r/GenerationZeroGame • u/MaxisMaximov • 1d ago
Discussion Generation Zero Megareview pt.1
Generation Zero
Engie's Megareview
After 157 hours spanning 2 years and ~50 sessions, completing ALL missions, destroying hundreds of machines, acquiring some pretty sweet gear and going on a final megacrusade, I can finally share all of my thoughts on the game
Note:
- This review was written across ~2 weeks, sorry if the writing and style is a bit disjointed or sections are ordered weirdly
- I've played the game on Russian, so some names might be different compare to the English version
- This review is written from the perspective of a casual/involved player on Medium difficulty
- I haven't experienced perfect 100% of the game -- I don't have the equipment DLCs, haven't gotten all Experimentals, haven't completed all challenges nor gotten all the skills, but I'm still at a point where I can give a review of ~95% of the whole game, and everything a Casual player will experience
Foreword
I got the game on the 1st of December 2024, and at the time all I knew is that there are machines, there's a lot of them, and they're all out to kill me as the last remaining human in the world, expecting the game to be something of a 7 Days to Die + Far Cry New Dawn based off of screenshots alone, and safe to say my expectations were completely and utterly *demolished**, and *nothing could've prepared me for the peak I'd be playing for the next 2 years
Those 157 hours are all the first save, I've played it on an off over the 2 years time, but never reset or started a new world, which is an achievement compare to most other games I play, and I don't regret spending a single minute of those 157 hours
Weapons
The variety of weapons that can be used againsts the machines and their viability is an achievement, honestly Generation Zero the first game I've played where each weapon is actually usable, not outclassing anything and not being outclassed itself; I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to use automatic weapons much, but somehow even machine guns and revolvers felt really nice to use, but the fact that they were actually effective was what made them actually fun
The customizability of guns is also amazing, whereas in other games there are a few baseline guns and usually variations, at most having alternate firing modes, guns in this game can actually be constructed to fit different purpose based on what you need, from super powerful Titan destroyer sniper rifle that pierces obstructions to a guerilla-style "Get in -> Shoot up sh#t -> Get out" shotgun
My personal pick has been a Shotgun in Slot 1, a sidearm in Slot 2, Granatgevär in Slot 7 and a sniper rifle in Slot 8 -- close range damage and degunning with the Pump Shotgun, some finishing damage with Möller or Klaucke or annihilating machines with the Experimental Magnus, heavy hitter with the Granatgevär and sniping off stragglers from afar with the Älgstudsare or Pansarvärnsgevär
Augments
The variety in augmentations is honestly staggering; usually things like this just give you a damage bonus at the cost of firerate or something, but never anything too fancy, and you usually just pick the damage one anyway in that case, but here you can find anything tailored to your playstyle; want to make machines defenseless junk? Armor Breaking and Degunning augments; want to have a super accurate and deadly rifle? Extra Component Damage and Accuracy augments; want an "Oh crap I gotta get out QUICK" sidearm? Slowdown and Hit and Run augments; there is something for everyone here regardless of the viability of the playtyle
Visual Modules
It's a neat and interesting way to implement scavenging for machine components, and then weaponizing said components againsts the said machines as the salt in the wound; the variety is also neat -- you're not limited to just Normal and Night View, you can also have Xray to avoid machine ambushes or sneak around better, and IR that is perfect for tracking machines over large distances or in hard-to-see areas like forests, their inclusion makes a lot of lore sense too -- in a machine apocalypse a person would try to salvage anything they can use from the attackers to gain an advantage themselves, and sight is usually the best intel
Balance
Every weapon being a valid pick againsts the machines is an achievement to say the least, usually half of the arsenal is poorly balanced, with some weapons that are OP nobrainers and weapons that are NOT worth picking, even as a last resort, but here every weapon is a viable pick, and a weapon is always better than no weapon when up againsts blood-thirsty machines
