Project Genom

About

Project Genom is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by NeuronHaze and was released on October 11, 2016. It received neutral reviews from players.

An ambitious MMO game in steam Early Access. It is planed to be Buy-to-Play through Early Access and on full release. "Sci-fi mmorpg Project Genom will let you participate in the battle for the survival of humankind. Having destroyed their own planet, humans have found a new home and a seemingly happy life on Avalon. But people are not the only ones who liked the place. What attracted to this pla…

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42%Audience ScoreBased on 753 reviews

graphics40 positive mentions

story18 negative mentions

The game has promising sci-fi setting and unique classless skill and progression system.
Visually appealing with detailed environments and is relatively smooth and optimized for an alpha.
The developers are active, dedicated, and communicate regularly with the community.

The game is in a very early alpha state with many bugs, lag, crashes, and incomplete content.
Poor quest guidance and navigation leading to frustrating exploration and unclear objectives.
Voice acting and translations are poor, the combat mechanics are clunky and the game often unplayable due to server lag.

story
198 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
87%
9%
The story and quest system are widely criticized for being confusing, buggy, and poorly implemented, with many quests lacking clear objectives, markers, or progression paths. Players frequently encounter frustrating bugs, quest log issues, and difficult navigation that detract from engagement with the narrative. While the game shows potential with a large world and many missions, its early-stage execution results in a disjointed and tedious quest experience.
- “I have quite a few hours logged in Project Genom since it became available on Steam Early Access, and I have seen most of the flaws with the game - the in-game graphics do not match the trailer; only 2 of 6 weapon types, and 3 of 6 armor types are implemented; quite a few of the quests have incorrect location markers, or none at all; there is no crafting to speak of yet; there is only one vehicle, which comes quite late in the game; there is lag (moderately bad at peak times, other times it is more inconvenient than bad); not all of the content has been translated to English yet (some is still in the developers' native Russian); weapons occasionally disappear when logging out/logging back in; players get stuck in the environment; not all skills/abilities have been implemented; no character customization yet; player guilds and groups have no real function or benefit; and the chat system is basic but functional.”
- “I know what to expect when in alpha or beta or early release and give the dev teams much leeway; I don’t expect perfect graphics, voice acting or even tons of content, but I do expect the foundations of the game to be promising. The mechanics, story, and uniqueness are in place for a great gaming experience in due course.”
- “I like the style, the simple gameplay, and what little we have so far in terms of a story.”
- “I will change my rating on this game if they ever fix it. Their main storyline quest is glitched so just when you're finally about to unlock vehicles, the quest will not let you continue. There's nothing to click where there is supposed to be. Devs told me they won't fix my character because they were working on the next big update, which should be out in a couple weeks. Over 2 months ago. Their other suggestion was to just make a new character and level it up for days again, do the quest again. Yeah, same thing happens, glitched out at the exact same spot my other character was glitched out at. If they can't fix your character and won't release an update to fix the bugged out storyline, there really is no point in playing it. If they ever fix this issue, I will change my review. The game was fun until I couldn’t continue the storyline to unlock the vehicles, which is supposed to be when the game really starts to get good according to them but I can’t experience that because they won’t fix it.”
- “The quests are garbage, can't even figure out where to go.”
- “So you progress to the ark-like building that serves as the main mission hub and quickly start picking up “fetch” or “chat to” quests and now the real struggle begins.”
graphics
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
58%
6%
The game’s graphics are generally praised for their potential, art style, and sci-fi visuals, especially given its alpha status, with many noting the use of Unreal Engine 4 results in decent and sometimes stunning visuals. However, numerous users report performance issues like lag and blurriness, graphics not matching trailers, incomplete or inconsistent graphical polish, and optimization problems, indicating the visuals still need significant refinement. Overall, the graphics show promise but require further development to fully meet expectations.
- “The graphics are amazing, the world is huge and the dynamic mission system is very original.”
- “Visually, the game is all there, it looks good, animations are decent, proper shading and lighting is all done, the art style bears a heavy resemblance to Mass Effect and XCOM, but still stands well enough on its own.”
- “That being said, I like (love) the sci-fi setting and graphics are stunning.”
- “The game already looks old, graphics are dated and bad looking, making it feel like a dead game despite new content and regular patches.”
- “Graphics are not even half of what they are in the preview, feels like a very early pre-alpha with lowered quality compared to trailers.”
- “The in-game graphics do not match the trailer; textures and visuals are blurred or lower quality, making the experience disappointing.”
gameplay
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
63%
5%
Gameplay in its current alpha stage shows promise with solid core mechanics, smooth gunplay, and an interesting action-oriented combat system distinct from traditional tab-targeting MMOs. However, it suffers from numerous issues including bugs, lag, lack of key features, incomplete content, and frustrating quest design, which together make the experience uneven and often broken. While some players appreciate the game's potential and setting, most recommend waiting for further development before expecting a polished or fully enjoyable gameplay experience.
- “It has everything going for it: the setting, plot, gameplay and character customization.”
- “Gameplay is good, ui is good, animations are good, still a bit laggy but not sure if it's server or my machine.”
- “Graphically project genom is a gorgeous game, and the combat mechanics show a lot of promise, effectively removing 'tab targeting' in favor of a more action-oriented system.”
- “Project Genom has stopped receiving updates and what's left of the game is a hot mess of incomplete game features, buggy mechanics, and downright broken as a whole (couldn't even play it without crashing or horrible FPS drops).”
- “Laggy from the very beginning, with 4 hours max of playable content (4 hours of fetch or find quests), with no RPG mechanics at all and it still costs money when devs are missing for almost half a year by now.”
