My complex Review/Feedback (It didn’t fit in the Steam reviews section due to the number of characters)

[Zakopaniy за дуркой]

𝟕,𝟒/𝟏𝟎📜 (𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬)
«𝘈 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 `𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦` 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 - 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘹 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱»

I don't know much about survival games, I’ve only played a couple of them, and I won’t pretend to be an expert and won`t try to compare to other games, the main thing I want to convey with my review is that we have a real dream game here,
I think you already understand that in spirit and general style this is a parody game, and so far unique in its own way, although every enemy,
Moreover, this game is a reference not only to Half-Life, there is far more than one world, the game promises a whole multiverse journey,
In my opinion, any self-respecting gamer should turn his attention to "Abiotic Factor", especially since it`s also a rare good co-op game (up to 6 people) for you and your friends, then I will try to describe the main points of the gameplay and tell , what worked, and what's not so good yet,

When I first saw the demo at one of the Steam festivals,I actually thought this was the first co-op immersive simulator (like System Shock), albeit an ordinary survival game, but in a closed space - this in itself is quite unique, and a little disorienting for the player wtf I’m in Black Mesa, I need to go further, but they don’t give straightforward instructions,
So, in reality, all the main tasks are quite linear, you need to craft some item, and you can definitely craft it if you poke all the items on the map, something else is dropped by dismembering defeated NPCs with a knife, and already opened recipes can be shared with players around.. oh, exactly, you will not get access to the recipe until you play a mini-game - guess what it should be crafted from from the proposed options, but you don’t have to think much there, you just poke at random until everything matches, I don’t think anyone thinks.
And another very important point on the topic, there are sockets scattered throughout all the locations to which you can connect a workbench, because without it you won’t be able to craft any complex devices, you can also connect a refrigerator, stove, etc., but it’s not clear why the sockets are almost on Every step of the way, even in the most desolate corners, you may think that one socket is not enough, but a pilot splitter will quickly become available to you - and from one you will have essentially an infinite number of sockets in one place, the only thing that there is mobile equipment - these are portable traps with a saw (yes, again like in HL2) or electricity, which you can connect near the battle site and lure the enemy to them, and this also makes it possible to build yourself a base right in any place of the game (an upgraded workbench, btw takes things for crafting from the nearest loot boxes). And the sockets don’t always work, they decided to take this idea further, adding the time of day, at night we have a “blackout” - a complete power outage, accordingly, we need more lighting, and robotic guards come out to hunt, but you can still use the workbench, if you remember to charge the battery, you can connect devices to it like a power outlet. And there are also rechargeable tools, like a flashlight or a vacuum cleaner for "headcrabs", and they require special stations, which are also scattered throughout the game, but, alas, not so often, and you can forget where you left your "fire hammer", while wandering around another floor.

The complex itself has many shortcuts, and.. let's just say that the significant area of ​​action is quite mobile, you can clear all locations, but it`s like in any open world, new doors open from all sides, and you still have to go through the same places 100 times, but only if you craft keys for transportation hubs (yes, there are trolleys here) and key cards of the required access level. There is already transport here, the very first one is a chair) and loaders, while in the early version there is no point in discussing this, well, it exists, dot, there are big roads for it, but there are no sections where it is directly needed, you have to run on foot every time that's OK too. The same goes for the plot, there is a lot of graphomania in the notes, but this is all a conditional plot, it`s not reflected in the story mission in any way, and I didn`t notice anything unique that I had not read in other games about experiments. Gardening in the game seems to be also basic, but differs only in the cultivation of alien plants that emit neon lighting. The platforming in the game is not as crooked as in "Raft", it is just more tricky, we have alien trampolines and makeshift bridges, and usually getting to the top is not difficult.
And it’s also difficult to talk about the crooked impact of weapons, definitely don’t come here for a shooter, I didn’t have any problems with firearms, it’s nice to shoot from the hip, for example, but to reach a powerful one you need to upgrade your accuracy almost the entire game, but shooting from an handmade weapon, of course, was very painful, but visually a disk shooter, or a crossbow that shoots ballpoint pens is cool,
Moreover, there is another funny concept included here, we are not the heroic Gordon Freeman, our characters are ordinary scientists, and they feel like that! Like elderly but very inventive grandfathers, at skill level 1, your sight will wobble even on a target 2 meters away from you, in hand-to-hand combat with “chair legs” we also barely hit, and our legs break even from falling from a high ledge at 1 meter, not to mention other “survival” things like you have to sleep and poop here, the second is very rare, but if you can’t stand it, or step into dirty water, your poisoning level will increase and you will transfer the curse to your teammates, periodically vomiting in all directions (btw enemies can also be infected with vomit). In general, it’s a pretty hardcore game, you won’t be able to just roll into someone else’s server without experience, teammate can only revive you once, if you don’t use a syringe first aid kit (portable healing suitcase is the best), then the second time you’ll die, and oh ♥♥♥♥ here wee go again, you will have to go after your loot, Although there are very conditional things, e.g. everything except a high-quality firearm can be repaired with Duct Tape! Ye, Scotch solves all problems, this resource lying around on every corner, and there is also currency in the form of money, it doesn`t take up space in the inventory, and allows you to buy food or drinks at the nearest vending machines (the supply is endless) if you can't bear it.
It's a shame that there is no specific co-op interaction with teammates, other than transferring something or healing, you can only choose a "conditional class", when you first join someone's world, you can give yourself a little more power, or take a faster cooking skill, and you can also optionally apply negative effects to yourself, and take additional useful skills due to this, but this doesn`t greatly affect the game, there is passive upgrading depending on your actions, like the more you run, the greater the sprint skill, and you will still get what you need,
But the main “hardcore” disadvantage of early access so far is the number of enemies, every skirmish even with a small annoying jumper, even if you have normal weapons, is a small test, and running away is also not so easy, living creatures can chase you right up to your base (therefore it is better to build in a hard-to-reach place, but sometimes there will still be “raids”), they respawn as soon as you leave the sector for 10 minutes, sometimes different types of enemies bump into each other, but they are very “locked” on you, and they are not slowed down by your shots in any way (except for the initial vortigaunt for some reason), although "Grounded" game also did the same, thus they probably artificially lengthen farming times in survival games,
Although there is already plenty of content here, about 40-50 hours, and now... to the most interesting, to the cherry on the cake, what personally interested me most - portals to other worlds, these are linear levels in which there is a dangerous environment from which we can exit at any time through a return portal, or we can collect all the “story” components, or switch all the levers, and unlock the portal at the other end, leading back to the base, but to a previously inaccessible area ,or to a previously unavailable crafting component,
So, the first world is absolutely gorgeous, it also refers to a world-famous game, about the same years as HL, introduces a little stealth, and it’s simply surprising, because at first I didn’t know what to expect from the game, but the next dimensions already made me disappointed, while there are 6 of them, they can hardly be called references to other games (well, if you don’t take into account the SCP section from the ordinary world), there is nothing interesting in their gameplay, just such basic ideas of worlds (and regular Xen is also there), which spoils the “dream gaming” a little, I thought that the developers were ready for experiments - so do something crazy in the portals, aren’t there really enough well-known franchises? it would have helped the PR of the game a lot, everyone would be clipping Tik Toks: "I ended up in Kojima’s “Metal Gear” in survival game or something like that".. But it turned out that other worlds are just a small addition to the main gameplay.

