
USSR, 1986. A girl goes missing in the closed city of Vorkuta-5, yet not a soul seems to be concerned. Uncover the mystery behind her disappearance and transmit your signal to the universe.
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USSR, 1986. When Ira Grachevskaya goes missing in the closed city of Vorkuta-5, not a soul seems to be concerned – except for the quiet outcast Asya Shubina, that is. Uncover the mystery behind Ira’s disappearance, transmit your radio signal to the universe and learn why a bird flies past the window.
Meet the cast.

A problem child and a truant, Ira doesn't have the best reputation. Her standoffish demeanor makes her difficult to talk to, especially for someone as meek as you. There is a rumour she's been meeting with an older man.

Marina's carefree personality makes her quite popular among her classmates. Adults don't seem to like her very much, probably due to poor grades. Despite the girl's outgoing nature, her worldview is rather cynical.

A boy with an unpleasant sense of humour. Likes picking on people weaker than him, namely you. His family has been a little out of it the past few weeks.

You. Not worth writing about.
Z.A.T.O. is a linear visual novel with roughly 7-8 hours of playtime. There are no choices. The ending is predetermined. Sit back and enjoy your time in a town that doesn't exist.
DISCLAIMER: the game contains strong language, loud noises and flickering images.
Genres
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Languages: English
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 171 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
Oh, where do I even begin? It feels like my life began when I played this game. The story, the characters, all of it irrevocably changed me and awakened something within me. I am so deeply changed by this game that I cannot imagine living in a world where I have not experienced it. Everything about Asya spoke to me like nothing ever has. Every aspect of her personality, her worries, her fears, her thought process, her view of the world. I feel an intrinsic connection to her that I never have with anything or anyone else, real or fictional. The game's story is beautiful. My own struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Moral OCD felt perfectly reflected in Asya, and even more so with the introduction of a certain character in the game's third episode. As far as the game itself goes, the music fits atmospherically in a wonderful way, one of the best uses of royalty-free music I've ever seen, and the art is of course phenomenal. Ferry's work never fails to outperform my expectations. This game gives me life. It gives me motivation. It gives me calm and comfort when I struggle. I love this game. Asya's feelings, worries, problems - no, my own feelings, worries, problems, spoke to me like nothing before. I will never forget the permanent impact this game has had on who I am. There is only one thing to say. I love you, I love you, I love you.
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Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Hours played at review time, across 171 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Я тоже люблю этот мир
今年是我确诊抑郁的第9年。抑郁这个标签很有概括力,能瞬间使人理解「神经官能某处出现了异常」。不过也正因如此,它和人们对「痊愈」的愿望总是密不可分。[u] [b] 《Z.A.T.O.》最好的点在于它绕开了病症的定义,从一种更本质也更浪漫的角度诠释了何为「算法过敏」。 [/b][/u] 我觉得这个说法比干巴巴的「抑郁」准确得多。 我不知道如何定义自己。这个世界上能诉诸语言的形容,都那么「确定」。我的自述,无论怎么竭力,能涵括的也只有数个转瞬即逝的念头而非「我」;过去的经历,确是既定事实可见证,但也完全不足以框住「我」。我究竟是谁,随着定义矛盾的体积堆叠,从内部向外看,已经不太清楚了。 人是由更微小的个体聚合而成的部族。人如何看待自己,借助性取决于体内受体所接收到的外部回音。即使习惯抗拒他者的以偏概全,定义权在自己手中也只会永远空置:没有对照,所有的结论都可以主观扭曲,而从无法证实证伪的角度看,这样的定义就没有意义。 无法肯定自我身份认同,人的行为就只能出于欲望和命运;当行为不属于自身,就更加无法苟同身份。这真是一种恶性循环。你可以像伊拉一样抗拒,也可以像玛丽娜一样扮演,但还有第三种方式,就是像阿莎雅一样[i] 绝对客体化 [/i]。 [h3] 当我与这个世界连接无限多的时候, 当每个物体意识所折射的关于「我」的块面无限大的时候, 我就能拼凑出一幅足够完整……正确的 关于我的面貌。[/h3] 在脑海里画一条线吧。蜿蜒、颤抖、参差不齐,然后镜头拉远,映入眼帘的,只会有一条直线。你或许会想,假使波动的幅度足够大,以至于甚至构成了线条的主体呢?答案很简单。继续画下去就好了。只要过了某个临界点,所有的偏移也将变得可以忽略不计。
