Devs need to rethink the fuel/generator mechanic.

[idk]

I'm really enjoying this game so far, it's bringing back a lot of nostalgia of the best parts of RE2r/RE7 which I feel like is still such an under-explored game genre. But the mistake I think the developers have made is that the fuel system in this does not function like the ink ribbon system of RE.

What I mean by this is that the timer on the generator feels like less of a survival horror mechanic, and more just a plain responsibility. There is absolutely no reason to go outside the saferoom for long periods without fueling up. There is no risk vs reward in going outside without the generator, it is just plain stupidity for the most part.

Not to mention; The monster being outside and exploring is a good, fun thing! I don't know why there is a mechanic in place that outright defeats the purpose of playing such a game. The house in RE7 instantly loses its charm whenever Jack disappears from it briefly.

Considering the intermittent shelling that you hear in the game, I would have much preferred that the generator generally worked but would randomly fail. This would mean you would feel incentive to go outside directly after an outage fixes itself, but then also deal with the potential of a subsequent outages as you're exploring. This would also make rooms with locks much more useful as you're going about.

[Coldflame]

Just like RE gives you more than enough ink ribbons, bunker honestly showers you with fuel. The point of the mechanic is to enforce a paranoia and minute-to-minute time pressure where the player is encouraged to take risks, like how ink ribbons encourage you to not search rooms one by one between saves.

[Abyssal Crow]

Only issue with the generator is how much fuel you get. Personally would rather not have some random jank mechanic that just turns off a generator, you're in a recently setup bunker with a fully operational generator, its not gonna suffer an outage. Only thing I'd personally see is if the artillery shelling could cause a temporary power loss in the outer areas so the stalker has a chance to walk around for a minute before it reconnects. Forcing the player to go fully back to the safe room because of an RNG mechanic is a horrible idea though.

[Spekpater]

I disagree. The generator makes the bunker safer to explore as it keeps the beast at bay unless you make noise. So you buy yourself 'safe' time to get stuff done.

Originally posted by Derger:

What I mean by this is that the timer on the generator feels like less of a survival horror mechanic, and more just a plain responsibility. There is absolutely no reason to go outside the saferoom for long periods without fueling up. There is no risk vs reward in going outside without the generator, it is just plain stupidity for the most part.

The generator creates time pressure if you want lights, it adds tension which invokes dread so it is a factual survival horror mechanic, since you are locked in a bunker with an animal that wants to murder you and it can hunt better in the dark and you can't see very far. So the generator provides you with a boon, provided you keep it fed.

There is quite a risk reward for going outside without a gen:
Risks: The Beast will randomly patrol in the dark which creates extreme duress for the player.

Reward: you can stock up on fuel for longer treks or you can use fuel for other things like burning corpses, making traps for the beast, making molotovs,...

Originally posted by Derger:

Considering the intermittent shelling that you hear in the game, I would have much preferred that the generator generally worked but would randomly fail. This would mean you would feel incentive to go outside directly after an outage fixes itself, but then also deal with the potential of a subsequent outages as you're exploring. This would also make rooms with locks much more useful as you're going about.

The generator randomly stopping could be a fun game mechanic but if we go to a somewhat contextual approach, besides the generator breaking down due to disrepair, the chances are small a shelling would make the generator itself black out as it is dug in lower than other rooms and usually generator rooms were in fortified parts of the bunker like a concrete room or hewn into a stone room, like the prison block for example. Random outages would also make the very hard mode even more duressing IMO. But you have a good idea, if a shell drops on a part of the bunker the player is in, it would be great if some lights in that space would flicker or black out for a few secs to create a bit of dread, especially if the monster is patrolling around.

[KajFlo]

I think the worst part is that you need to make noise anyway, to accomplish your goal in each key area. So the monster will appear anyway, even with the lights running. Also the whole thing makes no sense...why is the monster supposed to avoid the light? It has clearly no problem standing outside in the sun, inside with the lights on and it even gets attracted by flares...they really did not think through this game mechanic.

I also highly doubt the monster "patrols randomly" when the lights are out. It always starts to appear in the area the player walks around.

[Abyssal Crow]

Originally posted by KajFlo:

I think the worst part is that you need to make noise anyway, to accomplish your goal in each key area. So the monster will appear anyway, even with the lights running. Also the whole thing makes no sense...why is the monster supposed to avoid the light? It has clearly no problem standing outside in the sun, inside with the lights on and it even gets attracted by flares...they really did not think through this game mechanic.

I also highly doubt the monster "patrols randomly" when the lights are out. It always starts to appear in the area the player walks around.

Monster patrols randomly in the sense that it does wander your area randomly but its not gonna be across the map past 2 load zones, even with the lights on this isn't the case and the only times it's "gone" it's just at a distant spot that could potentially still hear you.

If the monster did patrol the entire map regardless of player position we'd get moments of nothing very threatening in a time where you're supposed to be in danger with the gen off.