DESOLATE
Two years ago Granichny Island became an epicentre of a large-scale disaster of unknown origin. “The New Light” conglomerate covered up this catastrophic event – and now aims to rectify the consequences as much as they can. A massive campaign is underway, during which so-called “Volunteers” – most of whom have never held a weapon in their hands – are sent out onto Granichny. Their mission – to research the paranormal activities of the island, gathering information and undertaking dangerous tasks, all in hope of amending mistakes of the past. None of them are ready for what comes next. Play the role of a Volunteer, and explore a place filled with threats of every shape and size – from monsters and madmen to supernatural anomalies and seemingly impossible weather patterns. Journey through the present of this forsaken world to uncover its secrets.
Game Discussion
Steam User 11
TL:DR Buy only if its under 5$
The Good:
Atmosphere is amazing
Music and voice acting of the protagonist and main quest are great
Some main Quest moments are great.
The Bad:
Game legitimately feels unfinished and abandoned at times. NPCs look worse than oblivion NPCs. No fast travel means half your time will be running like an idiot from one quest to the next. This gets even worse when you have multiple side quests pulling you in different directions, There is a feeling that the Devs tried to combine too many genres in one game and did a poor job at that. You have atmosphere of Stalker, a Fallout map, survival mechanics of the Long Dark, forced unnecessary COOP meaning online features like items always reappearing in places you picked them up and Dark souls respawn at predetermined places, crappy melee centric combat of Dead Island (yes with its crappy melee weapon crafting) and a horrible half baked Gunplay that might as well not be in the game.
I am leaving a positive rating only because the Devs clearly have the talent of making a good game if only they focus their abilities at once specific direction. My advice, dump every other game trope (suvival/coop/crafting/melee etc), focus on Gunplay and make a good Stalker/Fallout clone. You clearly have the talent to craft an awesome dark and spooky atmospheric FPS open world game.
Steam User 16
I enjoyed this game, a lot of people talking about the Metro's franchise and Metro is better and I loved it, but this one is not bad at all, they updated it, altho the graphics aren't flawless at all, the game is good itself and I had fun.
DESOLATE 6/10
Heisen
Steam User 13
Desolate throws players into a dark, post-Soviet world where every day is a fight to survive. And this is where the game is set: a desolate island, Granichny — cauldron of unyielding atmospheric dread that is very reminiscent of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., combined with its own really strange feeling of horror and survival mechanics. As a volunteer exploring paranormal activities and anomalies after catastrophe, roaming around in a wide-open world full of mutants, the players receive the remains of a failed experiment.
The game is much stronger in the sense of its world and exploration. In fact, every corner of Granichny is a danger and a mystery, driving the player to manage resources meticulously in order to guide through environmental challenges that include extreme cold, radiation, and a variety of ailments. That role-playing system allows huge customization and development that lets players adapt to a changing style while more of the island's secrets are revealed.
Desolate is no bright star without its failings. The combat system is rudimentary and, at times, cumbersome due to the primitive enemy AI, which at some points can be crippling for the overall experience. It's also plagued by a few technical problems — the already low tier of animation and voice acting but mainly some optimization problems that harm the fluidity during the playing.
Anyway, game atmosphere and permanent danger Desolate into a pretty good game for a few nights. Cooperative mode brings more fun and strategy into the process when all players can unite and go through different adventures and obstacles of an island together.
Steam User 6
DESOLATE is a buggy, a mess of a game with many animation and visual glitches. It does however have solid enough mechanics. It has decent horror elements and sounds. Best part is the story, so if you like good story games with horror elements and can get past the glitches, give it a try.
Steam User 3
Buggy, a mess of a game. Animations and visual glitches. And yet, the game has solid enough mechanics. Its only a 5 on a 1-10 but the story is a pretty solid 7. Its good for a quick play through. If you skip gathering materials you could probably beat this game in 6-7 hours easily.
The story is where this game shines. The slight horror elements too, its sound design is really good with that.
Steam User 3
Is it a good game? Kinda.
Is it the best survival game? Far from it.
Would I recommend it? Yeah, if your into survival games, and no as there's better ones out there.
Would certainly get it on sale however.
Steam User 5
In good moments, it manages to provide a satisfying gameplay loop: Prepare / craft, explore, do quests, fight some enemies in mostly melee combat, gather all the things, get encumbered way too quickly, back to base, repeat; all while creating an immersive atmosphere akin to the Stalker / Metro series.
In bad moments, with its bugs and sizeable amount of jank in almost every gameplay aspect, it feels just like one of the countless other Early Access "Open World Survival Craft" titles: All the great ideas and concepts are apparent, but most were never fleshed out and it's pretty obvious that at some point the devs reached the "Eh, good enough" breaking point and called it a day.
Then again, it's not a full priced game, basically on permanent sale for under 5€/$. For that low amount it does have a lot to offer.