INSOMNIA: The Ark

A long time ago I wrote a massive review for the game but something happened with Steam and it refreshed or something and deleted it and i totally forgot to write another one. To people who like real time combat RPGs with a good story, I really couldn't give a stronger recommendation. Cons: Idk if it's still in the game, but there are a couple game breaking bugs i encountered like a necessary quest breaking and a few other things like sometimes you'll get stuck with a companion for a while and all the sudden you've got two fully functional companions but honestly that was a plus. You might want to read through some of these other reviews to see a bigger list of the technical issues in the game you'll need to be wary of. And even though one playthrough could be 50 hours, good God it left me wanting more. Here's why. Pros: One of the coolest sci fi aesthetics I've ever seen. Flavored somewhere between 1920's-1970's style sci fi with a bit of Fallout-esque apocalypse smeared across the top for a tasty finish. It really does have that feel of societal style was left in the 20s-30s but technology advanced exponentially. The combat is a lot of fun. They give you great toys to play with, and the feel and all the animations for these melee and ranged weapons are great. And during random encounters, there is no punishment for being an absolute bastard. There is no karma outside of the main story. Since playing Fallout New Vegas back in 2012, this is one of the only games that's really made me interested in it's world the way NV did. I knew absolutely nothing about either and simply picked it up because the cover looked cool, and they both completely shifted my standards for videogames. It's a mixture of the gameplay and presentation that both of these games absolutely nailed and make most modern story heavy rpgs feel lifeless and contrived. Insomnia keeps you on your toes with unexpected cool things happening that make you go "why don't more games do this?". This game is special, it feels like it wasn't made for profit, it was made to be played. Insomnia as far from perfect. But almost everything it does is at least good enough to make things interesting, or is so good that it makes other games look bad. Take for example the writing of the game. I feel like a lot of what is trying to be said got lost in translation a bit, but the world building and feel of the game bridges that gap fully. You as the player never really say anything to profound or that gives you much personality but it put's you in situations where your actions speak louder than words. I think your dialogue is meant to be more of a "placeholder" for what the player is thinking. This all must sound pretty abstract, but once you play the game you'll find a lot of characters and ideas tend to only give you a small taste of what they actually mean and you're meant to put the story together yourself. Or something. I want to tell you about how this game gets your mind working to understand what's going on and some of the stuff that happens, but it's really worth seeing it for yourself. Just know it's got good combat, fun exploration of a semi open world that's worth exploring(It's got the classic fallout travelling system to different open areas with random encounters in between), and a story that's actually worth hearing, even if you might need to hear it again one more time to fully appreciate it. Oh and the a lot of the weapons and armor are so cool. I don't understand why most game devs are just allergic to letting your character look cool without finding some legendary piece of armor, but this game totally get's it.

This is a marvel for those who loves trippy games that play with your mind. Honestly - it's almost a DIY project, but you can think of it as hand crafted. Loved playing it myself. Hope for some more games like this.

There’s something that just doesn’t feel right. I’m all for exploring, but when quests feel somewhat hidden, it just loses its fun. Normally, I’d say quest pointers aren’t always necessary—but in this game, I really feel like I need them. A marker to show where quests can be found would help a lot. I ended up uninstalling the game—this was as far as I got.