Your character can get hungry, thirsty, irritated, distracted, nauseated (by bad food). There are many additional mechanics in Encased that are somewhat hard to describe, without going into a lot of detail. The game has a few random deaths at the beginning which are quite funny. Would be interesting to see that, though… No matter how high your character’s charisma is – they really cannot charm the huge cyborg crab into giving back that torn-off leg you need to complete the quest. This definitely seems to grind against the “free” nature of Encased. For example, there are several quests that require you to kill someone to progress.

Often, there is no way to avoid fighting. The game does put a lot of emphasis on combat, however. It’s mostly just about finding a good weapon and sticking with it, while keeping track of ammo, too. The character progression isn’t very deep either – it doesn’t really seem as if the various stats in the game make much of a difference. It’s nothing special, of course, and overall the system feels a bit shallow. There are light and heavy variations – melee, as well as powerful energy ones. There are multiple different weapon types. The turn-based combat in the game works fine. Uh-oh looks like we are getting ready for a fight here… LIE, CHEAT, FIGHT Despite plenty of interesting lore and NPCs with quests – many characters seem almost completely devoid of any personality. Conversations, however, are somewhat of a mixed bag. So, if one’s passion is hoarding or bartering – this is a perfect game for that. Most containers aren’t locked and there are almost no consequences for stealing. There are things to pick up, literally, everywhere. Well, Encased may certainly feel like a dream come true (or a nightmare) for those, obsessed with gathering everything they can find in a game. But, it’s not enough to simply “let the player do what they want” to make a game interesting. As far as I can judge – they have certainly succeeded in this. Indeed, Dark Crystal Games has made it an absolute priority to give the players as much freedom as possible. We can play by the rules – or make our own. We can talk with whomever we meet, barter items or pick fights. There are also plenty of interactive elements, as is traditional for the genre. PLAY BY THE RULES – OR MAKE YOUR OWNĪs Fallout is one of the main inspirations here, we do get to explore the world at our own pace. More than enough to let our creativity roam free.Įvery level has plenty of interactive spots that can be explored or ransacked. From the very start, the game offers a huge variety of choices in building your character with a long list of abilities and physical attributes. Our story begins from a point of view of a regular worker, who’s just joined one of the groups. Those wearing Black are doing technical work, Silver corresponds to the administrative tasks, White for research, while the Orange color is, basically, for slaves.

The main signifier of the status and the job is the color of one’s clothes. The organization uses something like a caste system to divide its workforce. The above-mentioned Dome is currently controlled by a multinational association called CRONUS. So much so that Disco Elysium, all of a sudden, looks like one of the main inspirations, as well. Here, the player’s decisions really form the basis of the gameplay. But Encased goes one step beyond Interplay’s seminal title. From the graphics and the interface to some design choices – the vibes are definitely here. If this reminds you of Fallout, well, it’s because the two games really are that similar – at least from the visual standpoint. Xel Game Review | It's worth buying? IT IS A POST FALLOUT ATMOSPHEREįirst, if it’s not already clear from this article’s long title – Encased is a post-apocalyptic RPG played from an isometric perspective.

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