Neyasnoe

Alright. Neyasnoe is done and dusted. This was a reasonably interesting walking sim with cool looking lo-fi pixelated graphics and bit of a self-reflective look at the apparent futility of life. At least from the perspective of the developer anyway.
I think the overarching goal of the game is to simply take in the environment as you eventually unlock the keys necessary to finish each level. Depending on how thorough you are, you may or may not find a bunch of what I assume are Russian Easter Eggs. You can also get the plague from interacting with rats, although there doesn't really seem to be any actual impact from having done so. While exploring, you can eavesdrop in on a fair number of discussions happening between NPCs. Which are interesting to stop and listen to.
Each level is basically a part of the town you live in. Initially, you begin outside, and wander around the various buildings looking for a way into one of them. Which you will find. Eventually, you'll end up in a dance bar, and yes, you do in fact dance a bit yourself. You can also drink, buy drugs, and so on. Which reduces your 'corporeality'. Fortunately, there are bags of chips lying around the game as well, which increase said 'corporeality'. I assume this is a metaphor for the degree to which you are present in your own life.
You will at some point end up in a little theater, will get to listen to some dark poetry, and check out some paintings. All set against the backdrop of old rusted machinery and a generally drab setting.
In the end, you head home. And on the way there, you are treated to an expose on the futility of life and the need to find comfort in the daily routine. Or something like that. It probably could be considered a discussion where different people find different meanings behind it.
My sense is that this game doesn't try to solve your problems. Instead, it simply commiserates with your assumed misery. What I would say as well though is, this seems to be written from the perspective of Russians who are very displeased with what is happening in their country at the moment, although at this point, I think we Americans can relate to this quite well given how things are going with Cheetolini Jesus and his ridiculous Orange cultists, who are currently stripping us of everything that we considered inalienable rights beforehand. But isn't that always the way when Oligarchs are in charge of everything? Maybe one day we'll stop wallowing in our sorrow, stop celebrating nationalism and the things that divide us, and work together to solve the Oligarch issue and look towards a brighter future. Who knows?
From my perspective, this was an interesting game if a short one. I think a lot of the Easter Eggs are going to fall flat or simply go unnoticed to non-Slavic people, and so without the extra motivation to find that stuff, this ends up being a short, if somewhat evocative experience. I for sure would not pay ten bucks for this game, or even five bucks, but for two or three bucks, I'd definitely consider this to be a game worth taking a look at.
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Neyasnoe is a walking simulator where you explore a desolate small city doing random things, meeting random people, get life advice from taxi cab drivers, and try to figure out the meaning of it all. Or is there no meaning?

Levels include a tiny nightclub, small variety stores, apartment building hallways, and an art gallery with a poetry reading. Primarily you are exploring outdoor desolate landscapes during nighttime with rats, kicking soccer balls, meeting depressed people, drinking, and smoking.

+ The game has retro pixelated graphics, and is heavy on atmosphere. Very dreamy.
+ The trance nightclub music in the game is awesome.

+/- There is no meaning to any of it, I guess that is the point of this "Art". However just calling something artistic doesn't necessarily mean that the game is fun to play, well made, or good.

- The game is priced too high $13.00 Dollars plus tax for 30-45 minutes of content. Lots of reviews claim how meaningful this game is, but at face value there is not much here to unpack. The meaningful aspects of the game are stale and only skin deep.

At the end of the day there are better artistic avenues to explore existentialism than this.
Barely a pass, make sure you get it on sale.

Overall: 5.5/10

a game about finding your purpose in life. drinking, smoking, partying and killing time - only to realize everyone around you is living in the same limbo entirely devoid of matter and trying to make it by, day by day. a game that is awfully realistic if you're in your 20's, yet not cruel. highly recommend, it really hits the spot.

>walk into nightclub
>see a woman sitting at a table
>talk to her
>she tells me to get a job and that i cant stay here forever
>gain +1 loneliness
>enter a brewery later
>walk into an outdoor area
>two guys are sitting at a table together
>"where are we going to buy cigarettes?"
>"i hate my life"
realest game of all time

This is a very short experience but something about the atmosphere and philosophical undertones really stuck with me and I've replayed it a few times now. There isn't an awful lot to do and if you speed through it it's literally a 20 minute game, but I really do recommend exploring, I won't spoil it. The art style is also really cool, one of the best examples of "low poly" graphics that don't feel like a gimmick.

My only complaint is I wish it was longer with more to explore, but there's something really unique here that I'd love to get more of. Please developer don't stop creating!

Neyasnoe is a beautifully depressing little game set in post-Soviet Russia. There are no specific goals to achieve in its desolate town - and that's kind of the point. All this existence offers is junk food, drink, drugs, and other ways to kill time. I busied myself petting rats, reading lengthy existentialist novel excerpts and poems, making small talk, smoking, and cutting drunken dance moves at the local club. The whole game (all 1.5 hours of it) is a bleakly nihilistic affair: its tutorial explains traditional game mechanics like stacking boxes and jumping across platforms...and then proceeds to never use them. Its NPCs talk wistfully about friends that have escaped this wasteland, or the exhausting struggle to find purpose in this weary world. That unfulfilled promise, that suffocating sense of rotting in the arse-end of nowhere...I was impressed by the delicate choreography of its sequences, of the detail and flavour of each location and activity. This is a game that will make you think...that will make you feel a shared sense of loss, outrage, and clarity. An incredible game for our time.

as someone who grew up in Russia and moved out a long time ago, only to return a couple of times when i was older, this really satiated my nostalgic hunger for the exact kind of depressing, lonely vibes of the country and its people, coping in whatever ways they can with life. there's something oddly comforting about this game in a way i didn't expect it to be. it just feels like home, despite being this gloomy and desolate. i really love this.