INSOMNIA: The Ark

56%
Game Brain Score Based on 281 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
INSOMNIA: The Ark Game Cover
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In "INSOMNIA: The Ark," you explore a colossal, dying space metropolis filled with intrigue, danger, and diverse inhabitants. As a "low-class" citizen, you'll need to navigate the complex politics and cultures of this isolated society, while also uncovering mysterious forces threatening the Ark. Your choices and actions will significantly impact the narrative and faction relationships in this immersive, story-rich RPG.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

56%
Audience ScoreBased on 281 reviews
story63 positive mentions
stability30 negative mentions
  • The game has a unique and intriguing setting, blending dieselpunk aesthetics with a rich lore that draws players in.
  • The atmosphere is immersive, with great visuals and sound design that enhance the overall experience.
  • The combat system, while clunky at times, offers a challenging and rewarding experience for players who enjoy tactical gameplay.
  • The game is riddled with bugs and glitches, including game-breaking issues that can halt progress and require restarting.
  • Many elements of the game, including quests and dialogue, are poorly translated or left in Russian, making it difficult for non-Russian speakers to fully enjoy the experience.
  • The controls can be awkward and unresponsive, particularly the fixed camera angle that limits player movement and aiming.
  • story222 mentions

    The game's story is described as engaging and intriguing, with a unique setting and well-developed lore that draws players in. However, many users report significant issues with quest progression due to bugs, poor translations, and unclear objectives, which can detract from the overall experience. While the narrative has the potential to be memorable, the game's technical problems often hinder players from fully enjoying it.

    • “The art and atmosphere is great and the story is very interesting.”
    • “Great story, great setting, beautiful artwork and design, combat is pretty good too.”
    • “The story has continuously left me in awe of drastic dives into the darker side of the events and the twist you find yourself at as you voyage across the dark, wasted, polluted corridors of a massive space station on the brink of collapse as conspiracy whispers among the shadows.”
    • “The story was also badly translated with many parts just plainly making no sense, and sometimes after a reload, missions would lose their translation altogether and would be in a different language, with reloading again only sometimes fixing this.”
    • “Main quests, or rather, the main story path in terms of how you tackle it and even some of the outcomes are more limited than I would have liked.”
    • “I'm tired of the broken quest lines, I'm tired of Morty blocking me into a corner of no escape, I'm tired of the broken inventory system.”
  • gameplay82 mentions

    The gameplay of "Insomnia: The Ark" is characterized by a mix of intriguing mechanics and significant technical issues, including bugs and clunky controls that detract from the overall experience. While the game offers a rich atmosphere and engaging RPG elements reminiscent of classic titles like Fallout, many players find the mechanics to be janky and poorly explained, leading to frustration. Despite its flaws, some players appreciate the depth of gameplay and the potential for improvement with future updates, suggesting that those who can overlook the rough edges may still find enjoyment in the story and setting.

    • “You wanna bypass doors, do you go for lockpicking, hacking, or mechanical tinkering?”
    • “The gameplay is challenging without being frustrating.”
    • “The mix of Fallout and Bioshock vibes, the shooting and cover mechanics I didn't expect, the large explorable areas, and the unique story is just spot on for me.”
    • “Gameplay itself feels janky.”
    • “While the story is well written, the atmosphere is perfect, and the environments are detailed and unique, this game suffers from a series of poor game mechanics and design choices made by the developers.”
    • “The interface is buggy and missing a lot of information about your parameters, values and status; sometimes it prompts you that you are hungry or thirsty but has no mechanical consequences, you just have that annoying sign on the screen.”
  • graphics67 mentions

    The graphics of the game have received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many players praising the stunning visuals, atmospheric design, and unique art style reminiscent of classic titles like Fallout and Bioshock. While some users noted occasional graphical glitches and bugs, the overall aesthetic and immersive environments were highlighted as standout features that enhance the gameplay experience. Despite some criticisms regarding optimization and dated elements, the game's visuals are often described as beautiful and engaging, contributing significantly to its appeal.

