Good day to everyone! The apocalypse took a key place in the game and cinematic industry a few decades ago. From that time, addictions to this have not come to naught, but even greatly evolved. Now, almost every year, humanity is saved from robots, then from terrifying flora and fauna, then from the deadly virus. So the Russian market could not bypass this topic, creating a post -apocalyptic walking simulator with a first -person view – "35mm".
Today, the remake of the first author’s creation of Sergei Noskov called “The Light” is released (already). On the eve of such an event, I decided to write a review on its previous and seemingly promising bootyer with harsh Russian reality.
And it all started with the thought that came to mind to the fan fan of the theme of the stalker and the Metro universe, many years ago. This idea was dusting for a long time on the shelf and brought to the necessary condition, but, sooner or later, she was destined to go to the next stage of development – the implementation of the conceived.
“In some interviews, I already mentioned that I usually have no clear development plan, but only a general picture. Therefore, often, the creation of locations is spontaneous and the design is thought out on the move. This, of course, is more than a minus than a plus, but there is a positive side – it is very entertaining, and you never know exactly what will happen next, ”wrote Sergey Noskov.
So in this game, the creation shifted with a dead point along with a forest abandoned house and a spacious area with fields and coniferous forest. But on this small imaginary square, things did not end. Sergey had to work well on the rest of the territorial and embossed component, so that at least it remembered remindedly something real and adequate.
“To build the surface of the Earth, a terrane with 5-6 textures of grass and earth was used. The standard sheder of the terrane stains the surface with different textures on the RGBA mask, which we create with a brush in the engine itself, and the result often looks very blurry, the transitions between the textures are too smooth and do not seem natural. To finalize this moment, Shader Terrein was changed and a shift mask was added. The ChB Texture shifted a mask drawn in terrane and created more torn and clear edges, which visually a little complicated the type of surface ”
In addition, in order to add surfaces the ability to express himself, the author brought several types of grass in the form of randomly scattered playgrounds, as well as interference with branches and stones, a number of decals with dirt and traces of car wheels.
Things are much more difficult with vegetation, because giving them a 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 with the help of Terrein’s instruments – that is, a brush. The plus of this method is that this is done quickly and easily, moreover, at a large distance, such a forest is transformed from bags into billboards, which is very good at optimizing. However, the load increases greatly in close, because, as I understand it, such trees do not bathe. "
The first pairs of development turned out to be such difficult, but further it was expected: the settlement of lighting, the creation of 3D and 2D models, the animation of the characters and the imposition of sound on the KAT scenes. For everything about everything, Sergei Noskov took two and a half years, which is absolutely clear, because the time to implement thoughts goes much more if you do everything alone, and even at the minimum funds of 20 thousand. rubles. The initial description is compiled in order to at least approximately understand the work that was invested in this project from a technical point of view. By this link, you can familiarize yourself with all the difficulties and successes of a designated developer in much more detail – https: // habr.COM/ru/post/448340/ . And we move to the very assessment of game content directly!
“The game tells about the journey of two characters through the empty lands of our native country. Unknown disease brought death to the cities and the villages of Russia and the whole world. Only a small part of the population of the planet, which now has to survive, returning to collecting and the agrarian type of economy ” – Sergey Noskov remained alive
It all starts with the fact voodoo-wins.uk that two travelers decided to gather together for some internal reasons. A large and ownerless world opens up with them, but the protagonist is only interested in one goal – to get to their home. Their path is not close to, which means they somehow need to kill their free time. And here the main problem is opened. For a place to play cards, hide and seek or other game, they prefer to talk all the time. Well, the dialogue cannot be harmful, and the characters know this like no other. But the problem is that all their communication is reduced to moral thoughts and semantic reasoning. Each line flying from their mouths necessarily has some kind of philosophical background. Here are examples:
Yes, not only the internal experiences of the heroes are transmitted to such episodes, but also a general opinion of the people in one person. But, with the naked eye, the lack of sincerity in statements is visible – it is just like the author’s thoughts pronounced by the lips of the characters. It is not necessary to speak out loud smart judgments when events so confirm them. This is confirmed by the game, which was so inspired by Sergey Noskov – "Metro: Exodus". The lives of individual characters depended on whether the player puts other people’s life at the head of his own principles. Immediately we saw only two similar points when the main character was given the opportunity to help your neighbor:
True, it is quite difficult to call a choice in the usual sense of the word. In the first case, rather the options are as follows: either we intervene and get a bright flash, or this will be done for us by a partner. The second is no better: either we give a first a first -aid kit for a friend, or he copes with his wound without us.
