समीक्षा

• gamedeal user

  Sep 29, 2021

  What an amazing first half. What a terrible slog of a second half. I have never played a product that screamed "We are out of time" as much as this one. I would even wager that this is even more half baked than Knights of the Old Republic two. The worst part is that the edges of this, that is to say the parts that got focus before release. The writing that was examined by an editor, the locations actually filled with content, the weapon and skill trees that got attention are all compelling. Yet that's only half of the experience with the other half feeling as if it was thrown through google translator, empty maps that waste time simply traversing it, random events that run out before repeating the same 3 events over and over, weapons and skills that clearly should have been cut or massively expanded upon and just...it's frustrating. It's frustrating because this world is very interesting. It's frustrating because at times this feels like the isometric crpg fallout sequel we never got. It's frustrating because there's so much potential in this system to craft interesting builds. It's frustrating because for every interesting thing you do you have to waste hours getting to it through a slog. 80 hours of playtime I can safely say that only about 30 hours of it felt finished. In the end Encased feels as barren and lifeless as the apocalyptic wastelands this game draws from.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 18, 2021

  Steam said that this game is like other games I played, namely Wasteland 3 and Disco Elysium. Forgive my incredulity, but "Bull!" I cried. Come on. Two very disparate games there. But.. somehow.. it is. This is an all-around entertaining and enjoyable RPG for any fan of the genre. You will find some new innovations in turn-based tactics here as well as some old favorites that make it a balanced blend of comfort and challenge. Exploration and discovery are rewarded. You have plenty tools, abilities, weapons and armors to keep it interesting throughout. The writing is sublime. I consider it on a par with the best in its class, and almost as good as Disco Elysium. Every single character has something to say, often important, and it's always worthwhile to chat up strangers, of which there are many. And you can trade with almost everyone. Cool factions, cool classes, cool innovations in the isometric RPG genre, all super fun choices to try out. Choices matter, often in unforeseen ways. Instead of difficulty modes, there are a few different game modes. I primarily played the tactical mode, which offers the most combat encounters. Other modes focus on exploration or story or role-play. But you can get the full game experience in any mode because random encounters can be skipped, optionally on an individual basis. You can pick and choose what encounters to play or skip. What initially looks like a pretty bare world map is full of hidden and randomized local game maps to discover and explore. Really amazing environments, lots of diversity all around. This game really keeps things interesting, and replay value is 10/10. Well worth the full asking price. Excited to see what Dark Crystal Games comes up with next.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 29, 2021

  The first act of the game is very compelling, and raises a lot of questions in the player's mind. It firmly established this incredible alternate history world where The Dome is discovered. Things go off the rails immediately in the most delightful of ways. If the rest of the game lived up to that level of polish, design, and engagement, the game would be incredible. Sadly, it doesn't. Act is disjointed, not following up well on Act 1's premise, but still showing signs of great things to come. Act 3 delivers on none of the promise, and indeed just falls even more flat than Act 2. The interesting characters? Left silent. The quest chains? Disjointed and annoying (and extremely easy to skip). Those questions you've had since the amazing Act 1? Unanswered. All in all, a disappointment all the more because of how much potential there clearly was.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 21, 2021