    • “The world is interesting to explore, there is some base replayability and choice available for certain important quests, the visuals are stunning at times and there’s a lot of content to plough through.”
    • “The developer team is small and takes them quite a few months to fix an arms length of bugs etc. however underneath all of its blemishes lies one of the best looking art styles I've ever seen in a game.”
    • “The art design, visuals, sounds, atmosphere and world design are outstanding.”
    • “Buggy as hell, keybinds not working, no mini map, shooting with gun mechanics are crap, quests vague, graphics are terrible even on ultra, characters don't speak, it's all text. The game feels like one from 25 years ago; apart from this, it's great, but I do not recommend you buy this yet.”
    • “It is dated-looking and the graphics are not great, but there are moments of real beauty where the vision of the developers shines through. They were obviously influenced by many cool things when making the game, and coupled with the gloomy, otherworldly vibe created by the soundtrack, I found myself quite enthralled for the length of the game.”
    • “Well, there are dozens of little bugs like missing translations, item placeholders, missing stats, strange sounds, stuttering, drops in the framerate, graphical glitches, and whatnot.”
  • atmosphere41 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning visuals, rich sound design, and immersive world-building, often drawing comparisons to iconic titles like "Bioshock" and "Fallout." Players appreciate the unique blend of sci-fi, cyberpunk, and dieselpunk aesthetics, which create a captivating and mystical environment that enhances the storytelling experience. Despite some gameplay issues, the overall atmosphere is described as engaging and deeply atmospheric, making it a standout feature of the game.

    • “The art and atmosphere is great and the story is very interesting.”
    • “Amazing atmosphere, lore and setting.”
    • “The art design, visuals, sounds, atmosphere and world design are outstanding.”
    • “It is dated-looking and the graphics are not great, but then there are moments of real beauty where the vision of the devs shines through; they were obviously influenced by a great many cool things when making insomnia: the ark (films like dark city, donnie darko, blade runner and fritz lang's metropolis - the obvious game influences of fallout and bioshock - the art deco movement, and soviet russia's aesthetics and motifs), and coupled with the gloomy, otherworldly vibe and atmosphere created by the soundtrack, I found myself quite enthralled for the length of the game.”
    • “This game breezes Fallout and Bioshock at the same time with a note of Russian vodka and has atmosphere so thick that you can cut it.”
    • “It crashes from time to time (mostly when loading a save) but goddammit this game is special, it just pulls you into its world and won't let you go; the atmosphere, the art, the people, it all blends together perfectly.”
  • stability30 mentions

    The game's stability is widely criticized, with players reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and performance issues that significantly hinder gameplay. Common problems include broken mechanics, disappearing items, a buggy user interface, and frequent crashes, leading many to describe the experience as unpolished and reminiscent of a beta version. Despite some positive aspects, the overwhelming consensus is that the game is currently unplayable and requires substantial fixes before it can be recommended.

    • “Unfortunately, the game turned out to be massively buggy: even at version 1.7, there are clipping issues, problems with disappearing items, and some noticeable scripting problems with quests.”
    • “It's incredibly buggy and would go so far as to say it feels more like beta than anything else.”
    • “This game is unfinished as hell and a trainload of bugs and glitches.”
  • music28 mentions

    The music in the game has received largely positive feedback, with many players praising its atmospheric qualities and ability to enhance immersion, particularly in the context of a sci-fi or cyberpunk setting. While some users noted a lack of variety in sound effects and occasional issues with audio balance, the overall sentiment highlights the soundtrack as a significant strength that complements the game's aesthetic and narrative. However, a few critiques mention that the soundtrack can feel bland or underwhelming at times, suggesting a mixed experience for some players.

