Gaming goes through these weird phases of jumping on bandwagons. Everyone needs an MMORPG, everyone needs an FPS with multiplayer, everyone needs an online card game, and currently everyone is probably scrambling for a Hero MOBA to compete with Overwatch. What companies don’t realise is people who like that style of game already have their game of that genre and don’t need another one.
Rust is currently being cannibalised by various studios into their own mostly-worse attempt at being Rust. Shadow of Kurgansk is part of that trend. A clone which appears to have violently ripped the horror themes, minus the horror, out of S.T.A.L.K.E.R to keep itself unique; a game so in early access it has no Steam Store page.
You play as a character stuck in ‘the zone,’ an area known for highly anomalous activities and must survive. The game has three modes: Story, Survival and Adventure. The first two are rather self-explanatory with the third being a quest mode, much like objectives. Considering how early into access this game is the lack of content is not surprising.
The only way this game would stand out above other clones was if it brought some new mechanics to the table effectively, rather than just clone out Rust. It does bring more to the table though it is not entirely new.
Drawing proudly from S.T.A.L.K.E.R, various anomalous phenomena exist around the map from overly radioactive monsters to strange dimensional portals. What these phenomena do is possibly innumerable, though I did find most of them hurt and kill you. While a small effort is made to instil the fear that S.T.A.L.K.E.R did it is not effective. Whether more development will be given to this concept is unknown though being its defining difference between other clones this should be a priority.
Not much exists of this game due to it being early access status, and I tend to flatly ignore clones of already popular games for the reasoning. Even with the addition of anomalies and a story mode, Shadow of Kurgansk has not piqued my interest yet. Granted it is very early in the early access cycle however this cannot be a blanket excuse for games which do not hook me instantly. If they nail the survival aspect and make the anomalies interesting and diverse I may come back to this game. For now I shall just observe to see if it falls into the mire with all the other Rust clones.
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