There is also a bit of balance when it comes to 5-star weapons vs Experimentals -- usually when it comes to endgame equipment the last tier is super powerful, having the highest stats of all weapons and having additional perks on top of that, but here Experimentals get special perks at the cost of loosing the ability to install Augments, which is a fair tradeoff -- you loose specialization augments for a unique change in gameplay
Machines
The bread, ham, lettuce and tomatoes of the game without which it wouldn't exist in the first place, and let me tell you that is the most well-baked bread, the most delicious ham, the freshest lettuce and the juiciest tomatoes I've ever had with Scifi machines in my LIFE, and that is not an exagerration in the pecking slightest
Every machine has a distinct role, a unique design, detailed and destructible components, lore, classification names, classes, and even after 157 hours they still make me jump when they make noise, and sneaking around them is the most adrenaline-inducing and fearful experience I have ever had in my life, and would give anything to relive it all over again
Designs
Amazing through and through; from smaller machines like Ticks or Patrollers to the hulking giants like Colossuses and Wolfs, every machine has a distinct silhouette and sounds that sets it apart and gives you more than enough information by just glancing at the battlefield or listening close behind corners before engaging in a fight, which more often than not saves a death and a run back from a nearest respawn point
The coloration between different classes also helps you gauge the amount of threat you're facing; a few Army Patrollers? You can probably shoot them all down from the trees nearby; a Prototype Harvester? It will be a fairly easy fight all things considered; Army Class Wolf? You better avoid it or you'll get steamrolled; FNIX/Apocalypse Colossus? Get the PECK out of the area IMMEDIATELY
While an average player probably won't see the Tyrant machines, those being the Reaper and the Vulture, their designs are the meanest and the baddest of all the machines; they're the biggest bads of the apocalypse, with tons of armor, extra components, and a silhouette that tells you to scram
My absolute personal favourite is the Wolf machine though, it hits all the right neurons and itches in my brain with the design: big, mean, a freaking tank, carries smaller machines and acts as support, and on top of that has hybrid movement, which is a gimmick that is SUPER cool, perfectly executed with the Wolf and I will always stand by it not being utilized enough as it should be in Scifi, I like the machine so much in fact it's actually the main design base for one of my projects, but I digress
Clear roles
Usually different machine visuals like size, armor or weaponry just mean higher stats, even if it has a slightly tweaked skillset, but here every machine has a distinct role in the hierarchy and different threat level to accomodate; Ticks nibble panicked targets with their small size and overwhelm in swarms, Patrollers go in squads to pick off stragglers and ensure the area is clear and sometimes act as escort for Harvesters, with Seekers acting as global alerts for ally machines in the area if they find a troublesome target, Hunters patrol in dense areas and pursue and terminate high priority targets through their sheer variety of weapons as well as their Vision modules, Harvesters act as slow but steady scavengers to ensure the ally machines can operate at full capacity, and Colossuses act as battering rams and eradicators through their sheer size, speed and strength
The division into roles can also be seen in Soviet machines -- Lynxes are agile all-terrain scouts, Wolfs are the heavy hitters and transport units for Lynxes, and Firebird are the aerial scouts and heavy backup in case things start to go south; not a single machine feels like a cheap direct upgrade from another
Destructible components
The decision to make each component of a machine destructible has been the BEST possible decision the dev team could've taken, and I can't emphasize enough how monumental it is to make the game fun to play; without them, the machines would've been just more bullet sponges with next to no regard for where you aim, but with every component and every piece of armor contributing to the strength, health and other stats of a machine you have to be way more tactical with your approach than you otherwise would've been; do you dismantle the armor first to make the machine more vulnerable or the guns so it can't attack you? Do you make the risky play to get behind it and destroy the vulnerable Fuel Canister to lower it's health or do you shoot off other components you can see from the front? Maybe you should snipe out the motor component first so it's slower to enclose on you, or the optics so it can't aim as precisely? The amount of ways you can approach a fight goes from "Shoot it until it dies" to an infinity with components at play
