Good day everyone! Apocalypse occupied a key place in the gaming and film industry several decades ago. Since that time, addictions to such things have not disappeared, but have even evolved greatly. Now, almost every year, humanity is saved either from robots, or from terrifying flora and fauna, or from a deadly virus. So the Russian market could not ignore this topic, creating a post-apocalyptic walking simulator with a first-person view – "35MM".
Today a remake of Sergei Noskov’s first creation called “The Light” is being released (or has already been released). On the eve of such an event, I decided to write a review of his previous and seemingly promising adventure game with the harsh Russian reality.
It all started with a thought that came to the mind of an ardent fan of the stalker theme and the Metro universe many years ago. This idea gathered dust on the shelf for a long time and was brought to the necessary conditions, but, sooner or later, it was destined to go to the next stage of development – the implementation of the plan.
“In some interviews I have already mentioned that I usually do not have a clear development plan, but only a general picture. Therefore, often, the creation of locations occurs spontaneously and the design is thought out on the fly. This, of course, is more of a minus than a plus, but there is also a positive side – it’s very entertaining, and you never know exactly what will happen next,” wrote Sergei Noskov.
So in this game the creature moved from the dead center along with an abandoned forest house and a spacious area with fields and coniferous forest. But it didn’t end there in this small imaginary square. Sergei had to work hard on the rest of the territorial and relief components so that it would even remotely resemble something real and adequate.
“To build the ground surface, a terrain with 5-6 grass and earth textures was used. The standard terrain shader paints the surface with different textures using an RGBA mask, which we create with a brush in the engine itself, and the result often looks very washed out, the transitions between textures are too smooth and do not seem natural. To improve this point, the terrain shader was changed and a displacement mask was added. The black and white texture displaced the mask drawn in the terrain and created more jagged and sharp edges, which visually complicated the appearance of the surface a little."
In addition, to give the surface the ability to express itself, the author introduced several types of grass in the form of chaotically scattered plains, as well as meshes with branches and stones, a number of decals with dirt and traces of car wheels.
With vegetation, things are much more complicated, because giving them density and animation is not so easy, especially when we are talking about the initial stage.
“I preferred to plant the main part of the forest using the tools of the terrain itself – that is, with a brush. The advantage of this method is that it is done quickly and easily; moreover, over a long distance, such a forest is transformed from meshes into billboards, which has a very good effect on optimization. However, in the vicinity the load increases greatly, because, as I understand, such trees do not butcher"
The first stages of development turned out to be so difficult, but what awaited him further was: adjusting lighting, creating 3D and 2D models, character animation and adding sound to cut scenes. It took Sergei Noskov two and a half years to do everything about everything, which is absolutely understandable, because it takes much more time to translate thoughts into reality if you do everything alone, and even with minimal funds of 20 thousand. rubles. The initial description was compiled in order to at least approximately understand the work that was invested in this project from a technical point of view. At this link you can get acquainted in much more detail with all the difficulties and successes of a dedicated developer – https://habr.com/ru/post/448340/ . And we move on to the actual evaluation of game content!
“The game tells the story of the journey of two characters through the deserted lands of our native country. An unknown disease brought death to cities and villages in Russia and around the world. Only a small part of the planet’s population has survived, which now has to survive by returning to gathering and an agrarian type of farming” – Sergey Noskov
It all starts with https://slotsnogamstop.co.uk/ the fact that two travelers decided to get together for some internal reasons. A large and ownerless world opens up before them, but the main character is interested in only one goal – to get to his home. The path ahead of them is not close, which means they somehow need to kill their free time from moving. And here the main problem is revealed. Instead of playing cards, hide and seek or another game, they prefer to talk all the time. Well, dialogue can’t be harmful, and the characters know this better than anyone else. The only problem is that all their communication comes down to moral reflections and semantic reasoning. Every line that comes out of their mouths necessarily has some kind of philosophical background. Here are examples:
Yes, such episodes convey not only the internal experiences of the characters, but also perhaps the general opinion of the people in one person. But the lack of sincerity in the statements is visible to the naked eye – it just looks like the thoughts of the author, uttered through the lips of the characters. It is not necessary to pronounce clever judgments out loud when events already confirm them. This is confirmed by the game that Sergei Noskov was so inspired by – "Metro:Exodus". The lives of individual characters depended on whether the player puts other people’s lives at the head of his own principles. Here we saw only two similar moments when the main character was given the opportunity to help his neighbor:
True, it’s quite difficult to call this a choice in the usual sense of the word. In the first case, the options are rather as follows: either we intervene and get a light flash, or our partner will do it for us. The second is no better: either we give a first aid kit to a friend, or he copes with his wound without us.
