Chernobylite (2021) Review
-For the Uncensored!
As a fan of Russian sci-fi like The Strugatsky Brothers classics like Roadside Picnic, having the chance to play Chernobylite felt amazing. With the terrible fascination of Chernobyl and the incident around the explosion, The Farm 51 studios and publisher All in Games, have a great idea.[i] In 2016, 30 years after the Chernobyl explosion, a Russian scientist Igor, who is trying to find his wife, Tatyana, who we don’t know if is dead or not. Igor finds a piece of Chernobylite, which is a green rock of nuclear waste crystalized, that with a gun, can rip the fabric of time. While you’re on the quest to find Tatyana, there’s so much to do. You are taunted by a Black Stalker. There are some challenging aspect to the game. Stamina, health, and psyche are a big part of the game. If you end up killing too many guards, even stealth fully, it can drain your energy. It does somehow affect the gameplay as your view clouds. You have to cook the medicine in a pan, which provides a small little animation. As much as the game is an open world experience, you have to get the job done and get out of the radioactive zone, or “The Exclusion Zone.”
But while the game has a beautiful atmosphere, the game, while very beautiful in some, can’t run well on a XBOX ONE S. It seems to stutter at some points when I walk or run. The game even lost its sound when I quit the game, but I restarted the system and it worked after that. It’s clear that this game will run better on a PlayStation 5 or XBOX Series system or a higher functioning computer. Farm 51 definitely has the idea down, but maybe it’s my system that can’t handle the brunt of the graphics ported out. But maybe it’s the developers attention to atmosphere that will draw many to play Chernobylite. But does atmosphere truly matter with video games. Video games are a visual format. Video games can’t compete with the linguistic gymnastics that a novel like William Burgesses’ Clockwork Orange. [ii]The difference is, atmosphere can’t entirely save this game, as the mechanics are hampered by glitches.
What the game does offer some promising aspects, but it seems to me a game that wasn’t polished enough. For example, at the prologue level, when I was supposed to take out a guard, I accidentally shined a light on him. Only he didn’t turn around or respond. So, that’s just one thing. I do see one thing as a problem that others might see. The characters faces are covered with a mask, and it doesn’t really help me relate to them or can intrigue some. The gameplay is not pushing for a combat experience, as you definitely should consider stealth over combat. In the beginning, you need to gather more materials, but I couldn’t actually pick up the materials needed as I went along the world.
Chernobylite lets you pick how obsessed your character can maintain his obsession. One thing it does well is that your interactions do help guide you through the story. But another problem that occurred is that every time I quit the game, the language would return to Russian, and I would have to reset the game back on English. This would happen every time I went back to play the game from the menu screen.
While I find Chernobylite fascinating as an atmospheric game, my personal feelings toward the game aren’t what most people can find interesting. I don’t find myself addictively playing the game, but it’s more like a book. You choose the dialogue and you have to temper it with either passionate obsession about finding Tatyana or determined logic. Any other player would have put this down after the second mission, as this is not meant to be a game you burn through, like Call of Duty. Metro would often guide the player by the hand in its story telling (except for Metro Exodus, which allowed the player to explore its semi open world). Chernobylite definitely doesn’t do that, which can confuse the player, but you can’t stay out there all the time. Either through radiation poisoning or damage to your psyche, your decisions will dictate how you play. So, this is actually a positive.
So, there are negative factors to the game. It doesn’t seem to have the polish of most AAA games, and the lack of an friendly NPC, it can get disorienting and the audience can’t relate to the characters. Maybe the developers were going for that.
It does seem to lack an urgency in the story telling, but a novel can take it’s time. And if you’re playing on medium or above, it will get difficult. While I’m not a dark souls player, I will give science fiction a chance however difficult. However, Rob Zombie said about Stanley Kubrick, “He’s dictating everything”[iii] and most artists do challenge there audience to try something different. But not everyone wants a different experience. It’s definitely a game that has its audience in mind. But Chernobylite is nowhere near a Kubrick perfect visuals, except if you played it on PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X/S, or PC. And unlike a Kubrick film, I don’t feel the need to continue playing.
There are lessons to learn from Chernobylite: While there’s a fantastic idea at the center of Chernobylite, and the psyche system needing to be refreshed, this game seems like a step backwards. Maybe it was by design, but atmosphere can’t really save it from a replay. It really shouldn’t be ported to the Nintendo Switch, and having an internet only capability for Chernobylite wouldn’t do it justice. From constant stuttering in the middle of game play, and It might need a bit more polish, and the narrative can be intriguing, but you aren’t allowed to explore as much. The language constantly resetting back to Russian every time I would quit didn’t help either. Enemy AI reaction when lights are shined with the AI not responding to my bluster, pulled me out of the game. And the gathering supplies section in the wild, where you can pick up gear for your base, is broken. I can’t even pick it up. That being said, Chernobylite needs to be played on a better console, PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X/S, or PC.[iv] Definitely was a missed opportunity, but I can blame this solely on the XBOX One and PlayStation 4 versions as atrocious as it could be.
Final Analysis: 2/10
[i] Released on PC July 8th, 2021 and the PlayStation 4 and XBOX on September 28th, 2021. As of October 2nd, 2021, the PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series system version hasn’t been released yet as of.
[ii] I even went through a Nintendo Switch phase, and that was definitely, a short lived experience.
[iii] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eli-roths-history-of-horror-uncut/id1453080639?i=1000494423366.
[iv] Depending if the lack of console systems are still plaguing the industry passed 2021, expect more disappointment.
-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 19 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Our Freedom Book https://www.ourfreedombook.com/thereallouistbruno17. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His next series, City of Sand is out now: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/louis-bruno/city-of-sand/hardcover/product-rke9jz.html?page=1&pageSize=4. Also, if you can’t subscribe so that you can get members only content, please be sure to share the articles, as well. Subscribe as well so you can get my articles in your inbox every time. Every little bit helps in the war against Big Tech. Thanks for reading.