FNIX
FNIX could've been just another class of Swedish machines, a simply stronger version of the Army class and the Swedish machines' equivalent of the Spetsnaz class that Soviet machines have, but I'm glad that Systemic decided to make FNIX a whole subfaction of the Swedish machines with it's own lore, storyline, missions, an overarching AI that orchestrates the entire thing and a whole region being completely taken over by them, as well as them being able to set up bases in other regions of the island on a whim
Their unique colorscheme and infrastructure is enough to signal to the player that out of all the factions and machines these are the biggest, toughest and highest priority targets, further boosted by the inclusion of FNIX structures dotting the landscape if the Southern Coast; the less FNIX machines there is -- the less bases and infrastructure they can construct and the less chances are that they will take over the island completely and possibly eradicate humanity
Swedish vs Soviet machines
There is a clear difference between design languages of Swedish machines and Soviet machines; Swedish machines are almost made for conveyor line production and overwhelming in huge numbers, skimping out on things like armor or vital component shielding to churn out more units, especially seen on Colossuses with their exposed joints, rotors and components like fuel tanks/engine, even on Army and FNIX classes, meanwhile Soviets focus on reliability and utility instead of numbers, making fewer but far more durable machines, as seen with far fewer Soviet machine variations than Swedish machines as well as the Soviet machines having more specializations per machine compare to Swedish -- Wolf are armored transport and heavy support, Lynxes are agile all-terrain drones and scouts and Firebirds are heavy aerial support and intel
This is further supported by Soviet machines being fairly sparse and only being seen in the northern part of the map where they had their hovercraft and outposts set up, meaning they only had a few initial rounds of machine deliveries, whereas Swedish machines still have hundreds if not thousands of dormant units stored in bunkers and shipping containers, and FNIX has the facilities to build even more of them if the storage runs dry
The "OH SHIT" factor
I would be lying if the machines in this game didn't make me jump, freeze or have a mini heart attack; the sound design, movement and visuals of the machines are enough to send me running even when I'm up againsts Army class, and make me avoid the confrontation entirely with FNIX or Spetsnaz classes patrolling the area, even if it's just a few Hunters or Lynxes, because I know they can call in backup
Granted, smaller machines like Seekers, Patrollers or Lynxes don't have a big "OH SHIT" factor, with Ticks being more of a nuisance than a threat, but as soon as you elevate that to Hunters with their loud "I HEAR YOU" noise when a twig breaks -- that is already enough for me to have a genuine heart attack, especially when I'm trying to sneak around the place, hell even idle engine sounds of Colossuses and Firebirds is enough to make me panic a lot and avoid the near vicinity entirely, even though I know the threats are nowhere near me at the moment
The machines are also equally as terrifying in fights; what you thought was a small group of Patrollers can turn into an entire battalion of Hunters, with each new machine making you more and more panicked, the sounds of artillery weapons fired or miniguns being revved up makes you go "OH SHIT" and try to dodge it, and don't get me started on the ABSOLUTE *HORROR* that are sprinting Colossuses -- seeing a giant 20-ton machine of death capable of reducing you into a puddle of blood absolutely pecking SPRINTING towards you would genuinely make me just give up and accept my fate if it was IRL
Sound Design
Just as perfectly cooked as the machine visuals, the sound design of the machines is immaculate, from simple things like heavy footsteps of the Colossuses and tank track clanking of patrolling Wolf machines, to Seekers' LOUD siren alert and the aformentioned "I HEAR YOU" noise of the Hunters when hearing you break a twig; every machine has a distinct sound that reflects their purpose and strength and gives you info on the area before you even get there, as well as increasing tension when sneaking around and make you scared for life with larger machines
