Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
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Encased is a tribute to “Roadside Picnic” and the original Fallout games. Fight enemies, explore anomalous wasteland, level up your character, join one of the forces in the ruined world in this new apocalyptic turn-based RPG. Encased is a turn-based sci-fi RPG. A game for those who love Fallout, Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland and Shadowrun. Make decisions, fight, study anomalies, survive, craft and find equipment in the anomalous Zone under the Dome, cut off from the outside world.
Steam User 82
I never review games.
I played this game start to finish on release. 2 Years later I still think about it from time to time.
I sometimes just say Katarzyna's name like the narrator cause it rolls off the tongue so nice. I still hope to have a heart to heart with Crump's father one day.
The whole world is very unusual, but in a very satisfying way. The atmosphere is so good. I even really liked the technically very simple overworld map.
2 years later, even after recently completing Baldur's Gate 3 (which I think is safe to consider one of, if not THE greatest CRPG of all time) I find myself nostalgic for Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG.
Steam User 27
Encased is a very interesting, although somewhat flawed, game. It is a bit like Fallout 1 was compared to Fallout 2. The premise is great, and there are some extremely cool ideas, but the quality varies throughout the experience. In some areas, the game feels more like a prototype. Still, the memorable locations and events were what kept me playing to the end. Overall it is a nice game in this genre!
To explain further. I loved that the main character is from one of the wings (Black, Blue, Orange, Silver, and White). I think this gives the game a lot of flavor and improves replayability too. The world responds to you differently depending on the character's affiliation. The worldbuilding is quite wonderful in that regard.
Then there are companions. Initially, I was thinking of skipping this game, as in their original Kickstarter, they said there would be no companions or party system. I am very glad they decided to add it! The tactical combat is fun, and I like to adventure with a party. The companions are a bit of a hit-and-miss, though. I loved Fox and Sparrow, but the others left me kinda cold. I saw they were well-written, but for some reason, I did not care about them as much.
The locations and encounters were what varied most in quality. Some of them were truly amazing, surprising, intriguing, and mysterious. I loved the crashed plane location and the mine that drove everyone so insane that they would willingly jump into a shaft. I also really liked the story about the Queen of the Fops and her past. So crazy. Unfortunately, all these were more-or-less side quests. The main narrative wasn't as intriguing for me as these wonderful side stories. I think the main questline was too broad, with too many factions. The narrative is also somewhat inconsistent, leaving loose ends, not following through, and sometimes contradicting itself.
The combat itself was also a bit of a mixed bag. In the beginning, it is stated that there is a force that is driving people insane. But they are still people and could recover. We even see recovered people later on. So, I decided only to use non-lethal force on those enemies. I am very glad this option exists, but it sometimes seemed a bit OP and boring. You shoot a tranquilizer dart at an enemy, sneak away, wait for the enemy to stop looking for you, and repeat it until they pass out. You don't even have to start the actual combat this way. I am all for different problem-solving approaches, but this mechanic should have been more interesting and balanced. At times, I was hoping that the next enemy group would be robotic or undead enemies to avoid having to do the tedious stealth and tranquilizing routine.
The skills and leveling up were cool. Finding different combos that you could do with them was very interesting. There is one perk that restores fatigue when you teleport. Then you can get a psychic skill with a certain weapon to teleport a character. So, if you get these, you no longer have to sleep. :)
In conclusion, this game could probably use some Final Cut version, where the pacing and narrative would be put together better, and the game would be more polished. I hope that they'll do Encased 2, where they can use everything that they have learned here to make a truly outstanding game.
Steam User 31
So it's 343 hours spent on this game and i guess i am ready to write my review.
If there exisited "Strong but medicore" score i would put it on this game. Encased is game between two contrasts - at first it seems like your classic Fallout adventure with strong elements of Roadside Picnic or STALKEr but in depth there bit...different picture.
Story and Quests - Some quests sounds really cool! Some secondary quests have nice vibe and feel but in end they feel like unrewarding enough. I mean - my PC just passed some death-row labyrinth, witnessed horrors and rewarded with some medicore artifact. Feel bit unfair but well reward is reward and this is just one spoilerless example. Main story feel nice but yet not very branching and somehow cut on edges. Factions ain't feel so alive cause they have one or two side quests and no unique rewards. But still story feel good and somehow complete.
Companions and Items-weapons-armors-relics-crafts - Companions are very nice edge between "Weird" and "Unique" - there just few people who will follow you in Dome and barren-lands - They are typical archetype of "Ranger", "Melee" and "mage" but in some mixes and matches. They look cool, they feel unique yet somehow they are dull and lack of "personal quests" yet they feel like they SHOULD have some but been cut that idea on release. There lot of things that can Player use - from drinks, foods, stims to some cool gadgets and weapons but some of weapons and relics feel somehow useless or too repetive to use. I haven't find my "favorite" type of weapon or item in Encased yet i feel most of them have potential that haven't been released. Psionics feel very situational and mostly awesome but impractical at some moments (Like onehit kill but only when your opponent is tired enough), some guns and melee feel like "magikarp power" - they start to be useful after good dedication of upgrades and resources on them. Relics are bit dull - they sound like their artifact analogues from STALKER - giving some benfits with some negative effects , and some unique quest rewards give benefits only but...I didn't found anything cool and most of relics been sold or salvaged except some few for my psionic-melee build. Yet they still feel like something - i wish there could be more relics, maybe some should be "weaponized" more, or give more abilities but well we have what we have now.
