Chornobyl Liquidators

About

Chornobyl Liquidators is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Live Motion Games and was released on June 6, 2024. It received neutral reviews from players.

"Chornobyl Liquidators" is a grim, historically-inspired game that immerses players in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. As a firefighter or dosimetrist, you'll face treacherous radiation and combat the fallout's deadly effects. This is not a game for the faint-hearted, as it confronts the real-life sacrifices made by the liquidators.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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48%

Audience ScoreBased on 318 reviews

story32 positive mentions

gameplay18 negative mentions

The game offers an interesting perspective on the Chernobyl disaster, providing a unique narrative experience.
The atmosphere and graphics are praised for their immersive quality, capturing the essence of the Chernobyl environment.
Some players found the gameplay enjoyable, especially if they appreciate the historical context and themes related to the disaster.

The game is plagued with numerous bugs, including performance issues, soft locks, and unresponsive mechanics, making it frustrating to play.
Many players reported that the story and character development are lacking, with poorly executed dialogue and translation errors.
The gameplay mechanics are often described as clunky and unpolished, leading to a disjointed experience that feels unfinished.

story
128 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
61%
14%
The story of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it interesting and unique, while others criticize it for being inconsistent and poorly executed. Many noted issues with translation, voice acting, and missing subtitles, which detracted from the overall narrative experience. Overall, while there are moments of emotional depth and potential, the execution is often seen as lacking, leading to a disjointed and confusing storyline that fails to fully honor the historical context it aims to represent.
- “The story is interesting and unique in its own way.”
- “This game had a great story line and I believe it brought honor to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice during this disaster!!!”
- “The storyline was very immersive, I appreciated the several subplots which allowed for different experiences.”
- “The story is severely lacking in what you would expect from something calling itself *Chernobyl* Liquidators, given that all of about 30 minutes of the 5 hours you need to play through it take place in and around the actual power plant.”
- “Between an inconsistent storyline and graphics, annoying bugs, poor optimization, flat characters, unmotivated or nonsensical tasks, dialogue that doesn't match the captions, and an overall feeling that this game doesn't know if it wants to be Viscera Cleanup Detail, a platformer, a stealth game, or what.”
- “It has some good ideas but the overall execution is a sad, buggy, unoptimized mess and the story is an insult to the real liquidators.”
gameplay
84 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
62%
21%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players highlighting significant issues such as clunky mechanics, frustrating bugs, and poor optimization that detract from the overall experience. While some aspects, like the atmosphere and certain mechanics, are praised for their potential, the game often feels unfinished and tedious, leading to a lack of immersion and enjoyment. Overall, despite some fun moments, the gameplay is marred by performance problems and a lack of polish, making it hard to justify its price.
- “Its no simulator, but has fun gameplay.”
- “The gameplay was excellent, the environment was very well done - the devs were clearly dedicated to making this game perfect.”
- “The most fun parts of the game are the ones where the focus was simply on the gameplay leading towards containing the situation in Chernobyl.”
- “The mechanics are janky, the graphics are bad, the performance is lacking severely, and the characters are half-assed at best.”
- “Add confusing maps, barely working game mechanics, and many, sometimes extremely disorienting or straight-up game-breaking bugs, and the shitfest is complete.”
- “This game is nowhere near ready for release; clunky mechanics, horrible graphics, annoying doors (seriously, why force them to close when I go near them?), and tutorials that look like run-on sentences and are in broken English.”
optimization
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
33%
64%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including stuttering and frame rate drops, even on high-end systems. Despite some positive aspects like gameplay mechanics and atmosphere, the overall execution is deemed unpolished and buggy, leading to a consensus that significant optimization work is needed before it can be recommended. Many reviewers suggest waiting for performance fixes before purchasing, as the current state does not justify the price.
- “Seems like a decent game but performance issues (frame drops down to like 20fps randomly) ruin it, gets more frequent in the 2nd mission when you're in daylight.”
- “Game is in desperate need of optimization.”
- “I lowered my settings to the lowest and bumped my resolution down to 1440p, but I still have major stuttering and performance issues on a top-of-the-line card.”
- “It's clearly not optimized well; even after meeting over the minimum and recommended system requirements, it was still laggy and choppy.”