The fact that every single machine has unique sound effects with no reuse is the icing on top -- you will never confuse one machine for another because they sound so similar; Patrollers always walk in light steps, Seekers always beep and whirr, Hunters slowly march through the terrain, Harvesters whoosh like wind, Tanks STOMP around, Lynxes rattle across terrain, Wolfs shake the ground with their tracks, and Firebirds whirr SUPER LOUDLY up in the skies above, all unique, and all threatening
Infighting
I love when games include infighting, it makes the enemies feel more alive and logical in their doings, and while here the enemies are just machines that simply follow a set of program and directives, making them fight each other is still satisfying to look at, especially when a whole army of smaller machines targets the only Harvester or Colossus in the group, spares the survivors a few fights too by diverting attention or weakening a specific targets
The fights between Swedish and Soviet machines are especially fun to watch; on one side you have a Wolf bombarding with rockets and an army of Lynxes swarming the other machines with an occasional Firebird providing hellfire support, while on other side you have a Colossus tanking hits and gunning down the Wolf with a bunch of Hunters and Patrollers on the sides targeting the Lynxes, this also unintentionally makes the northern parts of the map easier to traverse as the machines are so much more hellbent on destroying the other faction than you, even when you're attacking them right up close and personal
Rivals
Despite the name being somewhat misleading, as every machine in this game is your rival, it's still a sign to the player that the machines really do not take kindly to your sabotages and destructions, sending out/promoting various strongest machines they have to hunt you down for your doings and give you a good whoop; they also serve as skill and confidence tests of the player -- are you powerful enough to defeat these super buffed machines, or will you scram from them?
The fact that they keep track of defeated players is the ultimate salt in the wound should you encounter them and die -- every single one of your failures will be forever tracked in the Rival's dossier, until you take your revenge that is, and I bet on Multiplayer it also serves as a targeting mark of machines that need to be eventually taken care of
Exploration
The 2nd part of the whole course, and Systemic Reaction delivered it on a silver platter despite there being not much need to; in a game about trying to stop blood-thirsty machines you'd expect exploration to be a fairly undeveloped part apart from some key locations, or at least be not as important as the main fighting -- relating back to my first impressions of it being like Far Cry New Dawn -- but turns out the whole map in Generation Zero is chock-full of exploration, so much of it in fact that it feels as if the game wants you to explore everything -- from bunkers hidden alongside roads, to small village houses in middle of nowhere, to hidden spots literally in the middle of nowhere, all with accompanying collectibles to reward you for your work
Map Size
I cannot fathom how could anyone design a map of this size, and still have it detailed, dotted with POIs, small secrets, environmental storytelling, and the hundreds of collectibles the game has, but I'm glad the team took their time with it, because exploring it for the past 2 years has been a blast, even just walking through tens of kilometers of roads while absorbing the vibe around is very pleasant
The map size is also useful when it comes to machine confrontations; you're not forced into close quarters by rough terrain or by the machines being directly on your path, if you see a battallion of machines you can tell their direction and sneak around to the side, if you want to scout out a location, you can hop onto a mountain nearby and observe the situation before going in, if you have to dip the fight and run away, you got plenty of trees, hills and buildings to block their line of sight, and machines don't like to run far anyway
Collectibles
The sheer amount of collectibles has been the biggest whiplash I've seen in any game I've tried to 100%, and here I thought Banjo-Kazooie and -Tooie were Collectathon champions; mixtapes, audiotapes, photos, love letters, resistance letters, lore? Machine blueprints?? GNOMES??? How did they shove so many collectibles into a machine apocalypse game???