- “First of all I can't even get out of the first area because it keeps freezing the screen but only the music and gameplay still ongoing, my screen keeps freezing every 5-10 seconds and freezes for like 10-20 seconds!”
stability
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game is currently highly unstable and plagued by frequent freezes, crashes, severe bugs, and performance issues, especially on North American servers. Though some find it playable and see potential due to ongoing test server updates, it remains an early alpha build with many incomplete features and usability problems, making it a risky purchase for players not prepared for significant technical issues.
- “The community and the devs develop the content on the test servers, then once finished, launch the main servers with the perfected, nearly bug-free content.”
- “Can't even play the game... I understand early access games aren't supposed to be bug-free but they should at least allow you to get into the game and play it.”
- “Project Genom has stopped receiving updates and what's left of the game is a hot mess of incomplete features, buggy mechanics, and downright broken as a whole (couldn't even play it without crashing or horrible FPS drops).”
- “The North American servers are basically non-working as it freezes for 10 seconds then you play for like 20 seconds and it repeats.”
- “Every 20 seconds it freezes as I hear the fans on my system gear up, then unfreezes with me having moved during the freeze.”
monetization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The consensus on monetization is overwhelmingly negative, with many users labeling the game as a cash grab, citing lack of content, infrequent updates, and a rushed early access release. While a few emphasize it hasn't yet become aggressively monetized with microtransactions or ads, the general sentiment is distrustful and views the game as prioritizing profit over quality.
- “The game was empty, bland, with virtually nothing to do, and in the end, wound up being little more than a cash grab.”
- “I don't think anyone should be encouraged to buy this game until they prove it's not a cash grab or a failure.”
- “I tried to give it time but with no updates in a very long time, it now feels like a big cash grab.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
66%
17%
The game's optimization is currently inconsistent, with many users experiencing low and capped frame rates, long loading times, and performance dips, especially on mid-range hardware. However, recent updates have brought noticeable improvements, and while server and network performance remain problematic, the developers are actively working on optimization enhancements. Some players with low-end hardware report acceptable performance, indicating potential for smooth play as optimization progresses.
- “After only a few days they've done a lot to improve performance.”
- “With the code optimization work and tweaks happening at the moment, improvements will be seen there, and those same improvements should eradicate or vastly reduce the lag issues.”
- “But it's nicely optimized, I'm getting 25 to 30 fps on my low-end laptop with everything on low, and the game still looks nice.”
- “I really like this type of game, but the optimization is poor; this is barely playable.”
- “Poor optimization (looks like it's capped at 50 fps) - no settings influence on frame rate.”
- “Performance is around 45 fps on low settings (RX480, i7 6700k); I get 70+ fps in most games and 144+ fps in well-optimized games.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by hilariously bad voice acting, especially a thick Russian accent that players find amusing, alongside funny in-world character interactions and witty references to books and movies. Some jokes suffer in translation, but the quirky audio elements, amusing bugs, and entertaining banter contribute to a unique, lighthearted experience. Overall, humor adds charm and makes exploration and gameplay more enjoyable despite technical quirks.
- “Get this game if it's on a really good special purely for the hilariously bad voice acting.”
- “The voice acting is also hilarious... it's like a low budget made-for-tv movie level of bad.”
- “+/- Your player character has a very thick Russian accent that borders on hilarious or intentional.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The game's music is generally described as decent and fitting, providing a calm and subtle background ambiance rather than an overpowering soundtrack. However, many users find the music's directional audio and constant playback disorienting and irritating, especially since there are no in-game options to adjust or mute it. Some also note technical issues where music continues playing despite screen freezes.
- “+ Soundtracks that are actually good”
- “2) Calm and fitting music to play to, changes with areas”
- “Sound isn't bad, music nice and not too 'in your face' - subtle.”
- “The background music plays loudly and there is no way to turn down or turn off the music.”
- “After playing the game for more than an hour the music can become really irritating.”
- “The music is simply floating somewhere in space and is really disorienting.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is notably intense and often seen as tedious, with players frequently needing to defeat large numbers of enemies and complete repetitive tasks to level up equipment and characters. While some enjoy the grind, especially with friends or entertaining features like humorous mounts, many find the grind excessive and a barrier to engaging gameplay. Overall, the game’s grinding aspect feels typical of MMO grind spam, potentially discouraging without sufficient rewarding content.
- “The gameplay does not make me want to play and the enemies are better programmed for what it is, lots of grinding and fetching you expect from all average MMO grind-spam games.”
- “The game is super grindy (almost worse than EVE Online or Elite Dangerous).”
- “If you need to spend 9 hours grinding to enjoy 1 hour of gameplay, your content obviously isn't enough to keep people playing on its own.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Users consistently praise the game's atmosphere, highlighting its unique sci-fi setting, fantastic art style, and immersive overall feel that complements the gameplay and controls.
- “The art style, atmosphere and setting are all fantastic.”
- “The controls, the atmosphere, combat, it all feels like me.”
- “A unique sci-fi atmosphere.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development features a unique system enabling fast and efficient leveling, but is hindered by a lack of character customization and repetitive placeholder designs.
- “An interesting character development system that allows for fast and efficient leveling.”
- “The character design is the same placeholder design, zero customization available.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect received mixed reactions; some players found the Russian voice and text immersion enjoyable and reminiscent of New World, while others felt it negatively impacted their experience to the point of discouraging play.