Subterrain

I am surprised that none of the other reviews here mentioned what essentially drives everything in this game = "the constant time pressure". The infection rate is increasing essentially per minute and every single real time second counts, if you don't want to get overwhelmed by waves of too strong enemies. You have to line up your research, manufacturing, looting trips and taking care of your bodily functions just perfectly to avoid "swimming" in enemies. So for me the greatest CON of this otherwise good game is that the enemies don't scale with player progression, but only by time passed. And the higher the difficulty the shorter time You have to outpace that enemy progression. Even on the easiest difficulty You will get overwhelmed if You have not planned ahead in terms of what research and resources You need to get the correct set of better equipment for your playstyle to have a chance in fights.

(30 hours played. ln-game day 61) Read about the good stuff in the positive reviews. ALL of what they say is true. I will tell you about the bad stuff, and there's plenty to tell (not sure I want to continue playing Subterrain to see it to the end). First, you will die (A LOT MORE than… "normal") on ANY difficulty setting, AND (MOST of the time) it will not be YOUR mistake/blunder/error. Forget about playing on any setting other than 'EASY'. (Really, hurt yourself, try it on "Normal" difficulty a few dozen times before you switch to "Easy". Have fun time for a while and then start RELOADING A LOT... again). The game environment is set in such a way that there are inconceivable obstacles everywhere (their purpose being to make players' experience miserable – there is no in-game explanation or justification of those obstacles… things that you can't see most of the time but you KEEP BUMPING INTO ALL THE TIME, and they hamper your movement). And so…. …you will get STUCK A LOT), and your OWN grenades will slide back to you and kill you… and there is no feasible way to deal with the infested other than grenades. Period… as… ALL weapons are nearly useless. I repeat: ALL weapons are nearly useless (the best all around weapon is.... PISTOL) – your guns are the tool to finish off the Infested weakened by the.. GRENADES (and don't get me started on weapon durability… ) Subterrain almost made it to my personal top 10 list of the best games of all time… IT IS A GOOD GAME (better than 90% of the games I've played in the last decade) but at some point I got really tired of dying… on EASY difficulty setting… because.. infra-vision or not….. you will die. A-fucking-LOT.

I liked this game a lot. For 95% of the game. While some have complained it is tedious, I found the levels interesting and the monsters satisfying to kill. There is a lot to research and having to keep track of the various resources you have during the game was interesting for me. The text is sparse, there is some reading to do, but not a lot of it. I spent the better part of two weeks on this, but I did indeed explore every level (and some of them even twice!) However, why I rated this 4 is the ending. I will try not to spoil, but if you are gamer like me who prefers to play on the easiest setting to explore the world and the story, you will be stuck in the end. At least there are youtubers who have played it through so you can check out the ending. Even if you are someone who likes heavier difficulties, the final fight will be quite tedious and you will need to prepare for it. And the section before that feels a little useless, but maybe that is just me. So, if you don't like a sudden difficulty creep no matter the difficulty in the last part of the game, don't buy this unless you are fine with not actually finishing. However, if this sounds like a challenge you would like to accept, go for it.

Good, detailed drawn, with light and fields of view, good soundtrack - atmospheric music that really helps the immersion, good sounds from the different things you do and weapons you use, the zombies you butcher, claustrophobic environments, time pressure of the infection and the dying colony, energy management, inventions and upgrades, need to eat, sleep, go to the WC and drink to go, need to repair equipment, labyrinthine levels, mutant attacks, need of medicine, med-packs, antibiotics and fixtures for broken bones - to heal different injury done to you... It have it all, you have no safe spaces. You go out you are on your own, you stay in - you surely die. This game really have what this genre should have and is done in the right way. It also have more science-fiction than just fictional way - The way the things are done is believable not like many modern and old games - no phone things hold in hand and you are ready to go and solve whatever problems... You need food, water, proper temperature and oxygen or you will not survive. Every level have it's "heart" where you must install filters and heaters to make the zone operational and be able to thread even bit safer there (and to reduce the spread size of the plague), sometimes you go in a level 2-3 times before you can get to the heart and find everything there is to find - you have to get with you food, med-packs, stimulants, spare oxygen and thermal canisters, water etc... You gather things and scavenge everything you can - so you can turn things into materials then into useful things, in this moment you feel how irrelevant become everyday valuables in such situation.... Place beacons so you do not get lost or forget where were those supplies you left behind because of full backpack... And yes - you have back pack so no hoarding all and must manage what you carry on mission. Defend and maintain the generator. No one is holding your hand all the time - think, plan, when out - maneuver.