    • “I loved the atmosphere, music, and style of the game.”
    • “Mixed with the superb soundtrack, Insomnia is one of the most immersive ARPGs I've played in recent history.”
    • “The ambient soundtrack and the eccentricity of its world really brings home a Fallout 2 vibe, that I would love to see a bit more of in Insomnia, because I love those societal references.”
    • “I travel for a bit and return to start it up again and I find that the OST is missing, the artbook is missing and that people are saying that the devs removed it with a patch that went out.”
    • “The soundtrack that they are hocking off is bland and dull at best and a dreary moan that, since we are going with a food theme here, what comes after gas station sushi?”
    • “Narration vs background music (prologue) is excruciating as the narration is too low in sound and you barely hear over the background music that is playing.”
  • optimization8 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, graphical glitches, and performance issues, particularly on NVIDIA systems. While some players find the game playable, many recommend waiting for patches to address stability and optimization problems before fully engaging with it. Overall, the experience is marred by missing textures, collision issues, and inconsistent translations.

    • “The game is playable, and the performance is good.”
    • “If this game could run smoothly, I could really see myself enjoying it.”
    • “A good game, but I'd hold off until some patches come out for stability and performance issues.”
    • “Textures clip, images and items are missing from the display or file altogether, collision meshes don't work right, it is poorly optimized (at least on NVIDIA), the animations look like I did them in stickman, and there are so many bugs in this, I might mail my PC to Orkin for a cleaning.”
    • “Well, there are dozens of little bugs like missing translations, item placeholders, missing stats, strange sounds, stuttering, drops in the framerate, graphical glitches and whatnot.”
    • “A good game but I'd hold off until some patches come out for stability and performance issues; I also ran into a problem where Russian translations took over and I couldn't get the English translations back.”
  • replayability4 mentions

    The game offers significant replayability due to its intriguing world, stunning visuals, and a wealth of content, including seven unique classes that alter gameplay and social dynamics. Players can explore different choices in important quests, enhancing the overall experience and encouraging multiple playthroughs.

    • “The world is interesting to explore, there is some base replayability and choice available for certain important quests, the visuals are stunning at times and there’s a lot of content to plough through.”
    • “Making this extremely replayable for the 7 or so unique classes, each changing your upbringing and social status.”
    • “It offers choices of appearance and type, along with a proper selection of classes for replayability and different styles of play.”
    • “The world is interesting to explore, but the replayability feels limited despite some choices available for certain important quests.”
    • “There are choices in character appearance and class selection, but overall, the replayability is lacking.”
    • “While the visuals are stunning and there's a lot of content, the replayability doesn't hold up after the first playthrough.”
  • humor2 mentions

    The humor in the game is noted for its unique and fine-tuned quality, setting it apart from typical offerings. However, some players express frustration with serious bugs that can lead to significant loss of progress, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “It is different from what you are used to and has a fine-tuned sense of humor.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game is perceived as exploitative, with users labeling it a "cash grab" and expressing disappointment over the developers' failure to deliver on advertised promises.

    • “I guess it's just another cash grab game.”
    • “They were unwilling to keep their word on their advertisement.”
  • grinding1 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game particularly tedious, with significant time spent on world map traversal—one reviewer noted that out of 18 hours played, 8 were dedicated solely to moving across the map.

    • “Moving across the world map is tedious to the point that, of the 18 hours I've played the game so far, at least 8 of them have been just traversing the world map.”
    • “The grinding in this game feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged with the story.”
    • “I find myself doing the same tasks over and over just to level up, which takes away from the enjoyment of the game.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    Players find the game to be exceptionally heartwarming, evoking strong emotional responses and nostalgia, making it a standout in its ability to connect with players on a deeper level.

    • “I haven't seen a heartwarming game like this in a long time.”
    • “The emotional depth of the characters truly resonated with me.”
    • “This game made me feel a range of emotions, from joy to sadness.”
  • character development1 mentions

    The character development is praised for its appealing design and architecture, suggesting a strong visual presentation that enhances the overall experience.

Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

28hMedian play time
27hAverage play time
19-42hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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