life (moreso than it already does, heh). Lately the rule is I can be playing a bunch of different games at any given time, but just one of each genre. The workarounds are pretty hilarious, like when I started an FPS because it's not the atmospheric horror style one! The splitting of genres super fine only gets me so far though- sometimes the titles are just too similar to avoid saying "but you've already got X installed and it's very close to Y and you STILL haven't finished it!"

[Thompson]

http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc30/Thompson_050/?action=view&current=Steam.mp4

Thanks miffy... I think.

[miffy495]

Some good stuff to be hearing as someone who caved and picked it up in the sale...

Unfortunately I have to finish one of my OTHER horror FPSs before I can fire it up- There's gotta be SOME kinda rules or my gaming life eclipses all other life (moreso than it already does, heh). Lately the rule is I can be playing a bunch of different games at any given time, but just one of each genre. The workarounds are pretty hilarious, like when I started an FPS because it's not the atmospheric horror style one! The splitting of genres super fine only gets me so far though- sometimes the titles are just too similar to avoid saying "but you've already got X installed and it's very close to Y and you STILL haven't finished it!"

I'm doing a similar thing, but my rule is "one game in progress on each system at a time." That is, it's ok that I'm in the middle of both Cryostasis (a quick look online tells me that the chapter I'm at is exactly 2/3 of the way through the game) and ODST, even though they're both shooters, because one is on PC and the other is on 360. No starting Alan Wake until I'm done ODST though.

Thomspon, I really hope you enjoy it. I hope I gave you a good impression of how scary it is. It's spooky, and tense as all hell, but not "things jumping out at your face" scary. It trades in atmosphere and very lengthy breaks in the action to mess with your head. Again, 2/3 of the way through the game now. Enemies sometimes have guns, sometimes axes, sometimes blowtorches. There have only been a couple of occasions where I've seen more than one enemy in the space of 10 minutes. When I was in a room with 2 guys shooting at me, it was such a bizarre change of pace. I've only seen any kind of inhuman thing once, that thing I described in spoiler tags. It wants to build and spook you, not shock you. It's very good at that, at least from my perspective.

And hell, even if you don't play very much, at least it was cheap, right?

[Thompson]

I'm doing a similar thing, but my rule is "one game in progress on each system at a time." That is, it's ok that I'm in the middle of both Cryostasis (a quick look online tells me that the chapter I'm at is exactly 2/3 of the way through the game) and ODST, even though they're both shooters, because one is on PC and the other is on 360. No starting Alan Wake until I'm done ODST though.

Thomspon, I really hope you enjoy it. I hope I gave you a good impression of how scary it is. It's spooky, and tense as all hell, but not "things jumping out at your face" scary. It trades in atmosphere and very lengthy breaks in the action to mess with your head. Again, 2/3 of the way through the game now. Enemies sometimes have guns, sometimes axes, sometimes blowtorches. There have only been a couple of occasions where I've seen more than one enemy in the space of 10 minutes. When I was in a room with 2 guys shooting at me, it was such a bizarre change of pace. I've only seen any kind of inhuman thing once, that thing I described in spoiler tags. It wants to build and spook you, not shock you. It's very good at that, at least from my perspective.

And hell, even if you don't play very much, at least it was cheap, right?

Sounds like a good psychological horror game to me, i'm going to man up and play with the sound on this time. Bioshock has taught me to enjoy being scared and to not shortchange my own gameplay experience.

Audio plays a much more important part than I think most people give it credit for, even if a game looks eye-meltingly good if it sounds like crap people will hate it.

Far Cry 2 is an example of game that I think sounds pretty damn good, I love hearing my expended shells hitting the ground or metal while i'm firing a weapon.

I have no regrets about buying it except for the fact that i'll have to spend an eternity downloading it.

[Xeneth]

Glad Bioshock had that effect on you!

In my opinion, being mentally and/or emotionally scared without placing yourself in any real physical danger is very near the pinnacle of things we should enjoy and take advantage of as "evolved" animals!

[Thompson]

Heartbeat must be 160.

Just played 48 minutes (Long enough to

Get the extra door handle from down the hallway to save the guy's life

) and holy mother of god, that is one terrifying game.

Cryostasis may be the first game that ever actively tries to make you take breaks every hour because I couldn't bring myself to play more than 48 minutes in one sitting.

Probably doesn't help that it's 3am and in the middle of a particularly frosty winter...

[Snooglebum]

Is the game actually only $13 in 'Merican money, or is there an invisible sale going on?

[Raff]

That's its full price apparently. I just bought it for 10 euros on Steam then saw that it's €2.48 (!!!) on gamersgate, on a 75% off sale.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-CRYO/cryostasis-sleep-of-reason

[miffy495]

Yeah, it's $13. It was $3.50 last week, but I now feel really bad that I didn't pay way more. Just finished it about 20 minutes ago. This is straight up one of my favorite games of the past year. Maybe the best thing I've played this calendar year. 3 sittings, 4 or 5 hours each (sorry Thompson). It just gets better and better. Avoiding any spoilers (even tagged ones) whatsoever, just play through at least chapter 15. Holy fucking shit.

The boss fight disappointed me in that it existed, but at least it wasn't too bad. It took me forever to figure out what I had to do, but that was just the nature of the game. No hand-holding at all. If someone is getting frustrated playing it, I'll spoiler tag it.

You need to kill the guys around the ring that you're on faster than him. Each one that you kill lights up a thing on your hand, each one that he kills snuffs one out. If all your lights go out, you fail. If you light them all up, you win.

The final set of chapters is incredible. Total mindfuck as well. This feels like an art movie, while also being a great horror game.

Goddamned incredible. Thomspon, I really hope that it doesn't scare you out of playing to the end. I'd say it took me between 12 and 14 hours, including deaths. Also, I died a lot, so don't get too discouraged if you do too. Everybody play this game. The end.