DESOLATE
- January 17, 2019
- Nearga
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam"Desolate" is a horror open-world game that offers both single-player and multiplayer/co-op modes. As a "Volunteer" exploring Granichny Island, players will encounter various threats and supernatural anomalies while uncovering the island's dark past. Despite some bugs and grinding, the game boasts impressive visuals, music, and a unique, emotional atmosphere.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Great atmosphere and sound design that creates a tense and immersive experience.
- Interesting story and character progression with a variety of quests and crafting options.
- Fun to play with friends, enhancing the overall experience.
- Combat mechanics are clunky and unresponsive, making fights frustrating.
- Frequent bugs and performance issues, including crashes and poor AI behavior.
- Repetitive quests and excessive running between locations can make gameplay feel tedious.
- story1,686 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The story of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its intriguing premise and atmospheric elements, while others criticize it for being poorly executed and filled with fetch quests. Some players found the narrative engaging and immersive, particularly in the early stages, but felt it became repetitive and lacked depth as the game progressed. Overall, while the story has potential and interesting twists, it suffers from pacing issues and a lack of clarity, leading to a somewhat unsatisfying experience for many.
“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.”
“The game’s story focuses on Robert’s plight as he attempts to piece together the events leading to his arrival on the island.”
“The story is interesting and the game is filled with comprehensive crafting and customized skill trees to create your own unique experience.”
“The story is mediocre.”
“The story wasn't all that great; it was more of an illusion of a story.”
“The story doesn't make sense and all you do is repetitive quests go there and get that then go the other way get this etc. voice acting, atmosphere and graphics are fine but that isn't enough for me when game mechanics are broken.”
- gameplay680 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its clunky mechanics, particularly in combat, which often feels unresponsive and frustrating. While some appreciate the atmospheric elements and survival mechanics, others criticize the repetitive nature of quests and the lack of polish, leading to a gameplay experience that can feel tedious and unbalanced. Overall, while there are interesting mechanics and potential for fun, many players feel that significant improvements are needed for a more engaging experience.
“The gameplay is interesting, the sounds are breathtaking.”
“Great atmosphere, lovely gameplay.”
“The gameplay itself is fun though, and the aspect of surviving is challenging in a good way.”
“The gameplay is existential crisis inducing and so boring I literally experienced just about all the game has to offer within the first hour.”
“Complete crap, buggy, horrible story, annoying gameplay, the main story is essentially just fetch quests.”
“The fighting mechanics in this game are terrible (spam left click because blocking does nothing) and if you take damage it's near impossible to regenerate it using crafted materials, especially in the early game.”
- atmosphere532 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and eerie qualities, drawing comparisons to titles like "Stalker" and "Bioshock." Players appreciate the game's unique art style, sound design, and the tension created by its dark, post-apocalyptic setting, which enhances exploration and survival elements. However, some critiques mention that the reliance on jump scares can detract from the overall experience, suggesting that the atmosphere is strong but could benefit from more nuanced horror mechanics.
“The atmosphere this game brings is one of a kind and I love it.”
“Desolate is a beautiful survival/horror experience, with great atmosphere, beautiful graphics and memorable world.”
“The atmosphere is amazing, it's very creepy and beautiful, the sweet ambient noises make exploring that much more creepy.”
“The running around to fetch stuff, repetitive combat, and poor AI detract from the atmosphere of the game, which is its main attraction.”
“I rarely refund games but this is one of those exceptions. I feel like at some point this could be worth it, but it feels like the devs saw Stalker and games like We Happy Few and tried to merge them a bit without fully grasping the reasons people like them. It has the anomalies of Stalker and some of the atmosphere but not the same oppressive type.”
“The crafting, atmosphere, and voice acting are all fine, but that's pretty much all it's got. Other than that, it's just clunky garbage combat, loud jump scares that are more annoying than scary, the same enemies over and over again, being unable to finish the game because it keeps crashing after playing for over an hour without saving, no enjoyment in exploring, and pretty much just a terrible gaming experience overall.”
- graphics484 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the atmospheric visuals and unique art style that enhance the overall experience. While some describe the graphics as beautiful and well-executed, others criticize them as dated or subpar, particularly in character animations and optimization issues. Overall, the visuals are generally considered decent to good, contributing positively to the game's ambiance, though they may not meet the expectations set by more modern titles.
“The world is beautifully done, and the graphics work well in this gritty type game.”
“Desolate is a beautiful survival/horror experience, with great atmosphere, beautiful graphics and memorable world.”
“The graphics are beautiful, gives a different feel to post apocalyptic but similar to Fallout at the same time.”
“No amount of graphical fidelity or presentation can fix this clearly unfinished abandonware.”
“The graphics look pretty dated, but don't necessarily distract from the game; they are okay, but make the game feel older than it is.”
“The graphics are still pretty terrible, especially with regard to character models and textures.”
- optimization192 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant performance issues, including frame drops, stuttering, and bugs. While some users have noted improvements and smooth performance on high-end systems, others struggle to achieve playable frame rates even on lower settings. Overall, the consensus is that the game requires further optimization to enhance the experience for a broader range of hardware.
“Technically everything runs smoothly, no game-breaking bugs or such.”
“Performance is good with me hitting triple-digit figures with all the settings turned up @1440p using a Core i5 and a 1080ti; it does drop and spike but not that often, for the most part, it's very smooth while looking great!”
“Great update overall, the optimization fixes are what I'm looking forward to the most.”
“I would say the graphics are wonderful but the game is poorly optimized and the lack of FPS cap is frustrating.”
“The performance of this game is awful, the FPS goes up and down constantly making it near impossible to play.”
“On top of all this there's incredibly poor optimization all around, with massive frame drops and short bursts of freezing at seemingly random moments and a very noticeable texture pop-in from around 10 in-game meters away.”
