Wasteland Horror Radio: Episode 1 - The Radio

Set in a future, whether near or distant remains unclear, the game unfolds in a world reduced to a desolate wasteland. Society has collapsed, and the remnants of humanity have transformed into ghoul-like creatures. Rather than offering a detailed backstory about the cataclysm or proposing hope of salvation, the game makes it clear there’s nothing left to save. The only thing left to do is make the most of the situation, like this one ghoul who finds an old radio station and decides to broadcast tales to whoever may be listening out there. The gameplay mechanics follow the standard formula for a first-person experience. You can run and jump, but running doesn’t take you far because your character runs out of breath after a few meters and must rest. Interactions with the environment are handled through a single button, with prompts appearing only when you're near an object. These objects aren’t highlighted in any way, so you need to get really close and explore. This game appears to be a starting point for a potential episodic series. It’s not yet clear whether future entries will connect to form a larger narrative or remain as separate standalone experiences. For now, the story places you in a small, isolated desert location with a rundown bar and a few structures. The entire area appears abandoned, littered with piles of garbage, though electricity somehow still functions. Your character is in rough shape, missing a hand and only capable of growling. As you explore, it becomes apparent that the environment is a kind of memory linked to a traumatic event. Clues suggest that a party once took place here, which descended into violence, shown by blood trails and bodies behind the bar. Progressing through the game can be challenging. Objectives appear on screen briefly and disappear quickly. If you miss them, there’s no easy way to recall what you’re supposed to do. However, the game offers an indirect guiding system using radios. When you approach and deactivate a radio, you trigger a new scene, usually marked by more bodies appearing, and the time of day shifts, moving gradually from noon to evening. The radios also generate written notes that reveal bits of the backstory. These notes are helpful, but the font used makes them difficult to read. In contrast, diary pages found near lanterns are easier to read and offer deeper insights into the world and characters. These are optional, but they stand out more clearly and are often visible from a distance. As the environment grows darker, a flashlight becomes invaluable. Unfortunately, it has limited battery life and dies after a few moments. Spare batteries are rare and difficult to find, meaning you can easily end up trapped in the dark, which is something most horror games struggle with. The game’s lack of direction can lead to confusion and moments of getting stuck. One example involves collecting bones, where the final bone reveals a key that’s easy to miss. Important objects have a slight visual glow, but it’s subtle. Another unclear section involves jumping over a locked gate using a garbage heap. There’s no prompt or instruction, and the only hint is a slight camera movement when standing in a particular spot. Once darkness takes over, enemies begin patrolling the area. This makes navigation even harder, especially when your flashlight is dead and there’s no clear objective in sight. Eventually, a map can be found hidden in a corner, which provides clear steps on how to proceed. Until then, you're left wandering aimlessly. Most enemies remain still until they see you. Some will chase you briefly, but you can usually escape by climbing onto piles of garbage. The most dangerous enemies are those engulfed in flames; they are fast and impossible to outrun. Worst of all, if they catch you, you must restart the entire night section from the beginning. This happens often and can become frustrating. All those issues make the game a lot longer than it actually is. When you know what to do, the game can be finished in minutes. Sadly, the ending doesn’t give you anything and the game simply starts again. Although this fits the character’s actions and consequences, I was hoping for more.

I enjoyed part one of the game. walking sim explore with batteries that last 3 seconds which is ridiculous,, find pages, find radios. your story is good part 2 is where the fact that you can't run more than 1 foot without slowing down and being out of breath is an issue when you must run away from a giant zombie, climb on piles of rubble to get away from chasing zombies so your head you are suppose to bring back gets stuck with them and now you have to cattle them away from areas to get your head back. I recommend part 1. I do not recommend part 2 which i didn't even bother to complete so i can't even tell you how it ends. You need to make more saves. I got to the point where i am trying to get the key in the bar so i can return the head. die, restart, die restart from the very start of the chapter. at least make 1 save when you've made it to the roof. 2 more chapters follow which i guess i'll never get to enjoy. Price is def worth it if you want to play a very difficult change of game once you hit chapter 2.

There is the foundation for a really great and unique game here, but the issues start to pile up making for a frustrating experience. 1) No way to view objective progress, or see what your current objectives are at all. Even something as simple as "hold tab to see my list". This is a real problem considering the obfuscated locations of multiple objectives which leads me into my next point 2) The objective locations themselves. It doesn't do much good to make an objective object glow pink when it is on the backside of a trash heap two inches from the fence-line. This is exacerbated by all the other glowing objectives that never stop glowing once you use them like the pages/lanterns. The light on those should be turned off once you read the page because it's an unnecessary distraction. They also look too similar to the various reflections get get later in the day which brings me to my other point 3) The lighting needs some serious love. The game's eye adaptation is far too aggressive, leading to huge chunks of the game being pitch black once you hit the first radio and it gets progressively worse. The flashlight doesn't help because the battery life is way too short...much shorter than what you would normally expect for a game like this and the effectiveness of the flashlight falls off too quickly once the battery starts to die. This makes general navigation a real pain in the ass well before you have any actual threat to deal with. Unless the actual lighting is fixed I would just get rid of the batteries altogether and make the flashlight infinite. I suppose there are multiple ways to fix the lighting, but the simplest would be to effectively remove the eye adaptation out of the equation and adjust the lighting levels accordingly. Even seasoned development teams seem to struggle with getting this one right a lot of the time and you would be making things a lot easier on yourself. I look forward to seeing where this game goes, but honestly can't recommend it in its current state because I would wager that most people would find the overall experience more frustrating than immersive. This will change if the aforementioned issues are resolved. I don't normally leave "negative" reviews this detailed, but I really think there are the makings of a true indie gem here. I wish you the best of luck. One last item of note: Too much bloom. I would add a way to optionally toggle bloom completely.

Chapter 1 was pretty good, having to search around looking for the radios and scraps of paper to piece together the story. Chapter 2 was not good. Too many enemies all over the place, kept getting killed to the point of boredom, and then watched the rest of the game on Utube. Chapter 3 was... meh.