PAMELA

I bought this game in 2017 when it first launched in Early Access. I remember watching the very first trailer, EA as all hell could possibly imagine. And I loved every second of it. P.A.M.E.L.A. (from here on out, Pamela), is what introduced me to the modern day Cyberpunk.
I put a good ~60 hours into development from 2017 through the beginning of 2019. I will admit, at this point I wasn't "burnt out," but, I was ready to experience the game in it's finest, v1.0. 2017 through today. 2 new pc upgrades, and 1 brand new rebuild from scratch, and I refused to delete it.
Once release occurred, there I was. My wife knew how happy I was. Pamela was FINALLY out! I couldn't believe it. I told her about the terrible animations. I told her about the clunky gameplay. Most importantly, she reminded me that my own mental health issue (Epilepsy) had me forgetting pretty much everything I had experienced prior. Then. Then came 1.0.
1.0. I waited, what felt like FOREVER, but as a kid who waited for DNF from it's announcement in 1997, it wasn't so bad. Is 1.0 perfect? Nope. Far from it. Can it improve over time? Absolutely. The developers put their hearts into this game in the 3 years until it arrived.
When you beat it and see the end you will likely expect more. When you see the credit list for yourself, you'll appreciate this tiny ass team a whole lot more.
Thank you NVYVE, for giving me my first truly favorite game since Duke 3d in '96.
Come find me!
Don't give up NVYVE. You hooked us.
**November 7th Update**
Short, simple, and unfortunately, not sweet at all. It looks like the last update on July 21st was the final scoop of dirt over the grave of Pamela. I hope I am sorely mistaken, but it appears as though we have received everything there is from the devs. A real shame, as this game had an absolute limitless amount of possibilities.
Hope we get something more in the future NVYVE. As an active member of the community at launch, and an avid supporter to the end; We and Pamela deserve more!

Now that the game is out i belive its time to Leave a Review.
So how's the game? Its good, but its certainly not the best as my playtime might suggest. Its a fairly good passtime, especialy if you know how to play it (Having owned this game since Early - Early Access) though it can be quite Hard at times. The Hardness comes from a mixture of Loot Generation Behavior and Enemy Generation Behavior, whereas the game gets naturaly harder as your "Level" increases (Though loot gets better too (Much better infact)).
For new players i absolutely recomend turning the Hunger & Thirst Rate down to 0.8 due to mentioned Generation Behavior.
The Story is pretty much what i expected, nothing world moving but it gives some goals (Motivation needs to come from oneself though), but is more like a Side Objective from the main part that is Survival and Repair of Eden's Subsystems. (How i wont tell you, though its realy easy)
Gameplay wise its clear to be still lacking in some polish, but it works and its usualy very fun. I hope the devs continue to work on that a bit, especialy the Animation and Ranged Aim as it can be a bit, confusing at times.
Graphics are nice but do push what the Unity Engine is capable of doing, doesnt change the fact that the game looks pretty pleasing at times, though equaly so it can be quite hard to see thing even in perfect lighting conditions at times.
I'd give the game a 7/10 wich is pretty solid if you ask me but still open for Improvement and Polish. I also want to add i am fully open for more/additional Regions. I'd even be willing to pay a small DLC Price for them, though then then also have to add (IMO) some additional Gameplay functions or general additions.

Let's get something out of the way right up front: P.A.M.E.L.A is not a high-polish AAA tile. It's a small Indy release with a lot of jank and inconsistent behavior. Screwy AI, badly placed objects, glitched items... Not to mention the new voice actress for P.A.M.E.L.A herself, who sounds like she's on Valium while delivering all her lines in a half-bored monotone.
So you should skip it, right?
Well, maybe, maybe not. Let me list the games P.A.M.E.L.A. reminds me of: Prey (2017), Ultima Underworld 1+2, System Shock 1+2, Dishonored 1+2+DLCs, Deus Ex, Cybermage... Heck, even Realms of the Haunting.
In other words, P.A.M.E.L.A. is in the lofty company of that rarest of genres: The Immersive Sim.
Is it screwy and a little unfinished? Sure. Is it better than any of the other games I listed above? Nope. But if you're looking for another crumbled society to sneak through, another action game that's not really about action, another game that rewards exploration and punishes combat? Well you've found it.
P.A.M.E.L.A. is screwy to the point that you could call it unfinished, but Eden 53 is a real place to me now. I'll remember it's brightly-lit horror for a very long time.

