Stories from the Outbreak

TLDR: Overpriced for what it is, but a decent little game worth 5quid and good for an evening or two. [b][u]General Thoughts/Overview:[/u][/b] I’m damn near certain I played Stories from the Outbreak (SftO) to death on New Grounds some 25 years ago… but I can’t find any information about it from back then, and the name was different. It’s driving me mental. But exactly how many zombie games have you exploring PoI’s across Riga, and escaping by ferry to Iceland? Even the final boss is the same. Am I crazy? Anyway, SftO is a party building game where your characters have different skills themes around broad classes, which they can synergise throughout the turn based combat who’s main feature is that the skills have a ‘delay’ which makes the turns dynamic based on the skills you used. It’s much more coherent and intuitive to play than it sounds on paper. Throughout our adventure we explore the PoI’s (some we know what we get, others are ‘?’, level up, manage health and power up curio token things, gain fragments for the various stories, and gather fuel which we use as currency for our escape. And that’s it, it’s a small but tight gameplay loop which is fun for a few hours. [b][u]Pros:[/u][/b] [list][*] Atmospheric and tense. The music and surprisingly brutal combat are fitting and enjoyable, giving the game an edge as you’re never quite overpowered enough to be bored. [*] As the game is roguelike, you never quite know what your team will be, although this lottery gives the game as many downs as ups, forcing you to explore new combinations and uncover interesting combinations all of which make you feel quite bright when they work is good design. [*] The game is quite difficult in base game mode, and gets harder with challenges, and you can stack the challenges. This essentially gives you a difficulty curve of your choosing, making the game scale as your skill grows. [/list] [b][u]Cons:[/u][/b] [list][*] The RNG will kill you. Yes, there are some broken combinations… but that involves you lucking out and *getting one*. [*] The game feels too long for what it is. You just don’t level up enough to really be able to scale throughout, and if you haven’t got the right combinations the final boss is just too difficult to kill, and that can make it frustrating for the wrong reasons. [*] You can’t see who is who, nor what they have from the event screen. I don’t’ know who I want to get the buffs because I don’t know who anyone is… I need to see their skills and stats, and my inventory, while in skill checks, or events which relate to part members. [/list] [b][u]Suggested improvements:[/u][/b] [list][*] PLEASE. FIX. THE. BUTTONS!!! – They don’t press and it drives me mental. [*] Give me the lore I’ve unlocked in the main menu please. [*] I’d also like a proper glossary for the various icons please, I don’t mind hovering over icons as needed, but being able to see them in advance would also be nice. [/list] [b][u]Overall Recommendation:[/u][/b] SftO is overpriced. [i]VERY[/i] overpriced. Luckily it goes on sale for a half decent amount, an amount it’s probably worth. So at least you can grab it on sale. I recommend this to people who enjoy zombie games, I recommend this to people who enjoy complex turn based combat, but would like to see it shaken up a little, and I recommend this to people who like roguelike loops with slowly uncovered stories. I do not recommend this to people who want easy powerfantasy type games. I do not recommend this to people looking for a particularly decent story or story based game, and I do not recommend this to children. Overall I think this is a solid game, and worth picking up on sale. It’s solid all round and gets the job done. No one thing stands out as great, but solid enough all round is good enough. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44852412/]My curator page[/url] with reviews by genre. In case you want to find more games, or even reviews, like this one.