Isolania

How can a lonely game with one room have so many hours of enjoyable escapism, find out, if we are happier apart in ISOLANIA. Well, apparently anything can be good when you have a stellar world-building that probes your mind for every feeling of joy and sorrow it can find. You are a new podder in a society where nobody is allowed to leave their designated cell, the sadness is the sickness that you get from other people, and you must stay inside because isolation is the key to salvation. Everything that you need to stay alive is done within your room, and if you question your existence, there are consequences. I want to say it took the game maybe 4 seconds to get my attention because the voice of 'authority' is so compelling, and for the most part it manages to maintain that level of story-telling, even during the moments of downtime, I was always looking forward to the next day. Now the game has a 'waiting' aspect to it which usually amounts to several minutes per day, after you are done with your daily routine, you might have to just **** around for 5 to 10 minutes. I am sure the claustrophobic vibes were intentional, but it actually got to me in a real way, I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable because of the short walking distance. I like how the game went from being very moody in a negative way, to also being very lighthearted. Later in the game, you get to interact with other people through the mail which was a highlight of the narrative - l think their responses felt very natural, except maybe for the "email" guy, that one was kinda forced. Each character has an interesting look at their situation and in general, I think the game has good writing. Surprisingly, there are a lot of sweet and funny moments as well. The game is around 10 hours give or take, but there are a lot of things that could potentially confuse you, and it's not always clear what the next step is. The ending that I picked was rather short, but I think it's appropriate for the story, and I don't really mind that it still has some unanswered questions. My personal playthrough had various technical issues, some of them have been fixed, that said, I am not confident that game will not have any potential softlocks, granted you can generally fix them by fully exiting the game and reloading. Taking everything into consideration, there is not much I can nitpick in terms of the story, if the game itself was not somewhat disjointed with the progression, I think the actual narrative is enjoyable from start to finish. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) Very moody, very atmospheric, unique vibes, and playful as well. (+) Actually solid narrative and world-building, interesting characters in the mailing list, just always something that makes you want to keep going. (+) More content than you might think, lots of variety like mini-games and stupid things you can buy. [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Technical Issues/Triggers [/u] - To be fair, the developer fixed some of the big issues and I managed to complete the game, but I would not go as far as saying that you won't find any softlocks or crashes. Other than that, the game is a bit convoluted, like sometimes I did the right thing and I missed the event (I did the "gate" code correctly, and it didn't work so I wasted another 2 hours looking for something else) That feeling of "strange progression" was with me at least 30% of the game. Note that game takes about 20 seconds to load when you start a new game, if you click on it, select wait for the program, it should load (it's not stuck). If you do get the locked interaction bug, exiting the game and loading helps (right now in-game loading does not). [u] Currency [/u] - when you are making only 100 a day doing the job it sort of complements the oppressive universe, and then the arcades kick in where you can generate 50.000 in a day. I get you made it possible to buy things for progression, but it feels like it takes away from the settings, and instead of feeling like a very believable universe, it starts feeling like a meta game with exploits. I think in retrospect, the arcades should have been more risky, and the prices balanced to scale off your job, not arcade earnings. [b] Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b] I would say the narrative is just so playful if you could actually follow it without any problems. Still, the world-building and the carefully crafted interactions between the characters are so enjoyable, and often so sweet, clearly, a lot of love went into making it. Even with all of the problems, there is a cool game there, I think it's so overlooked, but hey, I'll play it alone if I have to, just like I live alone in my cell. [code]For more niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

英語がわからんとフルには楽しめなさそうな感じだけど、奥深そうな気もするそんなゲーム。雰囲気良いです。 外界が滅びつつある世界で、シェルターのような、独房のような一室で目を覚ました主人公が、言われた通り腕立てしてご飯を恵んでもらったり、水飲んだりオシッコしたり、仕事して金を稼いだり、ゲームしたり、あれこれやりながらこのシェルターみたいな建物やらを管理してるのが誰なのかとか、そんな謎を探るゲームっぽいです。 英語がわかる人、安いんで是非是非お試しください。そしてどんなゲームなのか教えてくださいな。

it can be actually a really good game i like the theme and story. but too many damn bugs make it annoying and unplayable. they keep updating and fixing the bugs but none of them are solved so yeah here i am

brilliant game it will test your patience with great mini games in a game pick what you do wisely or you wont have the ending you are hoping for will you find freedom or will the Central Authority trick you you decide....

