Here is one game that I found I am loving and hating in equal measure. By default when the game is load all the settings are set to maximum. However it was not long into the game when the PC crashed (CPU Core 2 Duo 3GHz, RAM 8GB, Video nVidia 560Ti). After lots of tweaking I managed to find settings that worked consistently. That said if I raise the settings once in game I found that I could run with a lot higher settings, however if I tried to load the game with those settings it would crash the PC!

As to the game it self I am really enjoying the exploration, mapping and trying to find everything I need. The concept here is excellent! What I have found though is that I can only carry on set of each type of pills at a time which is a pain. I also find it strange that I can carry a journal, water bottle, map, etc but I have to carry plants in my hand. Even then although I can hold three plants they have to be of a different type, why?

As to the cat monster, the idea I like however it needs its implementation is terrible. A monster that exists as an entity with AI that tracks you is one thing, but one that spawns automatically and plagues your life is a pain. Even more annoying when I found that it is a cat that likes swimming and has the powers of teleportation!!

Another confusion that may be made clear by the end, which I have not reached as yet is why there is a cat monster that loves killing me but not any of the other characters in game? I can't believe that every other person was knifed before the monster found them.

I don't regret spending the money and hope that the developers address the issues that have been raised regarding this game.

Happy Christmas!

There's a patch coming out some time soon that should help some performance issues. Miasmata's engine was coded by one guy, and it's fairly rough around the edges in some areas. Yeah, you're not the first to complain about this. I personally don't mind it at all (it works fine within the context of the game), and I think that it's for balancing reasons. So that you can't horde medicine and never be in any danger. I would have preferred if it had actually stalked you also. But they plan on polishing up some aspects of the creature's spawning behavior in the future (mostly to keep him from spawning too frequently, I gather). It will become clear at the end, if you finish exploring the island after curing the plague.

If by the end you still have questions concerning the plot, here's a spoiler-heavy discussion of it.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/223510/discussions/0/828923952187427867/

It as been nearly two years since I made my initial post and today I got off the island. Currently not sure if I visited every camp, etc, but that can wait for the moment. The actual time in game was 32 days after starting again on a new PC. Although I can't do I direct comparison due to the patch making changes, the game play felt a lot smoother and the encounters with the cat seemed better. I only died once and that was my own fault. My impression is that with the lower spec PC the actions being calculated to actual visual representation of the action was lagging behind. This lag would explain some of the strange experiences I encountered previously.