  extremely good game concept, first 20ish hours were some of the best RPG ive played so far this decade then after act 1 it just falls flat. pure lack of content from there on. never in my life have i played an RPG with so few quests. Of the 5 major factions they each get 1 settlement and a single chain of 3 main quests. sometimes side quests have you go to a different faction settlement to complete it, but thats about it. the worst aspect is the loot. from the lazy items themselves to the loot chances to horrible merchant mechanics it had me tearing my hair the whole time. here is the defining story of my one single run of this game. at the very end of the game (trying to be story spoiler free) you basically have to craft a certain set of items to unlock the final quest. one of the ingredients is a quest item, the others are just normal crafting junk you can find around. One of them is called a CPS, Charged (if youre reading this and havent got this far hang on to those!!). didnt realize it would ever be a quest item so I sold every one i came across early because theyre honestly good money. lo and behold im at the last phase of the game and ive done all 10 side quests the game has to offer and i have no more CPS, Charged. Every traditional dungeon in the game is a) in act 1 and b) a main quest, so there was nowhere to go to grind/loot. every merchant i came across only had the worst possible items you can buy, plus the traveling ones' inventories never reset so stuff you sell them in act 1 stays in their inventory the whole game. very frustrating having the only 4 gun vendors in the whole game show you stuff way below your level that you sold them earlier. Hilariously, this lead to me discovering 2 facts. the amount of xp you get from looting any given container is proportional to the total value of the loot in it (so lucky finds are worth more), and if you kill a vendor their entire sellable inventory is a) on their body and b) rerolled from what they were actually selling. This can lead to looting a dead gun vendor and gaining 2 whole levels at once. Great! murdering vendors in the desert leads to only positive outcomes. even the faction loss is not crippling, and there isnt a faction with more than one gun vendor anyway so you can't even stack it. I recommend killing one per act because eventually they do get higher level stuff eventually and even at the highest level looting a merchant will still probably level bomb you. you must cultivate them before you harvest. unfortunately this xp gain and free guns cannot materialize CPS, Charged. somehow tools vendors never had one for me, and they generally only carry worthless stuff so its not worth killing them like gun/armor vendors. there is another item in the game called CPS, Dead which as it sounds is an uncharged version of whatever it is. you would think this means you could somehow use one of the many science crafting tables and the honestly large and robust if kind of bland crafting system around the world to charge it up, but you'd be wrong. they are simply two distinct items. You need 3 total CPS, Charged to complete the crafting. all of these facts together lead to me sitting at my desk and simply traveling around the, discovering square by square in hopes i would stumble on some dungeon or event or something where id find a CPS, Charged. After probably 10-15 hours of game time (my game hrs are messed up bc i left it running) and dozens and dozens of the exact same random encounters ive been getting all game i managed to scrape up 3 CPS, Charged from literally random boxes and flower pots in the encounter rooms. The whole time i was going through my gun vendor murder spree i thought it was weird that the only change as the game went on is that the number on the weapons was going up. no unique items besides companion weapons, no rare weapons, no interesting progression or upgrades. by the end i was maxing heavy weapons and psi, and honestly finding high-level psi-gloves is nearly impossible. i had a lot of level 10 heavy weapons by the very end, but only a level 8 glove. after all this grind i had basically maxed my level and a lot of my combat stats and came across the most powerful level 10 weapons possible, then after the crafting quest was done you went to the next quest location and lo and behold its the end game initiation, completely out of nowhere. all the faction leaders are there and some of them want you to do stuff for you once you get to the end. after that you have a single dungeon, then a bunch of cut scenes and cool art and Martin Sheen's luscious voice, and it's over. Literally I never felt more deflated playing a single player game in my life. All that set up, all the stupidity trying to find some damned CPS, Charged, all the interesting story lore and potential faction interactions and the end game is over in 30 minutes. All of that grind wouldve been forgivable if there was another 20 hours of awesome game like the first act, but instead clearly the money ran short. That's life!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 7, 2021

  This is a great game, until suddenly it isn't. The first 25 or so hours are fantastic, and all I want from an RPG: original setting, choices that matter, quests with different outcomes, different ways to handle situations depending on your build, fights that are difficult but mostly avoidable, no 'filler' fights... I don't like how scarce ammunition/health/healing kits/money are, which often makes getting into fighting a bad choice, but that is a defendable design choice. And then, after powering the Emulator, all that changes: the new maps are still huge, but will have only one or two persons of actual interest on them, side quests all but disappear, leaving only the main quest, NPC don't have interesting backstories/dialog any more but just the lines needed for the quest, and your have to travel more which leads to random fights which you don't want (see above). Judging from the Steam achievements, less than 1 in 5 players get to this point, so I can't blame the developers too much for focusing on the beginning of the game. I still recommend the game based on that first 25 hours, but how I wish it could have maintained that level of content... As it is, I don't think I will finish the game.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 26, 2021

  The first half of the game is fantastic and perfect, the second half is a pathetic mess. This game would had been perfect if it discard the second half entirely and let the game end once you finish the first part. At this point the game is pretty much 'early access' as even if you can reach the ending the second half feels very incomplete.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2022