After some setbacks, this game is back on track and better than ever!
For the part of the review for those that don't know the game yet, just follow the *) down at the bottom.
I got this game in a very early stage of developement (June 2017) and was simply astonished by the amazing world and its creepy yet fascinating atmosphere, even though I died fairly often due to a certain lack of directions by the game (which was no real flaw as it was still in a very alphaish state).
Every now and then new updates came and brought new improvements, new stuff to discover, major changes and yes, sometimes new bugs, but that's just how alpha games work.
When it comes down to performance/optimization, the game had some pretty wild times:
In the early stages I actually had to play it with an open case as it would either fry my cpu or simply shut down the PC due to temperature exceeds (Although that might also have been boosted by my FX8350, those things get fairly hot, even with a ton of cooling measures).
Nonetheless, the game worked, sometimes really smooth, sometimes a bit laggy, but all in all perfectly playable (as long as the PC didn't overheat and shut down). A few months ago sadly that changed after an update as the game suffered heavy loading times (usually ~10min, now ~20-30min), poor performance and some major gamebreaking bugs like the inability to recycle stuff or the instant curruption of savefiles, making the game literally unplayable.
So since that didn't change after several months (to be fair, fixing stuff like this is no easy task, especially since there was the big problem with unity engine) I thought "Well, it was good while it lasted", but still kept it on my newspage in case a new update would come and fix the problems. And boy it did! Just started to play again out of curiosity and it loads faster than ever (<2min), the game runs smooth as Kerrygold butter, no overheating, it looks even better than before, so far no bugs, but instead an overhaul of introductions, mechanics and more, long story short: I love it!
So after seeing how much work the developers put into this, I just want to say: Thank you! Thank you for making this amazing game and not letting us down, you guys are amazing! = )
*)
So what is this game about:
You wake up from a stasis pod with no idea who you are, where you are and what happend. To find out more, you have sneak, fight and run through a giantic city with various districts filled with NPCs, some of which may help you if you act accordingly, and some (most) of which will attack you. They all have certain behaviors that you can try to exploit as you make your way through the city and reveal more and more about the incidents that made Eden what it is now. And with a bit of luck, you will be able to bring Eden back to its former glory (a.k.a. turn on the lights in all districts for more than a couple of minutes)
Some of the features:
-Crafting system
-Base building
-Hunger/Thirst/Fatigue system
-Farming system
-Day/Night cycle
-Various flashlights (Never sure if they actually make it creepier or less creepy)
-Futuristic gear including weapons, shields, protective gear and utilites
-Different difficulties with changeable parameters like effects of injuries, enemy strength, etc
-Various types of enemies
-Shopping stations
-Upgrade systems
-Amazing atmosphere
-Open roaming
-Interesting story without fixed storyline
So if you're into creepy games, that give you the good old "I am totally NOT going that way!"-feeling, and like stories that unfold bit by bit, this game is perfect for you. So grab it, turn off the lights and enjoy your heartattack as the first Dark Seeker appears right behind you

Story portion ends kind of suddenly. Other than that and the performance issues, this is a great game and worth the price!

This is a beautiful thing.
And that's pretty much it. If you want more, read on. If that's enough, go buy it, go play it, go make up your own mind. Everyone else, read on.
This is a beautiful thing. And I say that with little authority on such matters. I find the launching of spacecraft to be beautiful; early morning fog is beautiful; the seemingly endless wind farms on the Indiana (..or Illinois..?) farms stretching across I-70 are beautiful. And I'm sure many will find faults with all of those.
Here's the thing- P.A.M.E.L.A. is paced and tense. Like a Stephen King novel, it draws you on to the next page, no matter what your desires are. Like it or hate it, it kinda makes you want to keep going.
If you are looking at it now, after buying it two years ago, playing for about an hour, then putting it on your back burner, it is definitely different. For starters, it's no longer an EA (that's uncapital ea) game- welcome to a full release! Story is there, as much as it can be. P.A.M. herself is now your best friend!
Areas that were there but inaccessible, no matter how much you ran around like the proverbial chicken, are now part of said story. P.A.M. herself will point the way!
So far, the mob no longer seem to get environment clipped in certain areas. ...EXP grinder bummer...
And on top of that, a lot of the crafting has changed- now you have to make a 3d printer that allows you to make a bigger 3d printer that allows you to make a crafting table that allows you to make things that will help you survive. I remember when I first played that hour then put it down. The crafting system was forefront in making the place work. It was also one heck of a pocket sandwich.
That's right- P.A.M.E.L.A. was a P.I.T.A. Yet somewhere around a year ago it hit its stride. Of the 75-or-so logged hours (as of this writing), about 65 of them were put up between Feb. and May of 2020. So what does that mean? Well, maybe nothing for the casual gamer. And maybe nothing for the dedicated gamer either. But for the unprofessional tester, the couch-bound Chuck Yeager, this game will worm it's way into your tiny little brain and keep you coming back, wondering, what will happen if...?
And the 'if...?' is entirely up to you. Some reviews deride the 'base building' aspect of the game. But it isn't a base builder. Some reviews deride 'the combat' of the game, but it isn't an FPS. Some reviews will probably deride the story of the game, but I haven't seen them and likely haven't looked for them. All I can say is I love it- it's a beautiful thing. Much like the aforementioned Stephen King novels, this game is a slow burn, a slow build, and a slow one to take hold. It took about 14 months for me to purchase it, play it, then PLAY it. And I can't tell you how glad I am that I did.
I like to do things different, so here's the TL;DR- Get it. Play it. Then GET it. And then? Love it.
Do your friends a favor and recommend this to them.
Cheers!

P.A.M.E.L.A. is a beautiful game, designed to make you think on your own instincts.
P.A.M.E.L.A. is a brilliant horror survival. It pits you against a ruthless, hostile environment. I loved how it progressively got harder and harder to manage as you progressed through the story. I found myself loving it even if I was being killed 6 times over! The story is very well fleshed out, lots of lore and deeper details within the game, it was very interesting to explore. P.A.M.E.L.A.'s setting, "Eden" is simply one of glory, it is a sight to behold. I found myself taking screenshots every 30 seconds in a new area I was exploring. Personal favourites, are Nirvana and the Promenade. Beautiful scenery, the level designer should be proud.
FOR NEW PLAYERS - - Do not expect to go into this game with a wealth of help from things like walkthroughs and achievement guides. The guides on this game are scarce and few, and thus in turn really pushes you to think on your own instinct. (Which I loved! Even if I raged at trying to find a certain item in a certain mission).
Another Warning for Players during one of the final missions, I won't name it, but it will be obvious from where you go that it'll be one of the final ones, is a dangerous area that you cannot return to if you die. I learned this the hard way.
My one criticism of this game would be a single bug that I kept encountering. What would happen is I think I was using separate combat mechanics in the game too quickly, and the hand animations would bug out. For example, the fists still being up after a fight. So new players, be wary of this bug.
TL;DR: P.A.M.E.L.A. has seriously impressed me as a game, and is a strikingly beautiful one. Be prepared to face this game by yourself, as the guides are few and scarce.