Fairy-tale city, dream city. Retro review

"Forbidden zone, military matter, dangerous thing..."

"Don’t miss the chance to revive the streets of the city..."

Remember the famous saga of Star Wars, the sci-fi film "The Sixth Day" with the governor of California, and the equally well-known action movie "The Island" directed by Michael Bay. Yes, you can also include the sci-fi drama "Moon 2112", whose plot is closely related to this theme. Did you guess? In 1932, writer Aldous Huxley released the book "Brave New World", in which he described his method of cloning humanity. It is worth noting that he was known for his love of hallucinogenic drugs. However, who could have predicted that 60 years later, the writer's "hallucinations" about cloning would become a reality. But cloning ideas were considered ideas "contradictory to human dignity" and opposing "the protection of human life". Legislative acts were adopted, various meetings were convened, and discussions were held. However, not everyone agreed with the conditions of the protocols and acts...

Before the "gaming" days.

Events take place in Poland, where Russian occupiers built a secret city with an unusual name, "Gorky - 17". Why unusual? Because numbered cities are usually located near unnumbered namesakes, but Gorky has nothing of the sort. The developers suggested that in the near future, CIS participant countries, developed Western European countries, and Scandinavian states would create a new powerful bloc called "United Europe". Right now, it’s hard to believe, but never mind. As a result of territorial reforms in 2007, part of Poland's border areas will be transferred to Russia and vice versa. At the same time, Poland will acquire a long-disused military facility called "Gorky-17". However, the city and nearby areas have been in complete isolation for a long time, which, of course, could not fail to attract the curious. And just a year later, a Polish paratrooper unit penetrates the territory and vanishes without a trace in the city. Polish authorities acknowledge the disappearance of the group, but describe it as a "tourist" group.

Subsequently, under public pressure, a specially organized team is sent to search for the "tourists", but they also meet the same fate. NATO intervenes in the investigation. Intelligence eagerly takes on the task, primarily aimed at researching the Soviet facility, and only then in searching for the missing groups. But NATO's expedition loses contact with the base, and Poland requests help from Russia. Now the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations prepares its rescue team.

However, even before the rescue operation starts, information leaks to the media that grand experiments in cloning people and animals were conducted in the dead zone. In 1998, due to a loss of control during one of the experiments, rated 8 on the danger scale, and as we learn during the game, all 10 out of 10 possible, the city was subjected to total bombardment, and the surrounding area was isolated.

Now you will embark on a search for the truth as part of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations' rescue team.

A bit about the characters.

Who will be our heroes? The Ministry of Emergency Situations sends three to the dead zone to fight: a Russian, a Ukrainian, and an Estonian. Only three? But what about these three. The group commander, ethnic Russian Nikolai Selivanov, graduated from the KGB Higher School, is an experienced paratrooper with an extremely rare specialization. Strict and disciplined, he avoids politics by all means and leads a very reclusive lifestyle. The commander has a lot behind him: from restoring order in the Persian Gulf and Yugoslavia to combat operations in the Gobi Desert. Under Selivanov are two other professionals: Ukrainian translator Taras Kovriga and investigator from Estonia Yukko Haahthi. The last two discuss throughout the game, expressing their fears and concerns about the entire operation. However, while Kovriga is overly confident and ambitious, Haahthi is always calm, although it’s worth noting he is quite embarrassed by his Estonian accent.

These are the main active heroes. However, it should be noted that throughout the game, we will encounter secondary characters who will join you, die, go insane, and even run away at the most inopportune moments. Thus, your team of heroes can increase to five characters, who may, in turn, end up being mutants. Even if so, in a close-knit team, the enemy will not be frightening.

Even mutants sometimes retain their sanity.

All like in chess: combat mode and monsters

Upon entering the prohibited zone, the heroes begin to explore the surroundings in hopes of discovering traces of previous expeditions and finding out what happened to them, as well as the overall situation at the base. The enemy quietly waits in ambush on their turf, anticipating the victim's approach. Everything is in its place; however, a stumbling block may be that our squad travels across a shared map—a deserted city, meaning we can move characters to any accessible point on the map, open boxes, examine the situation around, but our opponents are not visible on this very map. After all, one might stumble upon trouble at an unfortunate moment, and heaven knows who else might be around. Take a wrong step, and you're already in combat mode, from which there’s no escape. Why heal your heroes during a battle when you could do it in more "peaceful" times without losing precious moves? So it’s better to save often to avoid such incidents.

Why chess? The limited movement area for units during combat is broken into squares. And we take turns moving, although how: first, only your characters move (Your turn), and then all opponents move (Enemy turn). But even in this light, it is necessary to plan your limited moves correctly to leave the battlefield with minimal losses and especially not to encounter the sarcastic introduction: "You've played too long". But even if you plan your steps precisely, losses are still inevitable—there are too many enemies, and they all want to feast on you. By the way, the game's bestiary is extensive: both animals and humans mutated as a result of the 1998 experiments. They are aggressive and skillfully combine in their bodies remnants of flesh and machine parts: machine guns, knives, various items, rocket launchers. The fierce screams of the mutants instill a bit of fear combined with the game's atmosphere; only the moths prove to be a nuisance—they are far too loud and irritable. Our opponents are strong, resistant to some of our attacks, and sometimes it can be challenging to take them down; however, not all of them retain their intellect. Thus, you can successfully maneuver around boxes and use explosive barrels filled with gasoline. The game is also rich in the number of