  A short premise: since the release of Planescape Torment back in the day i've played mostly crpgs and rpgs in general, it is by far my favourite genre and i have played the vast majority of these games. So now that you know where i'm coming from, here are my general thoughts on the game. THE SETTING The setting as it is presented to you during the initial hours of the game is good. It is a different take on the post apocalyptic theme that tries (and succeedes) in doing something different. It is a much needed coat of fresh paint and fresh new ideas. Sci-fi post apocalyptic in the 70s with weird unexplainable tech sprinkled on top? Sign me up. During the character creation you're introduced to the concept of "wings", which are essentially branches of this corporation that is leading operations in "the Dome". Each wing is specialized in a specific aspect necessary for the whole operation to run smoothly: you have the managers and leaders (the silvers), you have your scientists and researchers (the whites), you have your general choiche of convicts "pardoned" and forced into manual labor (the oranges), mechanics, builders and engineers (the blues) and the police/security (the blacks). The wings are an interesting concept and they give a playthrough unique dialogue options and ways to solve things depending on the wing you choose: character identity and not limiting your skills based on what you pick (you get some bonuses to some skills depending what you choose) is great and adds a lot of replay value. STORY The story during the Act 1 is great. You get a general view of how things are, how the factions (the wings) work together, the political scenario at play, the different locations, and every area of the game is filled with npcs, some of which have a lot of dialogue, but even those who don't still have interesting inputs that are essential in giving the game a believable and immersive atmosphere. There's also an overarching mystery that is quite intriguing in the way it is presented. I will not spoil the story itself, but at the end of Act 1 there is a big climax of sorts and the some things change. I was very excited to see where the story would go and how the game would evolve under the new premises but alas, if Act 1 is a fantastic start with incredible potential, the rest of the game is, without any grey margin, largely bland and unfinished: the new locations and areas feel empty, most of the npcs outside of those directly linked to the main questline have northing or just one liners to offer. The story is unfortunately held back by the lack of atmosphere and the barren and personality deprived areas. If in the first Act exploring was an exciting experience, in the rest of the game after a while you just stop trying to interacting with random npcs, knowing full well that there's nothing for you, neither dialogues, nor quests, just a lot of one liners. It is sad because the ideas are there and the overall story is quite interesting, but it's just not finished. COMBAT Combat is nice, nothing stellar or ground breaking, it's your standard action point system tied to movement, attacks and other actions in combat (reloading, using items, etc). You have both melee and ranged combat, the first divided in bare hands and weapons, while the latter is divided in light, heavy and high tech weapons, each with their own pros and cons. There's also "psychic wizardry", which is quite nice from a lore prospective too: essentially gifted individuals can use psychic powers with the aid of special gloves (your weapon essentially) that allows you to use fire, lightning, ice or psionic crowd control/buffing/debuffing. The combat isn't exciting like Wasteland 3, or Divinity OS, but it has a certain depth and it's satisfying in its own right, especially considering that there are a lot of different possible character builds given the variety of skills you can acquire. There's also a decent amount of enemy variety and although you can only have two party members at any given time, there is quite a bit of strategy involved depending where you choose to fight: many different maps have different ways you can engage an enemy if you have the right skills; sometimes you can find a secret passage to ambush enemies from the back, avoiding turrets, other times you can lure enemies into a minefield you spotted, and so on. VOICE ACTING This is another very important part linked to a good story, immersion and general suspension of disbelief. The quality is good, the narrator in particular does a good job with the exposition, although sometimes it can be a bit verbose, but it is an overall enjoyable thing. In general, voiced characters have a fitting voice and good performances. COMPANIONS As mentioned above, you can only have two active party members at any given time, out of a total of six possible ones. Forcing you to choose only two isn't necessarely a bad thing, on the contrary it forces you to make a decision and choose who fits best your team comp and your character. The builds the companions come with are varied enough to allow you to have some wiggle room: you're not obligated to choose a character for his stats, you have options. The various characters are decently written with some highs and lows, but they generally feel like people, with maybe one a couple of exceptions in which the whole personality of a character revolves around one single aspect. The voice acting of the companions is generally well done, especially when it comes down to Katarzyna and Yoko, on the other hand although he did a good job, i really think that Crump's voice doesn't fit the character and its avatar at all. MUSIC AND SOUNDTRACK I would define the overall experience as "meh". Some of the music or sound effects in general are bland and repetitive to the point which sometimes i would just turn off the music completely. Also, hearing the same voice lines over and over in determinate areas is quite tiring after a while, especially since it's just two lines repeated constantly. CONCLUSION In conclusion the game clearly has potential. The creative setting, coupled with the strong start embodied by Act 1 really makes me want to see this game succeed and possibly have sequels, but as things stand right now it's an unfinished product that amazes in the first act just to fizzle in the two that follow. It's not an early access game and in good conscience i cannot recommend the game in its current state. I will still check the progress though and as i did for Pathfinder: Kingmaker, will update my review when the game will (hopefully) feel feature complete, or at least be as good as what is shown in Act 1 in its entirety.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 2, 2022