I'll update this review as I play the game. I'm only on Day 4 but I would absolutely recommend this game at this point. It's inspired by one of my favorite games of all time - Presentable Liberty and it wears it's influence on its sleeve. You are in a cell that you cannot leave (other than for a little bit of work time each day where you solve a puzzle). It's very much like prison in that you have a routine that you need to follow in order to get through the day without going insane. It captures the feeling of solitude and being trapped pretty well. There are a lot of different meters that you have to keep track of in order to keep your character healthy but if you're clever they're easily managed in the early game. Save your food as long as possible, use some of the water available to you (but watch you don't run out). Play games and watch TV to pass time. Buy stuff from the store. The games you can play are pretty hard just like in Presentable Liberty but you'll have plenty of time to perfect them lol I don't usually post reviews THIS early in a game but it's been a blast so far and gives me great memories of playing Presentable Liberty. I hope anyone out there, regardless if you've played Presentable Liberty or not, gives this game a go.

Very interesting game that is full of mystery and questions that need to be answer. it makes you really determined wanting to know the lore and story like whats going on currently and specially outside of isolania. The writing, characters, voice acting, settings, and graphic is great definitely fits the atmosphere. you just need to take your time do whatever you want to do, make sure you in good condition and do you daily(definitely put a full effort on dailys or else that gg for you). Overall i enjoy every second of it definitely one of my favorite indie games of all time. oh one last thing Isolation is Salvation.

Patience and Pay off Thats the best way to describe my experience with Isolania so far. This game is dripping with mystery and requires you to truly think about how you play the game to progess. Getting into the motion and realising that you need to think about how you spend your time, where to take risks, and what questions to ask in this game is extremely fun. The game play is solid, the voice acting has character and the graphics are impressive for an indie studio. You'll spend a majority of your time in this game learning, and though it takes a while, its absolutely worth the progression. They key here is patience. There is plenty to do while you snowball your way into the deeper lore of Isolania and from where I am in the game, I KNOW its getting deeper, the writing is very good! I'm still playing, but my imagination is captivated, WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD? WHAT IS REALLY GOI-- [This message has been edited by Central Authority]

Yes recommend highly. "Best Isolania player ever" - Sunami Devs What is in a name? A rose by any other name would sound as sweet. In this game I proved that even when locked away from the world I can still get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This game puts you in a different environment. If you were around for the covid pandemic and weren't an alien, you will sympathise with the situation our protagonist is in. Confused, trapped, alone, following government guidelines. Constantly being one bad decision away from death. Truly this game brings on a different type of fear, fear of wasting time. Every part of your life comes down to the clock in your bottom left but as the game progresses, you can influence this. To the detriment of your very sanity. This game gave me an experience I would not forget. Yes there are some bugs, but in what world is there not. Even in real life the world is full of reality breaks. That does not mean in anyway that this takes away from the amazing journey of this game. I spent 19 hours in this game, I laughed, I cried, and I played a heck lot of pachinko. This was 19 hours well spent one of the best games I played in 2022. Being harsh as I often am, I give this game an 8/10. Purely and only because there were some issues with the ending cutscene. However I do not want to understate how enjoyable I found breaking the rules in this game. Play it, it's worth the price.

Habe noch nicht lange gespielt, aber es ist sehr interessant und hat eine gute bedrückende Stimmung was mir gefällt. Das ganze Spiel bin ich jetzt immer in einer Zelle zu meiner eigenen Sicherheit wie mir gesagt wird. Dort muss ich jeden Tag eine Routine abarbeiten, wie sich scannen lassen oder Fitness machen und eine Arbeit verrichten. Die Arbeit ist ein kleines Mini Spiel, was bis jetzt nicht sehr schwer war. Man muss auf die Hygiene achten, essen und so weiter. Nebenbei kann man noch in einen Online Job einkaufen und Glücksspiele machen um Geld zu verdienen. Also viel zu tun. Es hat eine Sprachausgabe, über die Lautsprecher in der Zelle und bis jetzt nur Englische Texte, die aber mit Grundwissen gut zu verstehen sind. Am Anfang erhält man durch Post viele Informationen was man so machen soll, negativ ist hier, sobald man etwas vergisst zu machen oder falsch macht bekommt man eine Strafe, [spoiler]die bis zum Tod führen kann.[/spoiler] Kurz gesagt, ein gutes Spiel mit einer guten Atmosphäre und interessanter Thematik. Meine Empfehlung hat es.

Too many bugs. Cannot get scanned, cannot exercise, cannot go to work. Cannot avoid being penalized....