- stability164 mentions
- 2 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 98 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and frequent freezes that significantly hinder gameplay. While some players acknowledge the potential and engaging story, the overall experience is marred by technical issues, making it frustrating to play. Many reviews suggest that the game is still in an early access state and requires substantial optimization and bug fixes to reach its full potential.
“Runs great since the latest patch on my 2080 Ti at max settings!”
“You'll have to forgive a slight amount of jank, but all in all, the game is bug-free and reasonably polished for a Russian indie title.”
“Desolate is a buggy, a mess of a game with many animation and visual glitches.”
“The game stalls and freezes often.”
“Dying and losing everything you picked up is the biggest downfall of this game even with a 10 min window to get back to it, you have to fight all the screen freezes and crashing of the game and restarting.”
- music96 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for enhancing the atmosphere, with a captivating soundtrack that contributes to the eerie and tense environment. However, many players find the combat music repetitive and annoying, often detracting from the overall experience. While the ambient sounds and music are effective in creating a creepy ambiance, the limited variety in tracks leads to some boredom during gameplay.
“The game features a unique art style and atmosphere, which is further enhanced by its captivating soundtrack.”
“Most of that tension is thanks to the music and background noises.”
“Overall a very fun and interesting game, graphics are nice, gameplay is good, combat system is good, soundtrack is amazing.”
“There is combat music with every fight, which I do not like.”
“Then, a repetitive battle soundtrack consisting of like three measures of 'suspenseful' music that just loops over and over comes on.”
“I really didn't listen to the music at all because it kind of spoiled the mood by playing a battlescore every time an enemy saw you.”
- grinding74 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 3 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive, particularly in terms of resource management and side quests. While some appreciate the opportunity for exploration and crafting, others feel that the lack of fast travel and excessive clicking for item management detracts from the overall experience. However, cooperative play is noted to alleviate some of the grind, making it more enjoyable for those who play with friends.
“If there is no scarcity of any kind, survival becomes just tedious, instead of careful management.”
“For example, for each individual item that you want to scrap, you need to right-click it, and click 'recycle' - sometimes you're doing this with like 10-20 items at a time, that's 20-40 clicks and it's just tedious.”
“The game was fun the entire time due to being with friends, would have been a bit tedious getting all traders to max level alone though.”
- humor62 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is largely derived from its janky mechanics, absurd character designs, and hilariously poor voice acting, which can lead to genuinely funny moments, especially when played with friends. While some jump scares and glitches provide comedic relief, the humor tends to wear thin over time, making it more enjoyable in multiplayer settings where shared experiences amplify the laughs. Overall, players recommend the game for those with a good sense of humor and a willingness to overlook its flaws.
“Very fun if you have a good sense of humor and friends to play with.”
“Voice acting - just absolutely hilarious.”
“I find it hilariously awesome when you can see the ghost pop up in front of your friends then hear their scream over the mic.”
- replayability20 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while it offers side quests and extensive customization that can enhance replay value, many players feel that familiarity with the game diminishes the experience over time. Some users appreciate the improvements made during development, noting that exploring the dark world adds to replayability, but others find the predictable jump scares and lack of a satisfying ending limit their desire to replay.
“After the story ends, there are side quests and dailies to keep the game replayable.”
“Customization of gameplay is pretty vast and could lead to high replayability.”
“Tl;dr - fun to play through once with friends, but not much replay value because of the crappy non-ending.”
“It does have some replay value, but it diminishes with familiarity.”
“While the game is still under development, there have been massive improvements made to further enhance the replayability of the game.”
- emotional20 mentions
- 90 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
Players report a strong emotional connection to the main character and the story, appreciating the game's focus on plot and exploration over grinding. However, some feel that NPC interactions attempt to evoke emotions too forcefully, and the ending left them feeling unsatisfied, suggesting a desire for additional story-driven content. Overall, while the game has its flaws, it successfully engages players emotionally, particularly through its crafting system and narrative elements.
“This game is focused on the plot and experience more than others that rely heavily on farming and grinding. It allows you to craft and explore without feeling like a burden.”
“However, at the end of the day, I really can't say that this game is bad. It made me feel for the main character, and overall I liked the story as well as the weapons that I ended up crafting.”
“The crafting system made me feel as if every piece of scrap I scavenged for mattered.”
- character development10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Character development in the game shows promising potential, with a well-written story that evolves from a slow start to more engaging arcs. While some users find the character designs lacking, the overall development is considered solid, complementing the game's strong combat and crafting systems. Improvements in character design are desired, but the narrative progression is generally well-received.
“Story starts out slow and a little like your character is brainwashed, it doesn't take long for some character development to kick in and ends up showing some great potential.”
“Desolate is an excellent game with excellent combat, an excellent looting system, excellent enemies and bosses, and even more excellent character design. If I could rate it 6/5, I would.”
“The interface needs a few quality of life improvements, but the character development is solid as is the crafting (with very few exceptions).”
“The character designs and mechanics are kind of trash and absolutely hilarious.”
“The story starts out slow and feels like your character is brainwashed; it doesn't take long for some character development to kick in, but it shows great potential.”
“The interface needs a few quality of life improvements, but the character development is solid, with only a few exceptions.”
- monetization8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with some users labeling it a "cheap cash grab" that failed to realize its potential, while others express optimism about the absence of microtransactions and the developers' commitment to the game. Overall, there is a desire for the game to maintain its current monetization model without resorting to additional costs.
“Cheap cash grab that really had potential if the devs had followed through and fleshed out the main story and world.”
“I see they have a new game out and this one went on sale, so I just assumed it was just a quick cash grab and the game may be dead, but that's just my opinion since I see this happen a lot with these games.”
“So far the game has no microtransactions... please let's keep it this way!”
