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Gorky 17

Gorky 17 Game Cover
79%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
graphics, stability
79% User Score Based on 749 reviews
Critic Score 80%Based on 1 reviews

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Gorky 17 Game Cover

About

Gorky 17 is a single player tactical role playing game with horror and science fiction themes. It was developed by Metropolis Software and was released on September 27, 2013. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

November 2008. NATO intelligence services report that, for reasons unknown, the Russian military has destroyed GORKY 17, one of the old Soviet "Secret Cities". A year later NATO takes over a former Russian secret base built on Polish soil. Diggers discover a laboratory complex in the completely demolished town. After examining the wreckage, NATO decides to leave the lab as it is. But shortly after…

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Gorky 17 screenshot
Gorky 17 screenshot
Gorky 17 screenshot
Gorky 17 screenshot
Gorky 17 screenshot
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79%
Audience ScoreBased on 749 reviews
story73 positive mentions
graphics39 negative mentions
  • Unique blend of turn-based tactical RPG and survival horror with a tense, atmospheric setting.
  • Challenging and rewarding combat requiring strategic resource management and positioning.
  • Rich variety of enemies and weapons with impactful leveling and tactical depth.
  • Dated graphics and technical issues including crashes, graphical glitches, and compatibility problems on modern systems.
  • Clunky interface and lack of modern conveniences like tutorials and autosaves, leading to initial frustration.
  • Short game length with an abrupt ending and some underdeveloped story elements.
  • graphics
    187 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are widely considered outdated and blocky by modern standards, reflecting a late-90s aesthetic with some charm in art style and atmosphere. However, many users report frequent graphical glitches, crashes, and compatibility issues on newer systems, often requiring software rendering or specific workarounds to play properly. While visuals and monster designs were praised for their time, technical problems and lack of graphical options can detract from the experience for contemporary players.

    • “Stunning visuals for its time.”
    • “The graphics and monster designs are excellent for their time, creating a dark and immersive environment.”
    • “Visually, the game captures a distinctive late-90s aesthetic.”
    • “The graphics are blocky, the controls stiff, the voice acting almost comical.”
    • “The graphics are the same as they were in 1999 and although at the time of launch (20 years ago) they were good, right now this game simply sucks.”
    • “Graphical glitches and bugs everywhere and the publisher don't even put any effort fixing it or upgrading it for modern systems.”
  • story
    178 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in Gorky 17 is a blend of sci-fi and horror with a b-movie, campy feel that some find cheesy yet captivating, set around Soviet experiments and a mysterious, eerie atmosphere. While it offers intriguing plot elements and moments of suspense, the narrative is often seen as predictable, underdeveloped, and occasionally hampered by poor localization and voice acting, with some unresolved plot threads and a somewhat abrupt ending. Overall, the story effectively supports the game's atmospheric and tactical gameplay but is not its strongest aspect.

    • “The plot is told rather competently and does a good job at setting up its mysteries and creating a tense atmosphere of intrigue and horror.”
    • “The creepy horror/thriller atmosphere grips you from the very first moment and, combined with an interesting story and voice-acted dialogues, makes Gorky 17 a relatively memorable gaming experience.”
    • “The story is inventive and still holds up today, as does the gameplay.”
    • “Awful localization makes it difficult to even follow the basic storyline, that is if there was any to follow beyond the initial setup, since the vast majority of the actual exposition is in the final dialogue before the game just ends.”
    • “While the story has a strong foundation, it doesn’t always deliver on its intriguing setup—the characters are thinly developed, and the ending arrives abruptly, leaving some plot threads unresolved.”
    • “The story is mediocre at its core to say the least.”
  • gameplay
    111 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gorky 17 offers engaging, tactical turn-based gameplay that combines exploration and strategic combat with varied enemies and challenging mechanics, appealing especially to fans of classic strategy RPGs despite its dated interface and occasional technical issues. While the gameplay is sometimes marred by a steep learning curve, simplistic RPG elements, and UI frustrations, its strategic depth, atmosphere, and monster design have aged well and deliver a rewarding experience for players willing to invest time. Overall, the game is praised for its solid, challenging gameplay and compelling atmosphere, making it a memorable title for enthusiasts of old-school tactical games.

    • “Atmosphere is spot on and although the story isn't exactly revolutionary, the gameplay will hook you if you take the time to understand the ins and outs; there is initial frustration but if you stick with it and bear the learning curve, you should be fine long-term.”
    • “Tactical depth without overcomplicated mechanics.”
    • “The gameplay is fun, balanced turn-based combat, character dialogs are class of its own, and the plot is surprisingly well told; the only downside is the graphics but this shouldn't stop you from buying this game, so give it a chance - it will be totally worth it.”
    • “Some situations and gameplay mechanics are not properly explained and can lead to confusion or frustration sometimes.”
    • “Gameplay mechanics are sometimes inconsequential and have bugs, such as only one damage-over-time effect can be active, enemies with electricity protection can still be tranquilized with a shocker, and there's a game crashing bug in one of the battles.”
    • “While some parts of the gameplay are not up to today's standards: sometimes it's hard to understand where the line of sight is, the range; the UI can be a bit confusing; there is no reminder that you haven't moved all your characters if you press end turn.”
  • atmosphere
    63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gorky 17 is widely praised for its dark, eerie, and immersive atmosphere that blends horror and tactical RPG elements with a distinct Eastern European sensibility. Despite dated graphics and some gameplay frustrations, its haunting art direction, minimal yet effective soundtrack, and tense setting create a compelling experience that deeply engages players. The atmospheric design is often cited as the game’s strongest aspect, effectively elevating its challenging gameplay and campy story into a memorable cult classic.