  Oh man... I REALLY wanted to like this game, it does so many things right for me, but also so many things soo... soo wrong. It starts out insanely strong! - A interesting skill system which lets you build into nearly anything you want. - Takes inspiration from quite a few sources (Roadside Picnic, Classic Fallout, etc) but with it's own spin on things and does it well. - Several interesting companions. (which is always a big thing with me) - First Act was a really interesting story with shows a good chunk of the factions. - Most locations and NPCs in the First Act are quite interesting. - Great use of references and easter eggs. - Some great bits of voice acting (I adore Fox's Voicework) - Seriously enjoyed the Narrator, I wish he could have voiced all of it! - Servoshells are a nice take on Power Armor. But where it starts off so well... Act 2 really lets it down apart from like 1 thing. The big bus tank you can get that you can cruise around the dome in. My gripes with Act 2 is that takes all the good things that act one builds with story and characters and just... ruins it. - Story quickly falls apart after the meeting. - Game devolves into just a majority of fetch quests, and not even interesting ones. (Act 2) - Exploring feels like a chore. - Massive imbalance in combat and XP, Where XP and damage felt pretty normal in Act 1... Act 2 just dumps you like 4000+ XP semi randomly on random enemies. One could drop like 800, another 3000, even if they are both the same enemy type. - NPC Dialogue is so dull following into Act 2, almost rushed. - Very little challenge if you're just playing normally. - Quite a alarming amount of typos. - Seemed to crash a bit more in Act 2 for whatever reason. It's such a shame, If you do get this game however I'd highly recommend the first act and stop, or steel yourself for a boring slog. If there is ever another Encased and I hope there is... the idea is excellent. Please cook it more, I think it could have been amazing but really let down so early on.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 8, 2022

  I struggled to decide whether to recommend this or not... As you can see, I'm playing it and certainly getting my money's worth from it but the reason I've decided to mark it as "not recommended" is because it just feels unfinished. This game is a skeleton of a good RPG. The basics are there. It's got an interesting story, a good vibe to the characters, the voice overs are honestly amazing and the basic combat is fun and fluid. However, it's just a skeleton. The game has a lot of systems that seem to promise complexity and growth, but they're just not really there. In combat, for example, you can use various abilities that you get by levelling up the relevant combat skills. Almost all of them are worse than the basic attack. Some of the highest level Psi abilities simply give 10% of an enemies health per turn for 3 turns, when you can just deal that amount of damage in a single attack without having the fatigue penalty and often while using less Action Points. Another example is the crafting system. It's entirely unnecessary and often just not worth using. The items you get from it aren't particularly useful and the components will cost almost as much as the product itself, which you can often just buy anyway. Or better yet, steal. Which takes me onto stealth. Stealth is the single most powerful thing in this game. Enemies have a detection range so small you don't even have to think about it when telling your character to walk past them. The only time they're a threat is after you commit a crime, at which time their detection radius grows to a much bigger size. Pickpocketing is extremely powerful in this game too. If a merchant has things you want, you can just take them. All in all, the systems are there but they're very basic. As you progress it often feels like you're playing an OK game with a lot of potential. As much as I would like to see that potential realised, I just don't think it will. The Devs haven't released an update in about half a year, after having a consistent update schedule of once every two months before that, and I didn't get a response when I asked if the game was still being supported in their official discord channel. My comment also remained the latest comment for about 3 days at the time of writing this... So the discord is dead. While this game is 'fine' it's hampered by the disappointment of knowing it was almost a great game. You can spend time on it and enjoy yourself, just be prepared for that feeling of disappointment once things start feeling hollow.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 3, 2022