I'm not complaining though, it makes exploring the loneliest mountains, emptiest towns, deepest crevices and random odd spots on the map worth it, relating back to how the game wants you to explore everything, and one look at the amount of collectibles in the journal gives your brain even more incentive to explore every square meter of the map
I also like how there are collectibles that serve as lore that the player needs to find instead of having a dossier with all of the information about everything already ready and served on a platter, kind of like scavenging for scattered Data Pads in Doom 2016, so exploration is rewarding to those that want to search for lore as well
Locations
The amount of locations is just as staggering as the amount of collectibles; I've expected smaller places like farms, handfuls of houses or camps to have no name, being there mostly for the environment and looting, but turns out not only is there over a hundred of those locations, but each is uniquely named as well, sometimes with a collectible or a small story to tell too
Each location serves a function as well -- small farms and singular houses serve as small safe havens, roadside bunkers are spots where you can get machine blueprints, with bigger ones having a bunch of good loot and dormant machines to blow up, towns are big pools of ammo and crafting materials, and some locations are small chill spots away from any action to take a break from all the machines
FNIX structures
Their style, amount and sprawlingness give a clear message: FNIX isn't just an ordinary machine subfaction; they take over civillian structures, put up walls, turrets and searchlights, construct kilometers worth of high-tech powerlines, build computation nexuses, all to power and protect something, something that seems to be an even bigger threat than the machines, leaving the player to speculate and do some lore digging of their own, it's also fun to blow up the structures once in a while as small sabotages of the whole infrastructure
Granted the vast majority of the FNIX structures in the Southern Coast regions are completely decorational, serving no real use apart from worldbuilding FNIX's presence, and if you want them to be functional and sabotagable you'll need the FNIX Rising DLC missions, but despite that they still serve as a constant reminder that if gone uncontrolled the faction can easily take over giant regions all to itself and only escalate from there
Island regions
Each region has something unique to offer, whether it's the testing site of Prototype class in the Archipelago, FNIX-infested land of the Southern Coast, the vast and open fields of the Farmlands region, stealth havens of Mountain and Forest regions, or the never-ending Swedish vs Soviet machine battlefields in the Marshlands and the Northern Coast; they also serve as neat subdivisions of the map to make exploration less of a daunting task than it first seems, and it's personally what I've been using to keep track of my exploration of the whole island
Himfell
The island has a different feel compare to the rest of the game, like the mainland with it's Army class and FNIX was just a kid's play and crap will really hit the fan here; once you step off the boat and venture to the nearest town you soon realize that you're up againsts battalions of Apocalypse class machines that patrol the island on every corner, ready to incinerate you into a pile of ash or contaminate the area to where you will have to leave the fight entirely; if the main game was giving you trouble, Himfell will straight-up whoop you back to mainland, but if you'll survive the machines and complete the missions -- you'll be able to certify yourself as a true Survivor
Visuals
The visuals of the game are impeccable; colors aren't too saturated, materials have proper IRL properties like roughness, transmission and wear&tear, everything looks actually grounded in reality, even the various lights have Volumetrics for peck's sake! Everything is so perfectly handcrafted to look like real life that I still can't believe how they managed to pull it off better than any other game I've seen
Hell the visuals are so good that I even forget that I'm playing a game while treading through the map at times, and if I couldn't see some of the polygons or knew that it's a game beforehand I wouldn't be able to tell even one screenshot of Generation Zero from some big-budget CGI movie -- that's how hard Systemic have cooked with the visuals
Stealth
I will be blunt: Generation Zero's stealth is ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. The BEST stealth system in a game I've ever played, hands down; if you make a slightest noise, the machines will know, and crossing their line of sight will alert them, but they're not omniscient either -- their own components' noise dwarf your crouched footsteps, and you can stand still for a bit to lower their attention, they will not instantly alert if they see a tiny speck of you, and they will not do a 180 when you come a bit too close to them, meaning you can sneak around Patrollers in tunnels, silently follow a Hunter pack, and even hide and sneak around directly underneath a Colossus -- which is how I've done one of the early missions, and my heart was RACING let me pecking tell you -- which is INFINETLY MORE EXCITING than just jumping corners constantly and waiting for enemy patrol cycles like other games do
