INSOMNIA: The Ark reviews

Edited: Now that the Early Buyer Problem has been solved, I change my Voting to just under positive, with The prospect of a fully positive Voting If the announced Patch solves the technical problems. PRO: Fantastic graphic Design, Art Deco Wherever the Eye looks. In some Levels you can hardly feel full of Details on Buildings, Vehicles, Sculptures and Everyday Objects in the Style of the 20-30s. "Classic" RPG narrative style, no silly question and Exclamation Points above the Heads of Characters, only a small Diamond that signals that the appropriate Person has anything to say at all (regardless of whether relevant or not). Attentive Reading of Conversations and Missions lyrics Is important. Interesting grim Setting in a vast Space station where different Factions scramble for Supremacy and Power. None of these Factions seem really good or evil and the Background of all the Intrigue only gradually opens up to the Player. Nice (creepy) also the References to Russian Politbüreau Squad and GeStaPo Minions in Leather Coats. Relative Freedom in terms of Completing Tasks. In this Way, you can collect countless Quests in the first Sections Without having to follow the Main Number Line, but some Areas do not become accessible until certain Key Events have taken place. Simple but sensible Crafting System that allows items to be disassembled and made consumables (Ammunition, Med Kits, Etc.) from the materials obtained. Furthermore, these Materials are needed to Repair the Equipment and Manipulate objects in the Game world. Destrucable Environment. Cover only lasts a limited Number of Hits, Gas Cylinders explode when hit, etc. Sometimes Paths to Side Rooms or Objects that appear obstructed can be cleared by destroying Obstacles. Fair Combat System that also rewards considered sneaking and Waiting And not only wild Bream (but also goes ^^). CONTRA: First, the Dots that only concern the Design: No real 3D camera View. You can look left or right, but not up or down. That makes aiming with Firearms at short Range very annoying, especially against very big Opponents. Travelling on the World/Stations Map is very slow. At longer Distances, you like to watch a Point as it moves from A to B at a Snail's pace for several Minutes. The deeper Sense behind it doesn't shoot me. The Inventory System is suboptimal. Same Items don't always stack up automatically, automatic Sorting changes the Arrangement arbitrarily in the Inventory. Stiplet Items to the Cursor to scroll up or down only via Detours. Now the Points that don't concern the Design ... Bugs! The Companion AI is quite a mess. In some Levels they don't appear at all, in some they move across the Level from the opposite Side to the Player and trigger Fights and sometimes the AI completely suspends and they just stand around motionless. Some of the Descriptions, Maps and Dialogues are not translated and still in Cyrillic. First Patches, rather than Improvement, brought even more untranslated Passages. There are various Places in Level design where you can get stuck, or endlessly try to hit the tiny Passageway to get further. Certain Levels can completely reset, with all The consequences: Loss of Items from supposedly safe Boxes, reset quest Dialogues and Game Progress In general. I myself have been spared this so far, but the Forum is full of Reports about it and even 3 Weeks after launch there is no Patch in Sight. Some Quest Strands may not be continued by some Players, the Reasons are unclear, solutions not yet in Sight. The Saving System does not allow it to be removed from Savefiles. The Button to remove has no Traction. The Only Way to contain the Shrouding of the Hard Drive before it is fixed Is to delete Manually in the Operating System. Preliminary Conclusion: Despite the still massive technical Problems, I can give the Game a narrowly positive Recovery Rating. If the Developers get to grips with this And even begin to exploit the further Potential That can be seen in Artbook, concepts and Backstories, this Game has a good Chance of becoming a Genre Classic and/or a complete Franchise with Deliver Ideas for Sequels and DLCs. The Start was bumpy, but I see Light at the End of the Tunnel.