A Realistic Take On The Infamous Disaster
Every now and again a video game is released that ties directly to a real world event, whether it’s to do with political revolutions, snippets of battles in war or, in this case, catastrophic disasters.
The nuclear disaster that occurred around Pripyat, Ukraine in 1986 will be forever remembered as one of the worst events in history, from the initial disaster to the conspiracy-fueled cover ups that proceeded.
When exploring these sensitive subjects and events in the form of video games it’s important to get the balance perfect between respect and entertainment. Chornobyl Liquidators excels in creating a beautifully made homage to the heroic actions of those who lost their lives saving others, and perfectly captures the bleak, sombre atmosphere of the tragedy.
Unfortunately it fails to match those accolades on the entertainment/gameplay front.
Chornobyl Liquidators’ Loss of Identity
The key flaw that remains throughout the entire playthrough of Chornobyl Liquidators is that it just doesn’t know what it wants to be. It tries to be so many different things, that unfortunately none of them end up working. I can’t help but feel that Live Motion Games would have been much better off just sticking to one style, and that should have probably been simulation.
The first act is mostly great. Players jump straight into the action as first responders arrive to put out fires, clear debris, and remove radioactive graphite. Most of the gameplay here is purely simulation-based and that’s where it works best. It’s a bold task to merge the classic simulation style gameplay with an intriguing narrative, and weave it all together as a single player, linear experience.
On that front, Live Motion Games has done a good job. The core simulation gameplay works just as well as any other simulator, and the narrative is engaging, entertaining, and most of all, deeply respectful of the history.
The second act follows suit and tasks players with brushing and spraying radioactive dust particles to decontaminate areas. Unfortunately it’s the remaining four acts that all become a bit of a mess. From lazy dialogue choices to clunky stealth mechanics and terrible platforming – it’s all too much and ends up taking away from the immersion it works so hard to establish.
Strap Up For A Rough Ride!
This game is clunky. It never feels smooth to play even when you think you’re getting used to it. It’s also got quite a few bugs and some strange design choices. For example in the first act, the character will spontaneously die after a short coughing fit. This happens multiple times with three or four different characters.
It’s a great idea to demonstrate the seriously harmful nature of the environment, and the severity of the effects the liquidators suffered, but it’s executed so poorly. There’s no build up to the deaths, and as soon as the player dies, the game cuts to the death report of that character and then instantly puts a new character above the deceased body. It’s way too abrupt and fails to make the emotional impact it strives for.
On several occasions, especially in the latter stages, I got stuck trying to pass through doors, where they would slam shut in my face just as I was about to pass through the door frame. On other occasions I got stuck trying to jump to a platform, not for my own lack of skills, but simply because the climbing animation wouldn’t initiate properly.
The voice acting is mostly okay during the cutscenes, but when characters are actually talking to the player in-game, well, it’s not exactly great. It’s mostly the pacing of the dialogue rather than the voices themselves. Many of the lines are read as if the actors are trying to read the script as quickly as they can rather than putting any thought or emotion into it. It’s a bizarre choice. Perhaps even more bizarre, however, are some of the NPC animations that the other liquidators can be seen performing.
In the second act I saw two liquidators from a distance who were seemingly engaged in a fierce argument, with their fists gesturing and feet pounding. I thought there might be some interesting dialogue to hear so I wandered over to eavesdrop, only to find out that there was no dialogue at all. They were just carrying out the same animations on a loop with no audio. Once again, it took me completely out of the immersion.
Ambience, Sound and Visuals
Chornobyl Liquidators looks pretty dated most of the time. The character models are actually bad and their rigid animations make them look uncanny more than anything. However, it absolutely knocks it out of the park when it comes to ambience and general atmosphere.
The lighting is the main highlight in terms of visuals, with the sunlight’s dynamic lighting always making every outside scene feel so much more alive. Pair this with the warm, gentle ambience of both the music and sound effects, and it can actually become a weirdly relaxing experience, as is the nature of simulation games.
The ambient music switches up perfectly between the peaceful humming of a sun-kissed forest and the dreary, sweeping drones of the nuclear zone and the KGB. It’s a perfect blend of relaxing zen and harrowing danger. The sound effects are also always spot on, with footsteps changing based on the floor, and large reverberations hammering through claustrophobic corridors of the Chornobyl facility itself.
On top of that, I could genuinely write a whole paragraph about how amazing the water in the swimming pool in act 2 looks, but I’ll save that for another time. Seriously though, for an otherwise average looking game, the water in that pool looks ridiculously good! It made me want to go for a swim!
Narrative Direction and Game Design
As mentioned previously, the narrative itself is mostly well written and directed, carefully weaving the sensitive events into a playable experience. It’s linear to a T, as even though the player is presented with several choices in their playthrough, you never really get to see the impact of them. There’s a cutscene at the end of the game which goes through the aftermath and supposed consequences of those choices, but there’s no real weight to them. It’s another questionable choice as to why they ever included these choices if there’s not any weight or impact to them. They do “change things”, but not with enough impact to justify their existence.
It’s a bit of a shame, because another thing the game does fairly well is build on the secrecy and authority of the KGB. However, it never really dives any further than surface level and I never felt obligated to ever pick an option that might possibly benefit the KGB. It left me with the feeling that the secretive nature of the KGB could have been far better utilised.
However, let’s not take away from the overall narrative experience which is generally pretty great, and does a tremendous job at portraying the harrowing events in semi-realistic simulation. Players will find themselves rooting for their character as he carries out more and more tasks which might land him, or his family, in danger. There are two somewhat memorable side characters in the form of Nadia and Commander Bokyo, but that’s about it as far as side characters are concerned.
A Tribute Marred by Technical Troubles
Chornobyl Liquidators is a mixed experience. On one hand you have this delicately crafted piece of art that so desperately wants to pay respects and highlight the tragedy of Chornobyl’s disaster through a realistic depiction. You can practically feel the passion oozing from the screen on behalf of the developers – you can instantly tell they put their heart and soul into this, and it’s a form of text that should be admired for its fantastic depiction of Chornobyl’s heroes.
Unfortunately, on the other hand, it’s a clunky, indecisive mess and lacks any form of identity to achieve the success it might otherwise deserve. From dated visuals, bad animations, questionable game design and voice acting, it simply leaves too much to be desired. With some fine tuning and slight gameplay and narrative changes, Chornobyl Liquidators could have been something special. Alas, it falls far from that status.
Important Links
Choices and Consequences: The Moral Dilemmas of Chornobyl Liquidators – https://www.thexboxhub.com/choices-and-consequences-the-moral-dilemmas-of-chornobyl-liquidators/
Buy Chornobyl Liquidators on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/chornobyl-liquidators/9n1j84mt7p7h