- “This game definitely needs a huge optimization in performance, which I doubt will arrive anytime soon as this was also an issue with the demo more than 2 years ago.”
graphics
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
50%
15%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising certain visual moments and overall aesthetics, while others criticize poor performance, inconsistent lighting, and a lack of customization options. Many users report technical issues such as stuttering and low frame rates, which detract from the visual experience. Overall, while there are glimpses of good graphics, the game's performance and optimization leave much to be desired.
- “But so far, the visuals are decent, and the game is fun.”
- “Graphics are pretty good.”
- “The graphics are fantastic and the sound design is superb.”
- “The graphics are disappointing and the lighting is so much worse than in the trailers.”
- “Well, even when I downgrade the resolution to 1280x720 and use the AI upscaling feature on my graphics card, the game can say 90+ fps all it wants; you still experience this awful stutter and constant sluggishness when looking in directions where the rendering engine is worked to the limit.”
- “This game is nowhere near ready for release, clunky mechanics, horrible graphics, annoying doors (seriously, why force them to close when I go near them??) tutorials that look like run-on sentences and are broken English.”
stability
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been widely criticized for its numerous bugs and stability issues, with players reporting frequent glitches, crashes, and performance problems that hinder gameplay. Many reviewers noted that while the game has potential and enjoyable elements, its unpolished state makes it feel incomplete and frustrating. Overall, players recommend waiting several months for patches to address these stability concerns before fully engaging with the game.
- “This really disappointed me, the game is buggy, laggy, and unfinished.”
- “Buggy mess, for some reason the devs thought that a game where you can't even progress to the second part of the game because of a glitch that crashes your game was fine to release.”
- “It has some good ideas but the overall execution is a sad, buggy, unoptimized mess and the story is an insult to the real liquidators.”
atmosphere
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
20%
13%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive environments, sound design, and attention to detail, creating a nerve-wracking experience that enhances gameplay. However, many players noted that performance issues, janky controls, and some unrealistic design elements detracted from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, the unique atmosphere remains a standout feature that contributes significantly to the game's appeal.
- “Despite the issues, it's very unique and they nailed it with the environments and the atmosphere.”
- “Loved the general atmosphere, true to nature world building, and little details.”
- “Atmosphere is great, seeing the plant up close is awesome.”
- “Sadly it's quite rough around the edges in terms of controls and atmosphere.”
- “But there's still tons of enjoyment to be had regarding gameplay mechanics, sound design, animations, atmosphere and story but gets bogged down by these terrible performance issues.”
- “I enjoyed the game and liked the puzzles and the atmosphere of most missions with the exception of Duga radar.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with several users suggesting that it could benefit from a broader selection and a reduction in mixtape-style tracks. However, there is a notable appreciation for the inclusion of Russian and Soviet doomer music, which some players find particularly appealing. Overall, the soundtrack is rated around 6/10.
- “Nothing better than Russian/Soviet doomer music on the radio!!”
- “Nothing better than Russian/Soviet doomer music on the radio!!”
- “Music/soundtrack: 6/10”
- “Music/soundtrack: 6/10”
- “Add more music and drop the mixtape!”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report a mix of strong emotional responses, with some feeling physically affected by the game's intensity. While there are touching moments throughout, the story is considered inconsistent, only culminating in a satisfying emotional payoff at the end.
- “There are interesting and touching moments in this game.”
- “Keep in mind this game's story is very iffy and really only gets 'good' at the very end (emotional ending).”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be initially engaging but quickly devolve into a tedious and repetitive experience, making it less enjoyable over time.
- “Gameplay-wise, although interesting at first, becomes quite tedious and repetitive quickly.”
- “The beginning was extremely tedious.”
- “Gameplay-wise, although interesting at first, becomes quite tedious and repetitive quickly.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game has been widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with reviewers expressing disappointment over its perceived exploitation of a serious historical event.
- “A sad and very disappointing cash grab that exploits the legacy of those who sacrificed their lives in the Chernobyl disaster.”
- “A blatant cash grab that undermines the seriousness of the Chernobyl tragedy.”
- “The monetization strategy feels like a disrespectful attempt to profit from a historical disaster.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers limited replayability, with many users expressing that there isn't much incentive to play it again after the initial experience.
- “You're not going to get much replayability, though.”