Ah, yes! There is still the opportunity to help the boy in solving a quite pleasant mini-game. It is commendable, but little!)
As we already know everything, the creator of the game was inspired by such a franchise as "Metro". And the whole series, without exception, is haunted by a certain karma, which is highlighted at the time of execution "Good actions".
But, as we recall, in the initial pairs, even the post -apocalyptic shooter had problems. In the first parts, Karma could depend simply on the game on a musical instrument, or other not very logical actions. Nevertheless, we liked it (or suffered) because in addition to positive karma, there was also a negative. And the chances of making a good act were given to us much more. Here, flashes appear mainly when we find another page with an important text or see an interesting Easter.
The second photo depicts an Easter barn for the very first game of Sergei Noskov "The Light"
In addition to such necessary bright illumination, the sheets bring a certain clarity to the plot component. A separate story of everyday life lives in each of them, and, perhaps, it is she who does work for the speech of the characters. They describe the suffering of the people, sincere experiences, and simply a statement of subjective opinion on what is happening. In addition, we are opening new details about the deadly virus, which are unlikely to hit the imagination, but still intrigue before the disclosure of their secrets. Like all protagonists, in this game there are also antagonists. Unfortunately, in this particular case, no character can hook the player properly. The main character and his partner are good guys who pursue only good goals. You can’t say anything more about them, because everything that we see or hear is a collection of wise statements. WITH "Bad guys"things are even worse. We don’t even know their names and are there any motives for their actions. The villains are represented by ordinary looters and bandits who kill and poison everyone’s lives only because they want it so. They appear and instantly disappear from the script, like an ordinary barrier on the path of two fellow travelers. Actually, it is. But it would be much more interesting to participate in the confrontation of the so -called "Good and evil", and don’t run away from him, headlong.
Even early I already mentioned the visual style, and separately noted the merit of Sergei Noskov in this component. Given the fact that he found himself in not the most favorable conditions for the realization of his talent, there is no point in finding fault with the little things. I only describe some key points.
From the first moments, we are immediately introduced to the intra -game control. It is unlikely that elements of movement 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 overcome a few kilometers on foot, and you can’t call your partner in any way a walking champion, you have to wait from time to time. In this position, 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 are especially difficult to find. For example, take the same bucket that jumps from place to place arbitrarily. While you find it, you’ll go crazy to run along and across the entire location. In addition, if I accidentally listened to the task that I received, it will turn out to go through this piece of level, because there is completely no even the slightest reminder of the task. In addition to the main missions, they are trying to dip the collection of various necessary items for survival with our heads: food, first -aid kits, batteries, cartridges.
Food and first -aid kits perform only one function – replenish health. But, it is unlikely that you can remember in the game some special situations when we will definitely need such equipment. Personally, by the end of the passage, there were 3 first -aid kits and 9 pieces of food (it would be more if it were not for stretch marks). That is, all this good is more than enough, and, to be honest, the game can generally go without the use of all sorts of saving lotions. The situation is identical to the batteries that are needed for the flashlight. The device simply cannot be discharged to the very end, and the difference between its completely charged state and the same aside is minimal.