Oh yes! There is also an opportunity to help the boy solve a quite enjoyable mini-game. This is commendable, but not enough!)
As we all already know, the creator of the game was inspired by such a franchise as "Metro". And the entire series, without exception, is haunted by a certain karma, which is highlighted at the moment of execution "good actions".
But, as we remember, in the initial stages, even the post-apocalyptic shooter had problems. In the first parts, karma could simply depend on playing a musical instrument, or other not very logical actions. Nevertheless, we liked it (or tolerated it) because in addition to positive karma there was also negative. And we were given much more chances to do a good deed. Here, flashes appear mainly when we find another page with important text or see an interesting Easter egg.
The second photo shows an Easter egg to Sergei Noskov’s very first game "The Light"
In addition to the necessary bright highlights, the sheets bring a certain clarity to the plot component. In each of them there lives a separate story of everyday life, and, perhaps, it is this that does the work for the speech of the characters. They describe the suffering of the people, sincere experiences, and simply expressing a subjective opinion on what is happening. In addition, new details about the deadly virus are revealed to us, which are unlikely to amaze the imagination, but still intrigue before revealing their secrets. Like all protagonists, this game also has antagonists. Unfortunately, in this particular case, neither character can hook the player properly. The main character and his partner are good guys who only pursue good goals. Nothing more can be said about them, because everything we see or hear is a collection of wise sayings. WITH "bad guys"things are even worse. We don’t even know their names or whether there are motives for their actions. The villains are presented as ordinary looters and bandits who kill and poison everyone’s lives just because they want to. They appear and instantly disappear from the script, like an ordinary obstacle on the path of two fellow travelers. Actually, that’s how it is. But it would be much more interesting to take part in the confrontation between the so-called "good and evil", and not run away from him, headlong.
Even earlier, I already mentioned the visual style, and separately noted the merit of Sergei Noskov in this component. Considering that he found himself in not the most favorable conditions for realizing his talent, there is no point in nitpicking about trifles. I will just describe some key points.
From the first moments, we are immediately introduced to the in-game controls. It is unlikely that the movement elements can cause any problems, except that the main character gets tired of running after a certain time. This, of course, is not very convenient, given that sometimes you have to walk several kilometers, and you can’t even call your partner a walking champion—you have to wait for him from time to time. In this situation, the absence of at least some kind of communication system looks more impressive. After all, despite the fact that there seems to be nowhere to get lost, some references and items for tasks can be especially difficult to find. For example, take the same bucket that jumps from place to place randomly. By the time you find it, you’ll go crazy running up and down the entire location. In addition, if you accidentally listened to the task that you received, you will have to go through this piece of the level again, because there is absolutely no even the slightest reminder of the task here. In addition to the main missions, they are trying to plunge us headlong into collecting various necessary items for survival: food, first aid kits, batteries, cartridges.
Food and first aid kits serve only one function – to restore health. But we can hardly remember any special situations in the game when we would definitely need such equipment. Personally, by the end of the passage, I had 3 first aid kits and 9 pieces of food left with me (it would have been more if not for the stretch marks). That is, all this goodness is more than enough, and, to be honest, the game can be completed without using any saving gadgets. The situation is identical with the batteries that are needed for the flashlight. The device simply cannot discharge to the very end, and the difference between its fully charged state and the similarly extinguishing state is minimal.
