Introduction
There is a lot to say about this game. Originally released in 2008, this game is one of the most underrated titles I have ever played. This game was a technical showpiece and a stand alone demo to showcase its graphics and physics was also released and is still available. I have been benchmarking this tile ever since its release but finally got to actually play it only recently, in 2023! (You can check out how the tech demo performs with various hardware here)
Pros:
- Story: The story is excellent and is told in an amazing way. The game masterfully blends different modes of storytelling in a cohesive package. Some of the storytelling elements are central to the entire cryostasis experience.
- Presentation: The sound, graphics and physics are way ahead of its time. It holds up quite well even 15 years after release.
- Environment: I have not played any other game that captures the feeling of extreme cold quite the way this game does. Some of the gameplay mechanics also revolve around cold. For example, sources of heat act as health. You quickly lose health in close environments. There are areas in the game where you are exposed to unbearable cold – stay out too long and you can practically sense the character’s life being sucked away by the atmosphere. You also get a water canon that shoots streams of high pressure water, and takes icicles that you grab off of the environment as ammo.
- Unique Elements: As mentioned earlier there are some unique elements in the game: Unique story telling modes and gameplay mechanics revolving around cold. You also get to play several maps in various times and can compare the environments in two states (Pre and Post devastation). Titanfall 2 did something similar 8 years later and was hailed as introducing a new mechanic!
- Genuine Psychological Fear: The game evokes some genuine feelings of fear and horror through some truly bizarre situations.
- Memorable Moments: There are several quite memorable moments throughout the game. Without spoiling too much: Playing as a cow in a slaughter house, sneaking through a room filled with blood thirsty hounds, and experiencing the fear of a polar bear being hunted to name a few.
Unfortunately there are a number of glaring flaws with the game which probably got in the way of this title becoming an instant classic.
Cons:
- Bugs and Crashes: I had the game crash on me often. Very often! Throughout the second half of the game crashes made the game almost unplayable. 9 times out of 10, the game would crash each time it autosaved or I did a quick save. As you can imagine this can be extremely frustrating. I first thought that maybe it is a compatibility issue with new hardware and windows but no. Original reviews and forum posts from 2008-2011 also mentioned similar issues.
- Performance Issues: I ran this on an RTX 3090 and the game was barely playable at 4K with all settings maxed out.
- Overall Gameplay: The combat is quite poor. It is clunky and can be overly punishing at times.
- Lack of enemy variety
Overall Score:
I would give this title 8 out of 10, in spite of all the cons. This title is an absolute gem If you can persist with the technical and performance issues and some lackluster gameplay elements.
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