If you look at the road map of the project, there are “Napoleonic” plans with a dozen more different compartments-laboratories (including an underwater one),
The concept of an endless secret research base itself is very cool - I don’t argue, I was inspired by it myself, but along with this comes "monotony".. sooner or later these endless corridors get boring, no matter how cool you do everything technically, in 2024 even “Black Mesa” is boring to play, while “Abiotic” still lacks visual uniqueness and elaboration, a parody is a parody, but it must have some of its own unforgettable charm, so I have slight concerns about the full version; It would be better to concentrate not in quantity, but in quality, releasing all the creative energy into crazy multiverse worlds, although they also promise quite a few of them, but someone is the opposite will appreciate the current approach of the developers for the plenty of “farming” content, which is difficult to argue with, future plans are impressive,
By the way, in the current initial version the game is still wildly crooked, there is not enough smoothness in the mechanics (I already wrote about weapons), there are many bugs and connection problems,
For example, last year’s co-op “The Outlast Trials” from a richer studio came out almost finished, and right away it was very cool, everything polished - it was a thrill, I was surprised by the early access and thought what else could be improved, but in the end nothing radical changed) But now, on the contrary, I look at the “Abiotic Factor” and its future updates with caution, because I see enormous potential, but we need more madness, developers, don’t be afraid, you don’t have some super rich daddy-publisher, you are most likely doing what brings you pleasure, nothing is holding you back, go beyond all sorts of boundaries, add things to the game that “sterile” large studios would never do, experiment while you are in early access so as not to miss the opportunity to make a masterpiece for all time, although for me personally the game is already significant..

p.s. The original avatar of the game, which was before the release, was much more stylish, although it was very reminiscent of HL, but so what.
p.p.s. I wonder if the Stalker stealing things is a reference to the game "Chernobylite"?

😊 𝗦𝘂𝗯 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺`𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿`𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41977550

[Crochwhisle purple]

i read allat and i can say that you talk too much. I could shorten the review to this:

7.5/10. I`m no expert in survival games, but i liked this one. It has a lot of references to Half life and SCP with coop up to 6 players.

I saw this game on steam fest and thought it was an im-sim with survival elements, but it was much more. The game has different mechanics like harvesting bodies with a knife, collecting different resources, and crafting new recipes. The crafting mini game isn`t fun though. Throughout the facility you can find electrical sockets. With the help of splitters you will be able to set up a lot of different traps, benches and appliances. When night comes all the lights go out, so you need to set up batteries to keep everything running and look out for patrolling security bots. Some tools will also require charge, so keep a look out on your bars.

When you start the game you are prompted to make a character, and after doing a tutorial you`ll get to select skills and negative traits with points, These can`t be changed after you get them, but i`ve found they don`t really chain you down to a single playstyle. The skills are leveled up by doing special actions like running, cooking, or reloading.