太牛逼了,太牛逼了,太牛逼了,我真的词穷了,我该怎么样去形容这款游戏,玩完之后完全缓不过来一直在流泪 感谢游戏作者为世界带来这样美好的作品 谢谢你,谢谢你,谢谢你,我爱你
Com completa sinceridade, não sei o que opinar sobre esta VN. Talvez deva dizer que me surpreendeu a qualidade que ela tem para ser feita no engine Renpy, ou seja, tem uma história, narrativa, arte e uma pequena trilha sonora que ufa. Nem pareceria que foi feita no Ren'Py, se não fosse pela interface. Junto com DDLC, deve ser uma das poucas VNs feitas nessa engine que não senti que gritasse aos quatro ventos "VN amadora". Fora isso, como já falei, não sei como comentar ou criticar. Me parece que, além do que explicitei no parágrafo anterior, é uma VN que… não gera nada. A história no começo parecia que ia rolar bacana, que ia ser uma baita história, mas no final fiquei com um gosto agridoce porque o potencial foi desperdiçado. A reta final se desenvolve super rápido e joga no lixo a sensação de construção lenta e muito boa que a história vinha construindo até então. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3765394507 Os personagens no começo parecem atraentes, dão a impressão de que podem ter um crescimento de um jeito bem foda ou que podem mostrar algo interessante no futuro. Contudo, no final, isso tampouco acontece. A trilha sonora... É uma trilha dessas livres de copyright, mas está bem, não é tão ruim. Ah, certo, a arte é bem boa, achei que ela tem um monte de personalidade e é bem daora. Gostei demais do estilo, ele cai como uma luva com a vibe do mundo que a narrativa consegue construir. Falando dela, da narrativa, às vezes parecia que se estendia demais e que só procurava encher espaço e ganhar tempo extra para a duração da VN. Portanto, o real problema da VN é que, tirando o estilo artístico, ela não consegue entregar um desenvolvimento que se mantenha constante em termos de captar o interesse do leitor, porque chega a ser meh em quase todos os pontos. E quando tudo acaba, ficas com uma sensação de vazio, de que não te acrescentou nada, que bem podias não tê-la lido e não terias perdido nada, que podias ter lido outra VN e tirado muito mais proveito dela do que se debruçando pela escolha de ler Z.A.T.O. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3766811111 Contudo, não desaconselho a leitura desta VN, porque não é boa nem é ruim. É por isso que se pode dizer que é como scrollar no TikTok ou em alguma rede social. Fazes isso e, no final, o que obtens? Nada. O tempo passa sem sentir que foi aproveitado nem que fizeste algo útil. Bom, essa sensação é um bom resumo do que se sente ao ler Z.A.T.O. Vai e lê se tens tempo livre e não fazes ideia de como gastá-lo.
No words I could spare would do this justice, just experience it.
the signal has been received
特别可爱!强烈推荐!半夜推完久久不能平复。 这部作品有些意识流,或者说需要对的上电波,尽管剧情上很多地方初次游玩时有些难懂,但是它还是通过每位角色的表情、恰到好处的音乐、以及精妙的语言艺术,将这个故事最美好的部分通过讯号传递了过来,而我也切切实实接收到了这份讯号。非常感谢作者以及汉化组能带来一个这么可爱的故事! 文笔不好,但希望大家也能接收到这份讯号,我也想向大家发出这个作品最后所发出的讯号! [spoiler] .-.- - . -... .-.- .-.. ..-- -... .-.. ..-- [/spoiler]
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This is an okay novel. There were many interesting ideas but the execution could have been better. The pacing towards the end is rushed, as if the game had to be finished soon, so they just kinda added in all the stuff explaining the town's anomalies and called it a day.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.