[h1]Intro[/h1]
[h3](100% Spoiler-Free Review)[/h3]
[b]SSTR[/b] is a first-person horror puzzle game primarily, that however also tries to integrate survival-craft and tower defense elements in its gameplay. The game takes place on a massive colonization ship, the Horizon, that became a death trap after the AI controlling its systems, Sister, rebelled against its masters and slaughtered most of the crew. As one of the very few survivors, players will impersonate various characters in their struggle to shut down Sister's core and wrestle back control of the vessel.
🟩 [b]The Good Side[/b]
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[*][b]Hello, Dave[/b]
Clearly inspired to old-school sci-fi such as [i]2001 A Space Odyssey[/i] or [i]Alien[/i] to name some, the setting of SSTR manages to deliver a solid, grim and claustrophobic atmosphere at all times. Traversing the blood-streaked corridors and sections of the Horizon, while witnessing the madness that has transpired on top of being hunted by an army of killer drones, is definitely a tense experience... as it should be in this genre. Spending time to read the reasonably plentiful crew logs and documents sheds more light on the events that led to the current situation, adding more to the experience.
[*][b]Think hard, think fast.[/b]
The puzzles present in each section are generally well thought-out. Reading obscure lore files often containing secret messages, finding clues scratched on bulkheads, figuring out combinations or even using enemy patrol routes to your advantage... all this while deadly drones constantly patrol the entire ship. The greatest difficulty is not in deciphering the enigmas themselves, but rather finding the material related to the solution amidst the chaos.
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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2331043539
🟥 [b]The Bad Side[/b]
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[*][b]Shouldn't have skipped engineering class![/b]
The introduction of tower defense mechanics in a genre like this is bold, however proves to be underwhelming. Materials gathered in the ship can be used to build various turrets to fight Sister's robots... alas nothing about this is explained properly. Each turret component has a different cost of resources, however there is no way to understand what resource one is currently gathering, or if different components influence a turret's effectiveness in any way. I found myself unable to place turrets in most parts of the ship as well, making this mechanic just a gimmick in most cases.
[*][b]Bad luck? You bet.[/b]
Most escape-focused games give players a chance to run away and hide even if spotted by an enemy, but not in SSTR's case. As soon as a robot spots the player, or a terminal "access violation" is committed (there is no way to know if this is going to happen after using a wrong code), an army of robots will converge on this poor soul's position, obliterating them. It would be nice to have turrets in a case like this, however the game doesn't allow placing them in 90% of areas, even if there IS more than enough space. Also, it can happen that drones may intersect their patrol routes at random, creating situations where players have no chance to hide. Given the game uses fixed save-points, a good chunk of progress can be lost if a case like this happens... and feels very cheap.
[*][b]404: basic features not found.[/b]
The game lacks basic features. For instance there is no real pause function, as time will still flow even with the ESC menu opened. This was probably done to "create tension", but in a single-player game it's an inexcusably bad design choice, since players may have to choose between soling their underwear or being caught by Sister's patrols, if nature calls, for example. No other visual settings are available except resolution, so all the distortion effects like Motion Blur and Vignette cannot be disabled, heavily dirtying the graphics. There also are no key rebinds or mouse settings.
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[h3]Rating: Bad[/h3]
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1989090445]Click here for the complete Rating Chart[/url]
[i]The time needed to finish the game greatly depends on each player's understanding of puzzles, number of deaths and sheer luck in some cases. For the price of 10€, the content amount would be decent enough, but the amount of flaws ultimately leads against a recommendation.[/i]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2331043265
[h1]In-Depth Breakdown[/h1]
🎮 [b]Gameplay Analysis[/b]
Gameplay is divided into Exploration, Puzzles and Crafting.
[b]Exploration[/b]
Is performed on foot, across often cramped hallways, laboratories and machine rooms of the Horizon. Each traversed area will hold at least one puzzle to solve in order to progress, and this often means finding the combination to a specific door or activating some system. Exploring each corner carefully not only leads to good yields of crafting materials (gathered with the Scanner Tool), but also reveals documents and environmental hints useful to progress.
More often than not, Sister's robots will be patrolling hallways and rooms, and while their visual cone is rather limited, they can definitely make up for it in numbers when patrols intersect each other. Save terminals are positioned in relatively "safe" rooms (outside patrol paths usually) and constitute the only form of progress saving.
[b]Puzzles[/b]
Are varied, and may be more logic or stealth focused depending on the situation. In some cases, players will have to use Sister's own robot to pass otherwise locked doors, while in other situations decipher a code via crew logs or other hints. Certain enigmas have hidden dangers, such as inputting the wrong code in a terminal and triggering an alert that means certain death... without any way of knowing beforehand. This type of trial and error feels quite cheap.
[b]Crafting[/b]
Allows using gathered resources to fabricate turret of various types, such as Electric, Laser or even Grenade-launching ones. There is a good selection of parts, gun barrels and emitter types to fiddle with, however at no point the individual proprieties, damage or difference between the various "models" is explained. The concept is good and could be fun, but is terribly implemented and just feels like a gimmick, given turrets are not THAT powerful to begin with - forget fighting off a horde of drones with a single one of those.
The fact there is no clue as to where turrets can or cannot be placed, further makes this mechanic obscure and marginal... I found myself sitting on a considerable amount of resources, only unable to ever use them because the game decided turrets could not be placed anywhere. Could have been a solid concept if done properly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2331043349
[h2]Technical Corner[/h2]
[u]Specs: RTX 2080Ti, Ryzen 9 3900X, 32GB RAM, 970 PRO NVME SSD[/u]
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[*][b]Critical Problems[/b]
None.
[*][b]Performance[/b]
- Average VRAM Usage: 4.8-5.5 GB [Very High]
- Average GPU Utilization: 50-65% [Average]
- Average RAM Usage: 1.0 GB [Very Low]
- Settings Used: 1440p 60Hz, No other quality settings available.
- Overall Optimization Rating: Mediocre
[*][b]Bugs & Other Issues[/b]
- Lighting in certain areas can become glitched, creating weird contrasts between light and dark.
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