Also, you can find photos like this, but they are of little use
Things with weapons are generally lackluster. As the game progresses, we have a knife, an ax, a pistol and a machine gun. We need a knife to cut the ropes that tightly wrap around the door handles. Ax – for breaking out particularly fragile obstacles. But they came up with a more rational use for firearms. But there is no need to worry about ammo at all. Firstly, because in all cases of its use, we will always have the necessary reserve at hand in order to emerge victorious from the battle. And secondly, because there are not so many shooting episodes in the game, which is generally logical in a walking simulator. The problem here is rather in the organization of these very combat situations. Yes, I understand that making them is also very difficult, but still. The enemies behave too strangely and stupidly, run away behind walls, and don’t die even from a direct hit to the head. At the same time, unfortunately, there is no aiming system, which certainly reduces the shooting mechanics to almost zero.
I can’t get out of my head the moment when you can just run away from enemies without any consequences)
Our trusty camera is trying to diversify your time in the game. The number of pictures you can take is endless, and all the footage will be stored on the main page of the game. This is perhaps the best release for the player from all the possible alternative efforts of the author. It’s just a pity that the participation in the passage itself is not great – only a couple of pictures to get the flash. But this feature could be made key, because there is nothing better than looking at inspiring natural beauty through the lens.
Also, sometimes the author slips single puzzles into the mediation pace, apparently so that we don’t relax too much. True, it is worth recognizing that some attempts were far from ideal. In general, looking for the eternal code is not the best quest option. And here almost everything is connected with this. Just remember that ill-fated folder that literally stuck to the bottom of the ventilation. It is worth admitting that it is not at all clear who will jump in search of her, but the game requires exactly this – jump and press the view key in time. However, there are still those logic puzzles that are worthy of praise. For example, you can recall hot steam blocking the path for passage. To solve it, you need to show coordination in space and ingenuity about neon light. Although, it is unlikely that anyone will encounter problems here at all, but the puzzle is interesting.
And now, a few words about graphics. In general, it looks good, especially if you forget what year you live in now during the playthrough. Well, what else can you expect from a low-budget indie project?? The picture perfectly reflects the reality that is happening even right now. Thanks to this game, you understand that the post-apocalypse in Russia began a long time ago. Of all the locations, I liked the final one the most – the city. There really was a lot of work done there, and the many buildings created an impression of activity. Many people also note the sound component, but I personally remember only one loud melody in the battle at the station "Revolutions". But I think that already says a lot.
Oh yes! I almost forgot about the interesting political subtext in the work of Sergei Noskov.
I already mentioned earlier that in this game there is a certain calculation of earned karma. In total, you can get to +30 here, but you won’t be able to find everything the first time. If you rely on sources, you can say that it is enough to score more than 10 positive points before parting with your partner. But this is so, preface.
Let me tell you right away that there are three endings. I got the middle one. In it, the main character escapes death from a knife attack, but loses his partner. At the same time, the end comes in his house when he looks at the family album. I wondered what would happen in other scenarios. So, if the option is unsuccessful, the character is seriously injured, but, nevertheless, continues to solve the puzzle of how to get into his own house. It looks especially overwhelming when passersby don’t even notice that our character is dying. As a result, after we are forced to enter the place of residence, everything ends again while looking at the family album. In the good ending, the hero and his partner sum up the game before viewing the album. In my opinion, endings should hardly repeat the same events over and over again, forcing us to try only for the sake of the lives of ourselves and our neighbors. This is despite the fact that the characters were not developed to the maximum. It would be much more interesting to complete a bad outcome in that place with anomalies. It would be quite tragic if the goal was never achieved.
In general, there is no difference between them, and besides, it’s a rather dull attempt to harm the main character after what he went through. Thus, the final failed, apparently, to justify all the efforts that were organized for the sake of extra points.
This time, I will do without breaking down the pros and cons, because everything here is ambiguous and relative. I can only note that the plot is clearly dragging this game down, and the visuals are trying to pull it down as much as possible. At times it can be terribly boring to wander around these same-type villages, and sometimes it’s even very interesting to solve puzzles. So with the whole game – it contradicts itself in its desires and ambitions. If we were evaluating using the stopgame system.ru, then the assessment indicator would fluctuate somewhere between "prohodnyak" and "commendable". My advice to the developer (if he needs it, of course): "In this harsh world of competition you cannot go alone, because it is always easier to share joy and hardships with another colleague». Finally, I would like to wish Sergei good luck in his future work!
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