Chernobylite was developed by the Polish studio The Farm 51 (Get Even, Painkiller: Hell & Damnation, NecroVisioN) and began its history as an internal studio project without a publisher. For funding, a Kickstarter campaign was also carried out in June 2019 to get back $ 100,000. Ultimately, more than $ 148,000 is pocketed by the studio to launch the site of this narrative role-playing game in the face of the first person to be set in the middle of the Chernobyl power plant’s exclusion zone, just like the legendary STALKER series. In addition, in order to brush the fans of the post-apo atmosphere in the direction of the grain, the developers have widely communicated that certain prominent spots in the area have been laser-scanned for absolute precision, the image of some corners of the city of Pripyat. After 3 years of development, inevitably shaken by the COVID-19 epidemic, the game is finally in our hands: here is our verdict.
In Chernobylite, plays the player Igor Khymynuk, a physicist who was employed at the Chernobyl power plant in 1986 when the famous nuclear accident occurred in April. But during this tragedy, Igor lost his wife Tatyana, who mysteriously disappeared. After many dreams and nightmares a little too realistic, Igor decides to return to the scene of the tragedy 30 years later to finally find out where his wife has gone. Unfortunately, the first round ends badly in the heart of the power plant and Igor realizes that he will need help before he can try his luck again. This is where the player comes in, whose job it is to turn Igor into a real stalker, the head of a first-class team, in order to be able to find his treasure.
Specifically, the game will be split up into days spent exploring the different sectors of the exclusion zone in search of resources, potential recruits and clues as to what might have happened to Tatyana; while the evenings are spent tinkering and improving our skills. In fact, we need to transform the warehouse that is our hiding place into a real arms factory that doubles as a charming hotel. Thanks to our harvest of the day we will be able to build a lot of equipment, be it tools (to unlock the best benches), or workbenches for assembling weapons and their upgrades, ammunition, breastplates for self-protection, first aid kits or even electrical groups. The problem is that nobody likes to live in the middle of an arms factory, and so it will also be necessary to do everything comfortably in order to increase the morale of our employees.
DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
Each crew has a satisfaction meter that depends on the comfort of our base and the food. It will therefore be crucial to be able to feed our compresses properly, but also to transform our camp into a cozy little nest. Partitions, air purifiers, anti-radiation systems, king-size beds, televisions, green plants, and soft armchairs will all be places where we must put our resources to work to ensure the loyalty of our pals. The latter are also particularly important, as they can entrust us with tasks that we perform, but can also improve our skills in exchange for our expertise. A revolver that hurts more, more discreet movements, or even more resource-efficient craft will be essential during the adventure, and each character will have their own distinctive features.
The problem is that at the beginning of the journey we are only accompanied by a single character who could pretty much let us down if we make too many decisions that they do not like. Likewise, depending on our adventure and our choices, we may or may not make certain companions on the different days. The aim is to ideally have 5 team members in order to be able to fulfill all roles during the big final mission. The more we manage to increase the ranks of our team, the more we can improve Igor’s skills in various areas, which will prove to be crucial in order to be able to watch the end of the game in peace. Because if the first few days in the area are like a nice walk in the forest, the more time passes, the more hostile the area becomes. The NAR soldiers will be more numerous and better equipped, while the numbers of monsters and other mutants will literally explode. Worse still, adverse weather phenomena such as thunderstorms generated by chernobylite (a mysterious substance in the form of green crystals that will be the focus of the plot) will also multiply. Finally, remember that death is entirely part of the gameplay here, as each time we die we find ourselves in an alternate dimension where it is possible to use a few Chernobylite crystals to make all the decisions that were made at the start of the game to change.
Caution! Caution !
To give you an idea, you should know that the game lasts about thirty hours and that it takes about 25 days (in-game) to collect the necessary items to complete the final mission. There are several endings on the program, but unfortunately only the decisions you made during the last mission are taken into account. If nothing is said about the plot to avoid spoilers, you know this Chernobylite
This is clearly a good point as most of the time in the area is devoted to tourism and exploration in order to gather essential materials for making crafts. To make the treasure hunt easier, we have a Geiger counter in conjunction with a scanner that shows the resources in a certain area around us. The other part of our schedule will be devoted to combat, which takes the form of classic FPS. Thanks to our excavations or the weapons workshops built in our base, we will be able to assemble and improve our pits. Overall, the combat challenge is not very high and a few headshots are enough to take out most enemies with weapons as simple as the revolver or the AK-47. Even so, any murder will weaken our hero’s morale, and it will then be necessary to re-inflate those final shots of suitable potions, brews based on irradiated mushrooms. The second offensive option is to use stealth. Crouching in the dark, Igor is then relatively invisible to the eyes of the enemies, who can then be stunned. However, this option cannot be implemented on the most heavily armed NAR soldiers or on monsters. Regardless of who your opponent is, the AI won’t work miracles, and too often the enemy’s strategy will be to hit us between two automatic gun strikes.