    • “The atmosphere is dark and immersive, keeping me hooked from start to finish.”
    • “The atmosphere of Gorky 17 is uneasy and haunting; you explore desolate streets and abandoned buildings portrayed by beautiful, industrial backgrounds all accompanied by a fitting soundtrack.”
    • “A smooth fusion of RPG and survival horror, an intriguing story, wicked creature designs, more-than-suitable atmosphere and soundtrack, and well-developed strategic gameplay make Gorky 17 a flawed bundle of late-90's sci-fi horror goodness.”
    • “The atmosphere of Gorky 17 is uneasy and haunting; you explore desolate streets and abandoned buildings portrayed by beautiful, industrial backgrounds, all accompanied by a fitting soundtrack.”
    • “The RPG mechanics are bare bones and somewhat unbalanced, but the whole atmosphere and monster design in particular have aged very well.”
    • “Even though the story is kinda cheesy, it mixes well with the gloomy atmosphere in a destroyed city full of monsters and mysteries.”
  • music
    44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric, haunting, and tension-enhancing qualities, often blending minimalistic and electro-industrial styles. While some players note repetition due to a limited number of short combat tracks, the soundtrack effectively contributes to the game's eerie and immersive ambiance, making it a standout feature even years after release.

    • “The music, composed by Adam Skorupa, adds a special charm to the game and enhances the feeling of unease.”
    • “Amazing game for its age and even more so in its day; music is phenomenal, great horror RPG and priced reasonably for its age unlike most classics.”
    • “The atmosphere, music and campy dialogue is a potent combination.”
    • “To get the game to run on Windows 7, I had to do stuff suggested in the forums and I also turned off the music.”
    • “Repetitive music.”
    • “The music is electro-industrial, typical of someone in the late '90s who had a decent synth and liked Haujobb.”
  • stability
    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from frequent graphical glitches, crashes, and freezes, particularly on modern systems, making it unstable and often unplayable without workarounds like software rendering or compatibility tools. While some users manage to play it with minor issues, overall the instability and bugs significantly detract from the experience.

    • “Buggy mess, presumably due to compatibility issues with modern PCs.”
    • “The game has graphical glitches, which blur parts of the screen, making playing the game impossible.”
    • “I had to kill game process multiple times and restart my game because it freezes in 30-60 minutes of gameplay (100% chance after 1 hour and 5 minutes) - it contributed to extra time I had to spend on re-playing fights.”
  • humor
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's humor is characterized by witty, often slapstick dialogue and amusing character voices, especially the quirky Russian and Polish accents, which add charm despite occasional cliché lines. Its blend of dark, eerie themes with comedic elements creates a nostalgic, entertaining contrast that fans appreciate. Additionally, some translations and voice acting contribute to unintentional yet humorous moments, enhancing the overall comedic appeal.

    • “The dialogue is hilarious, especially anything the Russian guy says.”
    • “The creatures are adorable, the dialogs are funny, and the music is a masterpiece.”
    • “A serious line can sound silly and funny.”
  • grinding
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding is largely absent in this turn-based RPG, with all fights scripted and no random encounters, emphasizing strategic resource management over repetitive leveling. While this reduces traditional grindy mechanics, the limited supplies and lack of training opportunities can make the game feel frustrating and unforgiving. Overall, the game prioritizes strategy and challenge rather than grinding, though some may find this leads to tedium and difficulty spikes.

    • “Unlike traditional RPGs, there’s no grinding or random encounters; each fight is scripted, forcing the player to make the most of limited resources.”
    • “The turn-based concept, which is already tedious in itself, becomes repetitive very soon, filling the time with boredom and frustration.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Even if you get the graphics working halfway (protip: choose software rendering), the mechanics are tedious and nonsensical.”
  • optimization
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Optimization is generally solid on modern hardware, delivering stable performance with minimal framerate drops. However, some older or early access titles may suffer from stuttering or suboptimal optimization, suggesting a need for better quality control before release. Users on low-end systems note possible improvements with alternative versions like GOG.

    • “Solid performance on modern hardware.”
    • “Performance - the more stable the framerate was and the fewer framerate drops I've encountered, the higher the score.”
    • “About performance, I play on a 12” notebook with an Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, and an Intel graphics card.”
    • “Valve should form a quality control team to test older and early access games to ensure proper optimization before developers, publishers, and Valve start taking people's money.”
    • “9/10 performance score, but experienced stuttering during cutscenes.”
    • “Performance: the more stable the framerate and the fewer framerate drops encountered, the higher the score.”
  • replayability
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers moderate replayability with around 10 hours of solid playtime, but many players find the experience repetitive due to identical battles and static game elements, limiting its appeal for multiple playthroughs.

    • “It has decent playtime of about 10 hours or so and has solid replayability value.”
    • “+ replayable.”
    • “It is a good deal, but there is really no replayability.”
    • “Low replayability: in every playthrough it is the same, the same battles with the same monsters, everything is in the same place - basically it's a one-stop game for most gamers.”
    • “Replay value is okay.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    User reactions to the game's emotional aspect are mixed; some found it evocative and capable of stirring deep feelings like love, while others felt the narrative was too thin to leave any meaningful emotional impact.

    • “It made me feel something, something I haven't felt in a long time... was it love?”
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80%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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10h Median play time
9h Average play time
6-13h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Gorky 17 is a tactical role playing game with horror and science fiction themes.

Gorky 17 is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 9 hours playing Gorky 17.

Gorky 17 was released on September 27, 2013.

Gorky 17 was developed by Metropolis Software.

Gorky 17 has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its graphics.

Gorky 17 is a single player game.

Similar games include Divine Divinity, Fallout, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, Might & Magic X: Legacy, Wasteland 3 and others.