New Cryostasis Trailer Is Extremely Cool

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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New Cryostasis Trailer Is Extremely Cool


A new trailer for Cryostasis [http://www.cryostasis-game.com/] is out, which I think will make it abundantly clear why I like Russian videogames so much.

Sure, they're weird, they're inaccessible and their difficulty usually scales from "hard" to "stab yourself in the eye with a fork." But games from Eastern Europe and Russia are also unique and inventive, in large part because game studios in the region don't seem to have any idea what they are, and aren't, supposed to do while making a game. Or maybe they just don't care: Someone comes up with a crazy idea and they run with it. So it seems to be with Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason, a new title by Action Forms [http://www.action-forms.com/] that's already out in Russia and coming to the rest of the world in February.

The game takes place in the early 80s aboard a nuclear icebreaker that's been shipwrecked at the North Pole. A Russian meteorologist is dispatched to determine what happened, but as he discovers, things are not what they appear to be. The crew is dead, yet horribly changed by the intensely cold climate, and the main character must use his unique ability to enter their memories and change their actions in the past, thus changing history and saving their lives.

Does that make any sense to you? Of course not! Which is the brilliance of the whole thing. The game experience is heightened because it forces you to leave behind any preconceptions about what should and should not be in a videogame. Russian games, to borrow a phrase, are like a box of chocolates; there's absolutely no way to tell what you're sticking your hand into.

I do wonder if Cryostasis will suffer in the American market because of unfair or unreasonable comparisons to other games. It's been described as a "BioShock [http://games.on.net/article/4120/Cryostasis_Sleep_of_Reason_-_The_Russian_BioShock_apparently/]. Who can tell?

And yes, I know Cryostasis was actually developed in Ukraine, not Russia. So was GameCyte [http://www.stalker-game.com/], then tell us what you think: Is that some cool stuff or what?



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Dalisclock

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For some reason, I'm reminded of an old Adventure game called "Morpheus".

Ship with exotic power source lost in the Artic? Check.
Wierd S**t going on onboard? Check.
Ability to enter into people's minds? Check.
Makes no damn sense? Check?
 

Epifols

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I hope this studio put a little but more effort in making the game playable than the STALER one.

But yes, sweet trailer.
 

Aardvark

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Malygris said:
Russian games, to borrow a phrase, are like a box of chocolates; there's absolutely no way to tell what you're sticking your hand into.
Read the damn box! Most chocolates come with a handy index, some with a picture of each chocolate to boot. Which is a damn good thing, because I need to leave those goddamn coffee chocolates for the degenerate lowlives who thrive on such things.

Fresh, fun, original and exciting, with a chilling climax.
 

Dectilon

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I do like the idea, but survival horror just isn't my genre. It's unfortunate, because I'd really want to support unique ideas like this.
 

thenumberthirteen

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This looks cool. Also it's a rare game where you can kill people AND save their life rather than one or the other. You can also save cows.
 

mjhhiv

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Well, unless I see that it's full of bugs or something like that (STALKER), I'll be buying. Also, hasn't this been released in Russia or something? Or am I thinking of something else?
 

Erana

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Dalisclock said:
For some reason, I'm reminded of an old Adventure game called "Morpheus".

Ship with exotic power source lost in the Artic? Check.
Wierd S**t going on onboard? Check.
Ability to enter into people's minds? Check.
Makes no damn sense? Check?
Get out of my head!
 

Andy Chalk

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Yes, it's already out in Russia, which is why I said it's already out in Russia. ;)
 

ElephantGuts

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How exactly does cold turn people into wierd zombie mutants? As far as I know the only thing cold does is turn you blue and black from frostbite and kill you. To me it seems more likely that some sort of problem with the ship's nuclear generator is to blame.

The game does look good, though. Creepy. And it does say that the game is available in Russia, so there must be some reviews out for it or something. I'm gonna go look for them.
 

LordCraigus

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I would totally get this if I was sure my PC could run it and if another Ukrainian-developed game I've pre-ordered (Men of War) didn't come out on the same day.

Eastern Europe are always coming out with really interesting titles and are in my opinion probably the best when it comes to atmosphere and/or realism. They do some great WWII games too which makes me very happy.
 

ThaBenMan

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It looks pretty cool. I must say, it does look quite similar to BioShock. But I'm sure actually playing the game will prove otherwise.

Is it PC exclusive?
 

EnzoHonda

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Looks cool (pun). It looks like a Bioshock/Condemned hybrid from those few clips. If it ends up with good reviews, I'll pick it up when I can afford a decent computer. Curse those bills!
 

rougeknife

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I love games from the old Eastern Block. They don't even try to endear themselves to the you, beat you mercilessly even at the best of times, make little sense if at all, and, tend to crash with gay abandon.

Hell, the games smell of corners cut in places where western dev's would have them polished to a shine. For example, the blurb on the back of my copy of Stalker:CS read like it was translated with bablelfish. The English versions voice acting sounded like they got the best English speaker in the office, then locked him in the sound room (level 2 womens bathroom) with a script written on old propaganda posters, recording equipment they nicked from the crumbling RKA, and a bottle of Vodka they where brewing in the staff room sink.

And you know what? I loved it, every fucking second.

Call me a sucker for punishment, but it seems that in spending less time on all the gloss most wester studios pile onto their titles, the games ex-USSR dev's produce a more engaging product. It's also nice to enter a game and not be pandered to, even if you press quicksave and quickload more often than the fire key.
 

Andy Chalk

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ThaBenMan said:
Is it PC exclusive?
Yes. But details beyond that are a bit sketchy; the tech demo, for instance, requires DirectX 10, but apparently the full game will run on DX9 cards, albeit with some loss of graphical zip.