henke on 30/6/2024 at 12:07
Picked up this game for €6 in the current Steam sale. I'm 5h in and kinda hooked!
[video=youtube;PL9xAZIo9kw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9xAZIo9kw[/video]
(
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2673660/Sonar_Shock/)
The most immediately notable feature is the very retro controlscheme, which is like a more minimalist version of System Shock 1's controls. No strafe, no look up or down, just WASD to walk and turn and mouse to shoot, interact and use the interface. These kinda clumsy controls are a good fit for a survival horror game. Adding to the surhor clumsyness is the weapon-reloading system which has you manually dragging clips to your gun and cocking the hammer before you can shoot again. The lack of vertical look isn't a problem as the game is designed to have most important things at eye level, and is generous enough with the interaction-distance that you can still pick up things from the floor or high bookshelves. Not everyone is a fan of the controls, but I'm digging them.
The gameplay, heavy on exploration and a bit of combat, is engaging. The story is set on a Soviet MegaSubmarine and there's all kinda spooky shit happening. It's a mixed bag. A lot of the smaller sidequests are fun and easy enough to follow, but the larger plot is kinda confusing in ways that I'm not sure are always intentional. Keeping track of all the Russian named characters is difficult. Actually, running around this enclosed vessel with a bunch of Russians is reminding me of another game, made by a TTLGer. Is this game the first KARASKI-like? We could ask Yakoob but he's having trouble getting this game running.
Overall I'm pretty impressed by how well this whole game is put together, for a solo dev production. Makes me wanna make a game like this of my own.
Yakoob on 1/7/2024 at 00:03
So it did initially crash at start but the dev sent me a custom save file at start and then it loaded.
I only sunk like 15mins in so far (past tutorial until you get to the first save point). I am definitely digging the atmosphere and art style, and the game wears its System Shock 1 inspiration on its sleeve. Looking forward to playing more!
(my only complaint is it doesn't support the gamepad. I mostly game on my couch these days and want to be able to cozy up with my controller ughhh)
Yakoob on 1/7/2024 at 04:22
ok, i dont know, I might need to give this game up. I just spent over an hour making 0 progress. It has all the worst bullshit I hate in survival horror games - janky combat that punishes you not for lack of skill but because of jank, bugs that get you stuck and killed, obscure mechanics with poor tutorialization, and using a rare resource to save game.
The past hour can be summed up:
* died trying to figure out how to even combat , lost 5 mins of progres
* died because I kept getting stuck on stuff when trying to move back, lost 5 minutes of progress
* got permanently stuck on geometry and couldnt retreat. lost 10 minutes of progress
* actually made good progress this time, uncovered two new quests found a shotgun. Then encountered new enemy i haven't met before who insta-killed me in 2 hits from shooting projectiles across the room. lost 15 minutes of progress
* got permanently stuck on geometry and couldn't retreat (again). lost 5 minutes of progress
* got ambushed by 3 different enemies at once and my gun jammed, couldn't fight back. lost 10 minutes of progress
Since you can't save freely, I'm still at the same stage of the game. I haven't advanced anywhere and need to keep replaying the same corridors, re-finding the same loot, having the conversations, and repeating quest chains hoping I wont get stuck on geometry, or the hit collision wont fail, or a pitch-black monster in a pitch-black corner wont eat me, or the game wont randomly spawn an overpowered enemy who one-shot-kills-me from across the room.
idk man.... is there a way to actually save the game without scavenging the save disks? If I need to keep redoing this I think this game just isn't for me.
Yakoob on 1/7/2024 at 04:35
ok made it further than before this time, unlocked a whole new area with a secret church and FINALLY found a new save disk! as I was opening my inventory and trying to select it, a monster apparently came out of nowhere and killed me in one hit before I could even react.
yeah.... yea I don't think this game is for me.
Yakoob on 1/7/2024 at 05:10
ok against my best judgement, i gave it another shot. I should have known I was off to a bad start when literally the first enemy dropped my health by half because for some reason my punches weren't registering even though he was literally in front of me. but whatever.
I cleared a whole new area this time, found some new plot notes. was playing very conservatively and slow, really trying to be careful.
then, one of the enemies that shoots projectiles, shot it at me THROUGH CLOSED DOORS from another room, and killed me.
20 minutes of progress gone. back to the original save.
Ok, yea honestly, i can't. it has such a great atmosphere that lures you in, a solid retro style and callback, exactly the kind of immsim I was craving to immerse myself and take my mind off of some life frustrations, but then the gameplay just has to be kind of an asshole to you
[video=youtube;7h3Zx4bV0RE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h3Zx4bV0RE[/video]
henke on 1/7/2024 at 06:02
FYI: you can enable Unlimited Saves in the options. This got added a few days ago.
Sorry to hear you're having a tough time with it even besides that tho. I haven't had most of these issues. Do occasionally get stuck on geometry but always manage to wiggly myself loose. Made it to level 3 on hardest difficulty even before they added unlimited saves. So, uh... have you considered GITTN GUD? :idea:
Yakoob on 2/7/2024 at 00:41
BACK IN MAH DAYS THEY DId them gaems differently! They dONT DO THEM HIT DEMTEMCTion like they used TO AND THERE WERE save stations where you could just save and.....
Sulphur on 2/7/2024 at 06:57
What I'm getting from this thread is that making video games is hard, and playing them is harder. I almost cried playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey today because the weight of Kassandra's accumulated deaths from how I've played her for 25+ hours fell on top of me like a gigantic, flopping ragdoll that knocked the air full from my lungs for a minute as I realised I was responsible for so much pain and suffering I thought was erased every time I reloaded the game.
But no: pain persists. You, the player, wear every death inflicted as an invisible wound on your psyche, accreting until one day it's too much and the dam bursts, and your ruin washes the colour from the world until all is grey and bereft of joy and sunlight. Your final payment for all of this misery you have wrought is a chorus of voices ringing in the air 'IF ONLY YOU HAD... GITTEN GUD', echoing in your skull every minute of every day until you finally dash your head on a jagged rock after falling from a great height, flung from the cliff of your own hubris.
Truly, not a hobby for the faint of heart.
henke on 2/7/2024 at 17:28
Yup.
Just finished the game. 10.8h total playtime. What a finale! This game has some TWISTS, folks! Even though much of the plot was hard to keep up with, it all kinda comes together at the end.
Overall a satisfying experience with good exploration and combat, plus enough twists and unexpected bits to keep it all interesting. :thumb:
Yakoob on 3/7/2024 at 00:52
i noticed when you die you get text saying "meat puppet disconnected" and the screen turns off like a TV... I'm guessing that's hinting at one of them bigger twists?