World and Gameplay - World feel unique. There some nice feel between Gothic's 1 Prison dome and strong sense of "Roadside Picnic" in a world of "Atompunk" of Fallout 2 vibe. Shame that only few unqiue random-encouters and after 1/4 of game random encouters became very repetive and lose their vibe between "Horror" and "Science wonder of exploration". Also as small cherry on top there craft system - it's nice. I reallt like it. but some objects feel very "uncrfaty" - for example you can craft pistol, rifle and machinegun bullets but shotgun shots are buy-only and can't be crafted from same polymetal ore. There few items that seem to be must be useful but ended up in my endless stash and never came out. But on 90% craft system is nice
Atmosphere and Gameplay - Yes we came to moment WHAT saves it all and why i played 300+ hours in Encased :D. It's awesome and unique world and atmosphere build-up. I am finishing my 2nd playthrough and beside all dull and questionable moments i still like this game.
Verdict? - It's a solid good rpg that have lot of potential in form of DLC OR...Sequel. Yes. Sequel with all reworks and mistakes fixing would be great. Cheers!
Steam User 24
Went into this game without knowing a lot about. I expected (or rather hoped) it would be at least a passable apocalyptic RPG, but it ended up actually really exceeding my initial expectations and I got really sucked into this game.
This game is unashamedly inspired by classic Fallout, Wasteland and Stalker games but it never feels like its lazily ripping those games off and the Dome is an interesting setting. And while the main factions arent probably the most original, I did think the different employee wings added a more interesting layer to the game.
I really liked the way this game also gives you a lot of freedom with the role playing aspect of your character. The different ways you build your character can open up different options in how you approach the game and it's quite good for giving you multiple ways to complete quests. Based on one of the achievements, its supposed to be possible to complete this game without killing anyone, though admittedly this would make it difficult to complete a couple of quests as I recall a couple where you needed to kill creatures. It also possible to talk your way out of some situations based on skill checks. If you enjoy the freedom to role play a character how you like than this is a pretty immersive game for that.
The combat is turn based tactical and I thought it was good enough without doing anything groundbreaking. I did like that not just the combat skills but all skills or sometimes combination of skills can offer different abilties to be used in combat. I did also like the fact that initiating an encounter doesnt automatically pull every enemy into combat, but instead only within a certain radius. So you can pick off enemies if you can kill them quick enough or else they will call for backup which will pull in nearby enemies who are not currently engaged in combat. It's a nice touch that makes a stealthy approach more viable.
As much as I enjoyed it, it is not a game for everyone. The pace is very slow and it is quite dialogue heavy. For example the prologue is a few hours long and while it is good for setting up the story, I can imagine that it may frustrate some people. It also isnt a game that doesn't hand hold the player and or provide a nice quest marker to tell you where to go. You actually need to take note of what NPCs tell you as well as read quest logs to figure out where you need to go or what to do. However I quite liked that.
So I'd definitely recommend this game if this kind of game is your jam, but if any of the above mentioned doesnt sound appealing then this game probably isn't for you.
Steam User 23
This is a big diamond in the rough. It's a bit of a sleepy adventure, unfortunately, and I only enjoyed it because I was really looking for an experience that emulated the original Fallout adventures. It's very competent, but doesn't really excel at anything. There's lots of content, and you have a ton of options to do what you want. I encountered zero bugs or issues, which is very impressive. I enjoyed the game, but, as I said, I don't know if I'd have enjoyed it as much if I wasn't specifically looking for a Fallout CRPG experience.
If I had to give it a rating, I'd say 7/10. Very competent, but not really stand-out. Surprising amount of voice-acting (more than some AAA titles), so that's a definite plus.
Steam User 29
Good game. Lots of content.
Broad range of different paths to take on replay with different skills/weapons/followers, at least if you have any imagination at all, and don't want a game that is completely linear and holds your hand every step.
Especially good if stealth is your thing.
Haters gonna hate.
Steam User 18
I'm writing this review as someone who's never really played games like this. I'm a "cozy" gamer. I like Stardew, the Sims, Animal Crossing etc., I also haven't finished the main story line either.
I like this game, a lot. I've always loved the Fallout games but was never able to play them because I suck at combat. This game eliminates that problem for me. It's very "Fallout" themed, but the turn-based combat is a win for me. I can see as other people who've played games that have actual combat would not like this game.
I also really enjoy the story line so far, and the characters. I enjoy the semi-laidback feel of this game. It's challenging enough for me where I don't want to give up the game completely.
But what do I know? I'm just a cozy gamer, trying something that fits my game play style while also wanting to fight weird zombie like monsters and travel though a dystopian universe without it being to difficult for me.