Chernobylite is The Farm 51’s most ambitious project to date, a survival horror shooter set in a location-accurate representation of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, but filled with monsters, mystery, and mayhem. Chernobylite has been out for a about year for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, but today we’re also getting a release PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
So let’s talk about Chernobylite. To get into it, check out the Chernobylite trailer.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone isn’t exactly a new setting for a game—the Call of Duty and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series have both used it as a location. But what’s new about Chernobylite is that it uses settings modeled closely on authentic locations in the actual Exclusion Zone.
In a Gamesradar interview, The Farm 51 creative director Wojciech Pazdur stated that Chernobylite didn’t begin as a game at all, but as an "interactive VR documentary about the story of the Chernobyl catastrophe," where the team “spent more than one year collecting the photos, videos, and 3D scans of the zone.” Somewhere along the way, they became convinced that the setting would be great for a survival horror game, thus creating the Chernobylite we know today.
"Chernobylite was supposed to be a more story-driven survival horror experience. But the more we developed the possibility to explore Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, the more we realized that the game should grow with its non-linearity and freedom of choice, and feel like a mix of classic and modern RPG games."
Chernobylite follows the story of Igor Khymynuk, a Ukrainian physicist and former employee at the Chernobyl Power Plant. Thirty years ago, he lost his fiancee Tatyana in the disaster, and now he returns to the site to seek her out.
But he isn’t alone. A military contractor known as NAR has gained control of the entire zone to find and study a new material known as Chernobylite. The Exclusion Zone is now occupied by NAR soldiers who are bent on keeping everyone out of the area.
However, they are not the only hazard. Chernobylite has also attracted extradimensional creatures known as Shadows, which attack any human on sight. Igor and his allies must navigate the dangers of Chernobyl and find out what happened to Tatyana—or perish in the attempt.
Chernobylite is primarily a story-driven first-person survival shooter set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. You must explore the area, gathering materials for tools and gear, while searching for clues to what happened to Tatyana. At the same time, you must contend with both the NAR soldiers and the Shadows, both of which are hostile to you and to each other. There are also other supernatural threats in the area due to the presence of a substance called Chernobylite.
To advance the story, you must complete the main missions. However, you also have plenty of side missions you can use to grind for levels and gather items or companions. Check out the IGN gameplay video here:
Despite being an FPS, Chernobylite is not an action-oriented game, requiring patience, stealth, and strategic thinking to play well. In the Chernobylite Reddit forums, the developers said:
“We're definitely more story oriented/RPG-style survival experience than shooter. If you liked exploring the Zone in STALKER, getting in touch with other stalkers, digging into different story options, looking for different ways to solve some problems—then Chernobylite is for you. But if you expect a shooter like Metro, then you may be feeling the game is too slow and there's not enough combat."
What happens when you die in Chernobylite? The first time, you wake up in a jail cell like in Thief: Deadly Shadows, and you may choose to escape. If you die a second time, you will end up in another dimension where you have the option to change the past by paying some Chernobylite. If you do, you start over from the beginning of the day you died. Note that each subsequent time you die, you may lose items!
You’re thankfully not alone in Chernobylite. Along the way, you can recruit companions to help you survive the wasteland. Much like Fallout 4, each companion comes with a questline that you can complete to recruit them.
After your recruit companions, you can use Skill points to train with them. You can earn Skill points by leveling up, crafting items, and successfully completing missions.
Note that companions may not stick with you forever. Each one has a relationship meter that fluctuates depending on whether or not they approve of your actions. If the relationship reaches “Terrible” they will leave.
There are five companions in all, each with a set of Skills they can teach you.
Mikhail
Olivier
Olga
Tarakan
Sashko
Your base in Chernobylite serves as your hub, a place where you can rest and craft items, as well as level up your skills. It will start as a basic home with nothing more than a bed and a workbench. As you go on scavenging missions, you can add to your base and make it more livable.
Your base has five stats you can work with:
You will want to maintain all these stats to keep your base running. Neglecting something will have consequences. For example, if you don’t have enough Sleeping space, your companion will have to sleep on the cold floor, which will negatively affect them.
You can use your workstations to craft items. Workstations can be found in other places apart from your base.
Workstations include:
Chernobylite is already available for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions will launch on April 21, 2022. Grab a Chernobylite Xbox key from our comparator today.
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