Also, you can find these photos, but there is little sense in them
Here with weapons, things are generally uninitiated. In the course of the game, we have a knife, ax, gun and automatic. We need a knife in order to cut the ropes that tightly wrap the door handles. Ax – for breaking off particularly fragile obstacles. But the firearm came up with a more rational application. But, there is no need to worry about cartridges at all. Firstly, because in all cases of its application, we always have a successful reserve at hand in order to leave the winner from the fight. And secondly, because there are not so many episodes in the game that is generally logical in the walking simulator. The problem here is more likely to organize these very combat situations. Yes, I understand that making them also very difficult, but still. Enemies behave too strange and stupid, run away behind the walls, do not even die from a direct hit. At the same time, unfortunately, there is no aiming system, which certainly reduces the firing mechanics almost to zero.
The moment does not get out of my head when you can just escape from enemies without any consequences)
Diversify the pastime in the game is trying to make our right camera. The number of pictures can be made endless, and the entire footage will be stored on the main page of the game. This is perhaps the best discharge for the player of all possible alternative efforts of the author. It is only a pity that participation in its passage itself is not great – only a couple of pictures for a flash. But this feature could be made key, because there is nothing better than looking at the enthusiastic natural beauty through the framework of the lens.
Also, sometimes the author slips single puzzles at the media pace, apparently so that we do not relax hard. True, it is worth recognizing that some attempts were far from the ideal. In general, looking for eternal code is not the best quest option. And here almost everything is connected with this. Recall at least 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 her search, but the game requires just this – to jump and in time press the viewing key. However, there are still those logical tasks that are worthy of praise. For example, you can recall hot steam, blocking the path for passage. To solve it, coordination in space and confusion about neon light should be shown in space. Although, it is unlikely that anyone is at all encountered here with problems, but the puzzle is interesting.
And now, a little words about graphics. In general, it looks good, especially if you forget in what year you live in the time of passage. Well, what can you still expect from a low -budget indie project? The picture perfectly reflects the reality that is happening even now. Thanks to this game, you understand that the post -apocalypse in Russia has begun for a long time. Of all the locations, I liked the final one most of all – the city. A lot of work was really done there, and many buildings created the impression of saturation. Many also note the sound component, but I personally remember only one loud melody in the battle of the station "Revolution". But I think this is already talking about a lot.
Ah, yes! I almost forgot about an interesting political connotation in the creation of Sergei Noskov.
Early I already mentioned that in this game there is a certain calculation of earned karma. In total, you can get to +30 here, but, the first time, everything will not be possible to find everything. If you rely on sources, you can say that it is enough to score more than 10 positive points before parting with a partner. But this is so, preface.
I’ll say right away that there are three endings. I was given the middle of them. In it, the main character avoids death from a stab with a knife, but loses his partner. At the same time, the end comes in his house when he considers the family album. I wondered what would happen to the rest of the scenarios. Duck, with an unsuccessful option, the character is seriously wounded, but, nevertheless, continues to solve the puzzle by how to get into his own house. It looks especially overwhelming when passers -by do not even notice that our character was death. As a result, after we are forced to penetrate the place of residence, everything ends again behind the viewing of the family album. In a good ending, the hero and his partner summarize the game before watching the album. In my opinion, the endings are unlikely to repeat the same events over and over again, forcing us to try only for the sake of life and our neighbor. This despite the fact that the characters were not revealed to the maximum. It would be much more interesting to complete the 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, a rather dull attempt to harm the main character after the fact that he passed. Thus, the final failed, apparently, to justify all the efforts that were organized for the sake of additional points.
This time, I will manage without breaking into pros and cons, because everything is ambiguous here and relatively. I can only note that the plot clearly pulls this game down, and the visual is trying to drag as much as possible. At times it is terribly boring to wander around these same villages, and sometimes it is very interesting to solve puzzles. So with the whole game – it contradicts itself in her desires and ambitions. If we evaluated the StopGame system.ru, then the indicator of the assessment would fluctuate somewhere between "Proproding" and "Bold". My advice to the developer (if he, of course, needs him): "In this harsh world of competition you can not go alone, because it is always easier to share joy and hardships with another colleague". At the end, I want to wish Sergey good luck in further work!
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