  Encased came highly recommended. A classic RPG in the style of OG Fallout, or so I was told. After checking the concept a bit myself I was intrigued and decided to give it a shot. The game takes place in an alternative 70s. A strange dome has appeared that anyone can enter but nobody can leave. Inside strange anomalies and great technological advancements await. The governments of the world agree to explore the dome together and soon a city of permanent settlers in the dome is formed. People of various strata and for various reasons choose to abandon their lives outside and become members of this expeditionary force. It should come as no surprise there is more to this dome than meets the eye. The game starts in a fairly unexpected manner. It's tagged a post-apocalyptic game, but there is no apocalypse in sight. Rather, the setting appears to be fairly pre-apocalyptic. The plodding first area, which doubles as the prologue, is effectively a long tutorial. The act that follows partly remains an introduction too. Only halfway through this first act does the game truly begin. This extended introduction proved to be quite tiresome. I nearly dropped the game right there and then. But once the first major twist happened and the game finally started showing its true colours my commitment to the game was renewed. Nevertheless, I had discovered the game's first major flaw. Encased does not have a particularly compelling start. It wouldn't be the only one. The game reaches its peak shortly after that major twist. The world rapidly opens up and at this point there is various towns and factions to interact with. Several side-quests and mini-areas to explore. Here the game shows off its more "hardcore" credentials. No quest markers, no fast travel, little guidance and a system that's not averse to punishing the player for not playing optimally. Here comes the second great flaw, perhaps the most important. The game confuses a lack of facilitation with challenge. The great classics weren't great because they lacked the tools that simplify and streamline modern games, they were great because they were designed to work without them. You can't design a modern game, then simply remove those tools and expect it to work like one of the classics. All you'll manage is to annoy. That's the case here. There are so many examples. Take the aforementioned lack of quest markers for instance. There is a quest in the game that requires you to go to 3 different towns and deliver some letters. In a modern game those random recipients would be marked on your map, you'd go deliver the letter, get your reward and that would be it. In a classic game, those people wouldn't be randomly roaming the map, they'd have an address, there would be a housing system, they would have distinctive characteristics, there would be other characters that know them and you can ask them to direct you their way and so on. In this game, it's the modern scenario, only without a marker. Enjoy scouring the map for 30 minutes hovering over every random NPC strolling the map, hoping you'll stumble upon the right one. The character development system is another interesting example. First of all kudos to the developers for implementing a variant of the Fallout SPECIAL system that looks both familiar and new. That's where the positives end. The way the character development system works is entirely inorganic. There are some unreasonably bad options and there are gimmicky good builds that have no reason to work, yet work. How can you know? Simple, either you know how the game plays, have studied all perks and planned your character accordingly, or you metagame. That's far from ideal. The game should not be pushing players towards a guide. In my first run, my character build ended up being so unexpectedly suboptimal, I was forced to abandon it 3/4 of the way. I don't think I was at fault. I simply picked an archetype that the game didn't care to account for. Having said all that, it is only fair to add that there is a number of things to appreciate in this game too. The world is interesting. The concept of the dome may not be very original but it works. It cuts off and separates the inside world from the outside and naturally magnifies the stakes. Only this tiny fragment of the world now matters. There is a lot of interesting mechanics to play with. A fancy power armour system, vehicles to be acquired, a fairly ok stealth system, crafting and upgrading systems etc. The game offers a wide breadth of options and tools, some haphazardly stitched together, some perhaps redundant, but interesting nonetheless. The game also takes into account most of the skills present in a character build and the various abilities associated with raising those skills feel rewarding. In the end, the game's obtuseness and fixation on being akin to a classic, in all the wrong ways, severely undermine the experience on offer. The irony is that even underneath all that the game is still uneven. The weak prologue was an early tell. Indeed, after the fairly interesting middle part, the game completely collapses on the final act. Effectively abandoning any pretenses of going the classic route and devolving into a choose your own ending disappointment. Yes, there is a superficial likeness to far greater games and yes there are some elements that are likeable enough. I did finish the game after all, I did not drop it even when I had to abandon my first run, but for the most part I was going through the motions. Even now, I'm not sure if I stuck with the game because it somehow struck a chord with me, or out of sheer stubbornness. Unfortunately, as things stand, I can't recommend this game to anyone but the most hardcore cRPG fans that have played everything else and desperately need a fix. No matter how flawed.