STASIS

This is a full-fledged point & click adventure game with a strong focus on item-based puzzle solving and discovering a sinister story via exploration, data logs and radio communications. Stasis tells a rather standard sci-fi horror story but with its many references to fan-favorite movies and games of the genre, you won’t be complaining. Like most horror stories, Stasis starts out slowly and becomes increasingly disturbing as you discover more. There are a few jump scares but due to the isometric perspective, they aren’t particularly scary. Within the first half hour of the game, I already found two satisfyingly brutal ways to die and by the end of the game, I had experienced at least 10 different gruesome deaths – half of which were self inflicted out of curiosity. The game has an automatic quick save so you don’t need to worry about saving at every corner. At a leisurely pace, the game took 9 hours to complete. Pixel hunting and timed puzzles are rare and manageable, backtracking is limited to 3-4 screens at the most. Overall difficulty is very humane due to the puzzles being based on science and being properly clued for the most part. Outside knowledge is rarely required, if you know what liquid nitrogen can do you’ll be fine. Performance was flawlessly smooth even on a low end system (2.2 GHz Dual Core, 4 GB RAM, Intel HD graphics). Stasis is prerendered at 1280x720 and scales to full screen by default. Window mode and font sizes can be adjusted in the Stasis config tool in the game’s main directory. At $25, the price is not cheap for an indie adventure but Stasis is so finely polished and well designed that you would guess it’s an AAA production. Highly detailed backgrounds, advanced lighting effects, smooth animations, even the voice acting is on a professional level. During my playthrough I encountered practically zero glitches or bugs and not a single one that affected gameplay.

I've played a lot of modern point-and-click adventure games: Syberia, Still Life, Jane Jensen's new stuff but, barring the Telltale Games titles, nothing has really grabbed me like the old ones used to. I mean, I used to wake up an hour early just to get in some Quest for Glory before school. I'm not a fan of horror (Okay, I scare easily) but after playing a few hours of Stasis last night I am hooked and can't wait to get back on the Groomlake. Even with the very low system requirements the game is beautiful, in a gory, rusty, decrepit way. The way the story is revealed is perfect. The voice acting is very good. Stasis is well polished and I haven't picked up any bugs or glitches. I Kickstarted it but it is well worth the retail price. It is more worthy of your money than most other adventure games out now and if you are a fan of point-and-click adventure games, sci-fi, or horror, this is a must-buy.

Well crafted indie game: grueling atmospheric visuals, mood settling audio with master touch of Mark Morgan. Voice acting was nice surprise for indie game, thou in some dialogues I didn't really buy character's emotions. Puzzles didn't feel out of place and naturally blended in narrative. Overall pleasant experience for ~5-6 hours. Why only 3 stars then? Game is full of tropes and cliché. They are aptly applied but don't provide feel of uniqueness. Story is far from original and doesn't awake much of emotional upheaval, doesn't make you worried about what's happening as much as it should. I'd say, it was more of completionist's desire driving me to play till the end than interest in characters' destiny. Overall Stasis is well made for indie game, but not scary or fascinating for horror one. It has distinct Dead Spacian feel to it but falls short compared to it's AAA inspiration in plucking the right strings of player's soul.

A twisted mix of Alien, The Thing and Event Horizon. Highly recommended to everyone who is into horror sci-fi and classic point-and-click adventure games. The game is filled with well-designed puzzles, clues and riddles that will keep your brain highy occupied.