Afterfall insanity puzzle series#

Neither is particularly original or executed in a way that changes the core gameplay drastically. FreeFight is, well, a fancy way of saying you can use ordinary objects around you as weapons. Vision blurs, long-range accuracy takes a dive, but melee damage is pumped up as his adrenalin surges. FearLock is what happens when Tokaj is startled or otherwise driven to panic. The game's two big ideas are FearLock and FreeFight, though in practice they're often barely noticeable. The guns have decent enough accuracy, but ammo is rare enough - and enemies dumb enough - that simply bludgeoning your way through is as good a tactic as any. Whether human or monster, foes generally run manically towards you and you mash the mouse button to smack them away with whatever object you're carrying. Pipes, hammers and even brooms can be swung, slightly clumsily, at enemies. Firearms fall into the expected models - shotguns, assault rifles and so on - while melee weapons are drawn from the environment around you. This, thankfully, is solid enough though never quite engaging enough to shoulder the burden of justifying the whole experience.

So the game hinges almost entirely on its combat. It's basic trial-and-error stuff that never enhances or illuminates the game's world.

Afterfall insanity puzzle series#

Door hacking, for example, is simply a case of using your otherwise-useless PDA to guess a sequence of directions for a series of rotating cogs. Puzzles occasionally break the routine, but these are rarely anything to ponder too hard over. 'It's Fallout crossed with Dead Space, basically, and while it does a serviceable job of calling to mind its inspirations, it offers none of its own.' The route from start to end is a straight line that takes the expected six to eight hours to walk. Progress is entirely linear to the point of tedium, not just narratively but geographically. That doesn't last for long and you're soon firmly in traditional action territory and, from that point on, the game is as trapped in its gloomy corridors and tunnels as the characters themselves. Of course, things aren't what they seem, and this introductory sequence does a good job of creating an obvious but enjoyable off-kilter atmosphere. Perhaps this is how you prove your innocence in the future. Guards approach with murderous intent, and this ordinary doctor fights back by grabbing a fireaxe and decapitating them. There's precious little time to establish his backstory, however, as within 10 minutes of starting the game Tokaj is accused of some mysterious crime and declared a public menace. You play as Dr Albert Tokaj, a psychologist tasked with monitoring the mental state of the people living below ground. It's Fallout crossed with Dead Space, basically, and while it does a serviceable job of calling to mind its inspirations, it offers none of its own. Below, people live in sterile comfort, ruled by totalitarian leaders and subject to the madness of Confinement Syndrome. Topside, the world now belongs to mutants and monsters.

It's a third-person survival-horror shooter, set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia where humanity has survived a cataclysmic war by retreating to underground bunkers. They've also created something so generic that you can't help wondering if it was worth the effort. They've created something that looks incredibly impressive, with Unreal 3 powered visuals and a throbbing orchestral soundtrack. These are the questions that buzzed around my head while playing Afterfall: Insanity, a game produced over several years by Intoxicate Studios, a group of Polish coding enthusiasts who coordinated their efforts over internet forums.

Where do you draw the line between indie and mainstream gaming? Is it purely a financial distinction, with one being produced for peanuts and the other benefiting from healthy sacks of cash, or is it an ideology, with independence not only from corporate interests but from conventional design?