Recent reviews by Mysterious Stranger

Admittedly, I had played this game long before it arrived on Steam.

Had a very successful gang that terrorized other player gangs.

The UI and web combination is a little on the clunky side, the graphics, while not bad, do show their age

At it's core the strategy mechanics are solid, not perfect, but solid.

There are large amounts of customization to vehicles and characters, just beware of permadeath... It is there, waiting for your characters and vehicles....

Takes some adjustment, the short and mid game is quite fun.... long term... well that is an article all to itself.

*Disclaimer*

Semi Spoiler free review (keeping them to a minimum)

I have 2 licensed copies of this title, one for steam, one for Gog.com. My playtime to go through thoroughly explore this game probably ranges much closer to 30 - 35 hours total time played. That being said.....

- While I sincerely appreciate the what and even how the developers trying to get their message across, even agree to a certain extent (I bought the steam version after the Gog.com version and purchased the charity DLC), this review is of the game itself, not the humanitarian message

Graphics - 7.5 / 10

Gritty, grimy, dust filled, war torn streets and buildings. The black and white motif does actually accentuate the feel and emotions. However many of the animations seem rather flat, missing frames for many of human model movements, Some of the environments are rather repetitive or reused from area to area.

However there are certain points of brilliance that shine through as well, such as the construction site and supermarket. Many aspects from a graphical standpoint could have been a bit more polished and detailed.

Gameplay - 8.0 / 10

This game plays more like a survival type RPG. The crafting to survive, the interactive elements within the differing sites, the interaction between your different personas and the NPCs behaviors such as being friendly or hostile depending on the situation adds some nice flavor at times. The PC characters grumbling about not having some coffee or a smoke, sometimes how they will argue amongst themselves as group, or even the different ideas based on the previous nights performance and actions is an interesting touch.

Some of the detraction is NPCs never seem to remember you unless you do something negative (An individual reputation mechanic would benefit here very well), Crafting or certain other actions such as cooking seem to take an inordinate amount of time game wise. (10 game minutes to walk up some stairs?), of which is the ultimate currency in this game. Materials gathering can be fun experience at first as you are exploring, but becomes a severe grinding element after the first 3 or 4 days.

Replayability is another factor here, while you may unlock certain new characters or even a new starting building (random), some of the sites *MAY* have some differing scenarios, but object placement and the like are pretty much the same. For many people, this may be a deal breaker long term, where a bit more inserted random elements might help alleviate this.

Audio - 7.5 / 10

The music is the centerpiece to the bleak atmosphere, Most lot of the characters, areas, interactions with objects and other places, the audio is otherwise generic or uses what could be considered "stock" effects. This game truly relies on the music (excellent might I add) to convey the story. Mood setting it may be, the game is severely lacking in this area.

Overall - 7.5 / 10

Good attempt by an indie development team, however the push of the humanitarian message over solid gameplay elements leaves this title feeling a bit mediocre at best.

Play it... Love it