Chernobylite enters early access, but its creepy atmosphere is undermined by a tame story and a lack of risks from a game design standpoint.
Nuclear ruins have long been a part of the gaming landscape. Series like Fallout have made it a well-visited setting for video games, while the likes of Far Cry: New Dawn have even tried to make a nuclear apocalypse into a colorful, natural wonderland. Chernobylite is the latest to delve into this setting, with the added specific of being set in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Even this isn't an entirely unique setting for games. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is one of the hidden gems of the PC gaming sphere, and also took place in the area around Pripyat. Clunky and sometimes broken, it’s a series of games that requires a lot of patience, but players have long become enwrapped in its atmosphere, storytelling, and attention to survival.
It’s here that Chernobylite finds its roots, and from a purely business perspective it's a good time for it. The rights to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have long been a subject of contention, in spite of a potential sequel in the works. What’s more, the breathtaking Chernobyl miniseries captured the attention of many, and it is currently considered one of the best TV series of 2019.
Chernobylite is not a finished product just yet, but its early access form provides a snapshot of what could come from the game. This in-development mode, which is available through Steam, includes a handful of examples of missions to be found within the overgrown remnants of the area around Pripyat. It becomes obvious what kind of experience Chernobylite is trying to be, but it's not clear if it will be able to reach the successes of those games it clearly tries to emulate.
You can see where developer The Farm 51 is going with this, even in this early form. It’s extremely reminiscent of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R., both in its dour world and challenging gameplay. Chernobylite also does not have an open world structure, but does allow players a bit of freedom within set locations.
It’s a hostile world a lot of the time, and vicious. It's not dangerous in the same way as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., however, which made its bizarre, physics-shifting anomalies a core part of the experience. Although there are breaks in the rules of space and time, they’re much less chaotic here - which unfortunately accentuates some of the clunkier, glitchy moments of the early access title.
The plot, so much as it is so far, revolves around a scientist searching for his long-forgotten wife. It ties into chernobylite itself, with the rare material found in the core of the Chernobyl reactor used via a mysterious device to shift into another dimension. This device also acts as the way to move around the world, as the player hops from location to location via its bizarre, green and black corridors.
It’s a neat mechanic to explain away the quick shifts to other places, although further exploration of this in the full game will be required. The sudden, strange shift into another realm is jarring, but as Control has shown video games can make a serious dent by paying attention to architectural irregularities. This may not be revolutionary, but at least it's something different from other post-apocalyptic games.
This cuts to the core problem with Chernobylite. Despite its promise, and there still remains some, it suffers from not making enough bold decisions. Chernobylite sticks extremely close to the template from a gameplay perspective, has a story with a focus that has been seen many times before, and as of yet is unable to showcase something that sets it apart from the titles it takes influence from.
At the very least Chernobylite has functional game systems. Stealth is the priority here, with the player wanting to avoid combat where possible to avoid being overrun by multiple combatants. There's some flexibility here, so being spotted isn't an immediate failure, but it's better to be safe and subtle.
As of yet, there's not too much by way of enemy variation, with Chernobylite shifting between human soldiers and strange, otherworldly enemies. These creatures do not have the same tactile feel of peers like Metro, feeling a little more detached and less immediately disgusting. When mixed with a bit of odd AI decision-making, there's an unfortunate trend towards fights and movement patterns feeling a little too awkward to be truly immersive.
Chernobylite promises a 3D-scanned version of Chernobyl locations, which is an interesting idea that some might feel a little uncomfortable with; after all, this is a game less about the tragedy of the real-life events and more about shooting (or avoiding) curious beasts. When it comes down to it this does feel well-crafted, although once again there's little here that feels very imaginative.
Instead, these locations feed into the other main gameplay cycle, as Chernobylite plays heavily on the trend of survival games. When out and about on important missions, it's vital to collect supplies of food and other sundries, not only for yourself but for allies who can complete other tasks along the way.
When survival mechanics are tied to a story, it can be of detriment to the quality of the overall product. A case in point is the excellent world of We Happy Few, which was irritatingly anchored to mundanity by its survival gameplay. Unlike We Happy Few, The Farm 51 has not built a world as engaging, so Chernobylite will need to work hard to stop its survival and crafting from becoming a chore.
At the moment its survival is definitely distracting, feeling like more like a hindrance than it should do. Since it's in early access, there's still time to turn things around and make it feel closer to the hard mode of Fallout games, which is normally a good benchmark for managing resource governance and storytelling together.
So where does Chernobylite stand overall? At the moment it's crusty and rough around the edges, as to be expected from an early access game. This early version feels quite piecemeal, while its core mechanics aren't at a position to wow players into submission.
This all stems from that central issue: that Chernobylite needs to find more of its own identity. By making a bold statement of intent beyond its setting and environments, the game could expand into other, more interesting directions, providing a structure that players would want to check out. After all, given the clamor for a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, any kind of spiritual successor with a hook would find a patient audience.
Chernobylite is currently in early access for PC with view to a full release in Winter 2020. Screen Rant was provided with a PC early access code.