Chernobylite PC review: Survival horror in 3D-scanned Chernobyl awaits
Ever since HBO’s 2019 Chernobyl miniseries took audiences around the world by storm with its harrowing depiction of the infamous 1986 nuclear disaster, video games about the region have become more popular than ever. Many fans have revisited the classic STALKER series ahead of STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl’s release in April 2022, and several new games have released as well.
The latest of these is Chernobylite, a survival horror shooter where you, playing as Chernobyl NPP physicist Igor Khymynyuk, have to explore the Exclusion Zone with a ragtag team of comrades to try and find your missing girlfriend Tatyana. And while Chernobylite has a few issues, the game is ultimately the best Chernobyl-focused shooter since STALKER.
Chernobylite
Bottom line: Chernobylite’s great survival horror gameplay, top-notch atmosphere, and excellent audiovisual presentation make it a must-play title for any fan of games like STALKER.
The Good
- Atmosphere is incredible
- Survival gameplay is well designed/balanced
- Base building is surprisingly fun
- Story is solid
The Bad
- Enemy AI can feel inconsistent
- No hip-firing in combat
- Some performance issues
Chernobylite: What you’ll like
Source: Windows Central
It may seem like overkill to some, but this dedication truly comes through in the final game and as a result, Chernobylite’s atmosphere is rich with the ghastly eeriness that the real-world Exclusion Zone is known for. The game’s artistic direction and audio help solidify the feel of the environment perfectly, too — for much of the experience, you’ll only have overgrown flora and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees for company.
Category | Chernobylite |
---|---|
Title | Chernobylite |
Developer | The Farm 51 |
Publisher | The Farm 51 |
Genre | Survival/Shooter |
Minimum Requirements | Windows 7 SP1 Intel Core i5-2500K GeForce GTX 660/AMD Radeon R7 260 8GB RAM |
Game Size | 40GB |
Play Time | 10-15 hours |
Players | Singleplayer |
Launch Price | $30 |
Base building offers a relaxing way to unwind after tense expeditions.
This system allows you to improve how prepared and capable you are each time you embark on a new quest, which makes engaging with this side of the game feel rewarding. Overall, the base building side of the game isn’t as fun as the missions out in The Zone are, but it does offer a relaxing way to unwind after Chernobylite’s nerve-wracking expeditions and prepare for your next outing. Even though it tonally contrasts with the rest of the gameplay quite sharply, I think that the contrast is precisely why it works. Having moments of respite between each mission ensures that the game’s moments of tension continually stand out, even after several hours.
Speaking of your companions, you can also chat with each of them to get to know more about their backstories (all of which are fleshed out well) and learn several helpful gameplay skills, such as better weapon damage, quieter movement, and more. Decisions you make throughout the narrative have an impact on their relationship with you, too, and that’s important to keep in mind since there are certain parts of the game where you need their help to succeed. Before setting out each day, you can also assign your companions to missions of their own to help keep your base stocked with essential resources. I wish there were more instances where they were with you during your own missions — think the crew of the Aurora in Metro Exodus — but overall, I like what they bring to the experience in Chernobylite.
The story here is also pretty solid, featuring good dialogue, plenty of interesting decisions for the player to make, and several twists. It’s not groundbreaking in any way, but there’s enough of a narrative hook there to keep players invested. The game’s superb Russian voice acting (with subtitles) elevates the experience even more, so I highly recommend playing with that setting (the English voice acting is a bit goofy).
Chernobylite: What you’ll like less
Source: Windows Central
Enemy AI can occasionally behave inconsistently, which is annoying.
Chernobylite also doesn’t allow you to hip-fire your weapons in combat, which strikes me as strange given how common that feature is in shooters these days. You have to aim down your sights for every shot, which makes fighting back against enemies while trying to move a bit frustrating. At the end of the day it’s a minor issue, but it’s still weird that hip-firing isn’t present.
Finally, Chernobylite has a few performance issues. The game’s loading screens are super choppy, and frames can occasionally drop in-game as well. The game also occasionally doesn’t apply changes you make in the settings after you save them, too, which is a pain to deal with.
Chernobylite: Should you play it?
Source: Windows Central
While Chernobylite definitely has some rough edges with its AI quirks, the lack of hip-firing, and some performance issues, the game is ultimately a great experience at the end of the day. If you’re a fan of all things Chernobyl and you want something to play while you wait for STALKER 2, I can’t recommend Chernobylite enough. It’s easily one of the best PC games of 2021.
Chernobylite is launching for PC on July 28, 2021. It’s also coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5 (as well as last-gen consoles) on Sept. 7, 2021.