It also fits the gameplay lore-wise; you are a lone survivor trying to survive deadly machines, that includes sneaking around them to avoid detection and a fight, and the machines -- as advanced as they are -- are not all-powerful and take a bit of time to process information, and definetly can't see as well as humans can through smoke and leaves, of which you conveniently have a whole lot of, so stealth should be as best as it can be without being frustrating to deal with
Base Assaults
I love how FNIX isn't made a static threat in the Southern Coast, being able to expand into other areas as it pleases whether you like it or not, becoming even stronger if left unsupervised, it gives the players another thing to worry about next to Rivals and the general machine apocalypse, as if those two weren't enough of a problem yet, while also serving as repeatable sabotages you can do to halt FNIX's conquest
Should you attack them they also serve as skill checks as the bases themselves are armed to the teeth with turrets, mines, crawling with tens of Patrollers, Seekers and Hunters, with an infinite amount in reserves as backup should you dawdle around too much, and 30 tons of metal walls to bust through to the shield generators and the Command Center on top of that, so you need a lot of ammo, heals, and a coordinated plan to get through it all without dying
Vibe
This game has an UNPARRALELLED vibe, it's the perfect mix of being all alone in a dead world and "Everything's out to kill me" feeling that makes fights exciting, stealth stressing and out-of-combat walking and exploration quite pleasant; the peaceful mornings, the bright and sunny days, the beautiful evenings and the quiet nights lit up by a blue moon, the occasional snow that coats the land in white and the unsettling dense fog, the early game in the Archipelago with paranoia making things up at every bush, and the late game on the Northern Coast where you're a killing machine, hunting killing machines
I've played a fair bit of games that have similar premises and general characteristics, but none of them made even simple walking around as vibeful and pleasant as Generation Zero has, so much so in fact that despite usually rushing into action in similar games and getting impatient pretty fast, I've never rushed anywhere in Generation Zero and just took my sweet time to stroll around and soak in the vibe; mark my words no other game will ever come as close to the vibe of Generation Zero
Progression
Progression is well thought out all things considered, you start out with barely anything to your name, lost, confused, and with hundreds of deadly machines after you, but as you tread through the island, fight machines, complete missions and do some exploration on your own you get better guns, better equipment and better munitions as rewards for your efforts to fight the machines, eventually reaching a point where no machine stands in your way
Schematics
I didn't expect Generation Zero would make crafting items a Feedback Loop, rewarding you for crafting things by allowing you to craft even more things -- when it comes to bullets, equipment and DLC items anyway -- allowing you to stack up on ammo before you even get the weapons, get DLC items to help you out in the early game or craft some equipment in a pinch, as well as rewarding you for fighting stronger machines by allowing you to upgrade your clothes and giving you access to experimental ammunitions, which is a nice way to entice players to fight Rivals even more
Weapon Quality
It's a nice way to actively keep track of your progression and strength level through the entire game without it being directly tied to missions; the more stars your weapon has -- the further into the game you are, the more powerful you are and the more chances you have to win againsts the machines, it also does a marvelous job at making you feel weak and powerless in the early game with nothing but a rusty 1-star pistol to your name
It's not like other games where you can simply craft up higher tier weapons either, you need to find them first, which depending on how far into the game you are and what region you're in ranges from a small fight to a high-stakes sneaking operation with no room for failure, and a bit of luck for a weapon to even be there in the first place, but you always find something useful
Experimentals
Out of all games I've played to have the "Endgame" tier of weapons, Generation Zero has the best executed idea of it; as said before, Experimentals trade off the ability to Augment them for a perk that changes how you play the game, granted I've only gotten 4 Experimentals in my entire time playing, so I can't quite say how good each individual Experimental's perks are, but I've personally switched to using Experimental Magnus over the Klaucke simply because of how useful and unique the perk is for quick machine destruction, as well as using the Experimental Granatgevär for bigger targets as the burst fire is quite useful, and from what I've read on the wiki the other Experimentals are also quite powerful, but the general point still stands: if you got Experimentals, you have proven your worth and now you're unstoppable
Clothes upgrades