The game is one large facility, with multiple shortcuts, locked keycarded doors and some portal works that take you out to small locations with specialized loot. Trams, bridges, launchpads, vehicles and personal teleporters will let you traverse way faster than on foot. But they aren`t required, just like reading most of the lore, it`s entirely optional.

The combat isn`t exactly good, but that seems to be the point. You aren`t Gordon Freeman or John Prey, but just some guy. Your bones are brittle, your skin is thin, muscles are weak and you actually have to use the toilet instead of keeping it in for 20 years straight with sleep atleast once in two days and a bath atleast once a weak (optional). Most scientists, even with training, won`t be able to fight off the aliens without a struggle in the beginning of the game. Even the firearms aren`t really that strong.

Sadly there aren`t many interactions between you and your buddies in coop, with only options being to heal or give them your junk. You can revive people only once, and after that they are dead for good, and have to go get their loot back from the location where they died. The game itselfs is pretty hard on food and money (used in all manner of vending machines), so you`ll have to watch out for it. Sometimes your base will get raided (just like in Grounded), which is slightly annoying and artificially lengthens the game.

(here op ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about how he liked the facility but doesn`t like portal worlds for whatever reason)

Abiotic factor has a long roadmap that shows a lot more content that will come someday, but these endless corridors may become stale after walking them for such a long time, and the game is pretty buggy and unpolished at the moment, but with huge potential. I hope the devs prioritize quality over quantity. (also useless peak mesa hate)

[grihajedy2]

Originally posted by Crochwhisle purple:

i read allat and i can say that you talk too much. I could shorten the review to this:

7.5/10. I`m no expert in survival games, but i liked this one. It has a lot of references to Half life and SCP with coop up to 6 players.

I saw this game on steam fest and thought it was an im-sim with survival elements, but it was much more. The game has different mechanics like harvesting bodies with a knife, collecting different resources, and crafting new recipes. The crafting mini game isn`t fun though. Throughout the facility you can find electrical sockets. With the help of splitters you will be able to set up a lot of different traps, benches and appliances. When night comes all the lights go out, so you need to set up batteries to keep everything running and look out for patrolling security bots. Some tools will also require charge, so keep a look out on your bars.

When you start the game you are prompted to make a character, and after doing a tutorial you`ll get to select skills and negative traits with points, These can`t be changed after you get them, but i`ve found they don`t really chain you down to a single playstyle. The skills are leveled up by doing special actions like running, cooking, or reloading.

The game is one large facility, with multiple shortcuts, locked keycarded doors and some portal works that take you out to small locations with specialized loot. Trams, bridges, launchpads, vehicles and personal teleporters will let you traverse way faster than on foot. But they aren`t required, just like reading most of the lore, it`s entirely optional.

The combat isn`t exactly good, but that seems to be the point. You aren`t Gordon Freeman or John Prey, but just some guy. Your bones are brittle, your skin is thin, muscles are weak and you actually have to use the toilet instead of keeping it in for 20 years straight with sleep atleast once in two days and a bath atleast once a weak (optional). Most scientists, even with training, won`t be able to fight off the aliens without a struggle in the beginning of the game. Even the firearms aren`t really that strong.

Sadly there aren`t many interactions between you and your buddies in coop, with only options being to heal or give them your junk. You can revive people only once, and after that they are dead for good, and have to go get their loot back from the location where they died. The game itselfs is pretty hard on food and money (used in all manner of vending machines), so you`ll have to watch out for it. Sometimes your base will get raided (just like in Grounded), which is slightly annoying and artificially lengthens the game.

(here op ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about how he liked the facility but doesn`t like portal worlds for whatever reason)

Abiotic factor has a long roadmap that shows a lot more content that will come someday, but these endless corridors may become stale after walking them for such a long time, and the game is pretty buggy and unpolished at the moment, but with huge potential. I hope the devs prioritize quality over quantity. (also useless peak mesa hate)

Cool, tnx, but in this case there is no creative expression of my thoughts, this is just a technical retelling of gameplay features, although my native language is Russian, and I still can’t convey how I write, but I’m trying

[Blowfeld]

"Abiotic Factor" is a conceptually unique survival game with a promising multiverse theme, earning a 7.4/10 in its early access phase. The game stands out for its parody style and co-op gameplay, accommodating up to six players. The crafting system involves scavenging and mini-games, but can feel tedious and lacking in logic. Power mechanics, such as sockets and portable traps, add depth but can be cumbersome due to frequent enemy respawns and nighttime blackouts.

The game features a mix of linear tasks and open-world exploration, with transport options like chairs and trolleys. While the plot and gardening elements are basic, the platforming is relatively smooth. Combat can be frustrating due to unsteady aim and weapon impact issues. Characters feel like ordinary, vulnerable scientists, adding to the game's hardcore survival aspect.

Portals to other worlds provide exciting but inconsistent experiences, with some levels feeling underwhelming compared to the game's initial promise. Despite its potential and extensive content, the game suffers from bugs and lacks polish. The reviewer hopes the developers will embrace bold, experimental ideas to fully realize the game's potential as a standout title in the survival genre.

We all enjoy helping OP become a better reviewer 😉