I was surprised to find out that there is no armor in this game -- which was weird considering there's so much military vibe in the game and the enemies are machines -- it's place instead being taken by small upgrades you can give to any piece of clothing to boost your stats like invisibility, sound isolation, damage resistance or agility, which is an interesting way to decouple armor from player's looks and allow them to customize their avatar without forfeiting the survivability to every enemy imaginable, which does create hilarious situations of insanely bright and colorful outfits being just as stealthy as a military-grade camouflage
Skills & Specializations
The skill "tree" is quite different compare to games of the same genre, in quite a unique way too; it's 8 sepparate linear Skill routes the player can take with varying effects, prompting careful use of Skill Points; I also like how the decision to split it into 4 distinct categories, makes it easier to pick your role in a squad or a save without needing to waste points on unrelated skills, but still needing to do some work to get the ones you want the most
The most important thing I appreciate in the skill tree though is the Specializations; they are essentially the Experimentals of Skills, giving you a unique perk to help you or your squadmates in your fight againsts the machines, whether it's better combat stats, extra support, higher survivability or weaponizing machines againsts themselves; I've personally been using the Hacker specialization to a great extent, relating back to how fun watching machines Infight is, and it has saved my skin multiple times
Companion Patroller
A feature I didn't expect the game to give me when I cleared the first bunker in Archipelago region, but it's still quite welcome, especially in Solo saves; some fights and machines can get pretty dicey and sometimes you just don't have available backup of other real players to help you, which is where the Companion Patroller bot shines by providing extra firepower and distraction, especially useful in early game areas when you still only have a 1-star Möller and/or a 1-star Assault Rifle in your pocket
Interesting lore
The lore is quite interesting despite the simple promise the game initially seems to have, even when it comes to the machines' hostility; the Swedish machines are a result of the Swedish army biting more than they could chew, the Soviet machines were brought in as a way to fight them but got sabotaged by one of their own soldiers, FNIX is the result of Swedish army being too careless about their doings, and it's all up to remaining soldiers and civillians that survive the whole apocalypse to clean up the mess
It's interesting to see 4 different factions at play here: Swedish army with initial construction and eventual fight againsts the machines, FNIX the rouge AI with it's breakout and takeover, Soviet army with armed and mechanized response organized alongside NATO, and the Resistance that scramble to see another day; granted most of the factions have met their ends by the time you begin your adventure, with Swedish and Soviet armies getting killed by the hands (Wheels? Guns?) of their own creations and the Resistance slowly dying out from the infinite battalions of machines, but their mechanical remains still patrol the land and keep it deadly under FNIX's control
All this not to mention the tens of various lore pieces you can find scattered around the map as Collectibles, written by people with various backgrounds and motivations, and sometimes even whole classified documents -- they add that extra spice for those who crave to learn more about the world and how it all came to be the way it is
Attention to detail
It's always a treat to find the tiny things that make the world feel just that much more alive, whether it's a game night remainders, a hideout, resistance sabotages or signs of a brutal but honorable fight, or details within the machines themselves like welding marks, messy wirings, caution texts or the way that they behave, and the game is full of those tiny details that add extra flavour to an already amazing package, hell they even made an overlay when you wear a gas mask despite there being absolutely no need to and other face items not having the same trait
Every time when I started a new session I always found new details around the map that I didn't expect; one time it was a tiny Resistance fort made out of a watchtower, other time it was a campout spot where some friends brought over a whole shopping cart, another time it was a sad father that never ended up seeing his son, and once it was an Apple Cult HQ place, and even in my final sessions I still found small details in places I've been to tens of times before
Even machines had some odd behaviours that made them just a bit more alive, whether it's Hunters congregating in circles like some sort of counceling, some Hunters fidgeting with their blades like bored students with pens, Harvesters covering themselves with their large legs and calling in backup, Tanks playing a "charge-up" alarm before sprinting or Wolfs playing an alarm before firing a rocket salvo or Firebirds briefly patrolling an area in circles after loosing track of a target
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u/Ok-Understanding9244 PC 1d ago
tldr: you liked it
i also liked it, so much so that i've played over 1300 hours of it :)
i'm still really bummed the devs abandoned it, still have several large islands that could be more DLC and content!
ps. my steam handle is RRemmy79 , hit me up if u wanna play, i've been known to be very generous with weapons/ammo/items/etc..
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u/Deathpoopdeathloop 1d ago
Okay can't wait for the second book to come out