Afterfall: Insanity
Afterfall: InSanity | |
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Developer(s) | Intoxicate Studios |
Publisher(s) | Nicolas Entertainment Group |
Composer(s) | Marcin Przybyłowicz, Pedro Macedo Camacho[3] |
Engine | Unreal Engine 3 |
Platform(s) | |
Release | Microsoft Windows November 25, 2011[1] Cloud (OnLive) December 19, 2011[2] Xbox 360 TBA |
Genre(s) | Survival horror, third-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Afterfall: InSanity (previously known as Bourgeoisie: Pearl of the Wastelands, Rascal or just Afterfall)[4] is a survival horror video game developed by Intoxicate Studios and published by Nicolas Entertainment Group, and was released on November 25, 2011 for Windows.[1] An updated version of the game called Afterfall: InSanity Extended Edition was released for Windows on August 10, 2012, while the Xbox 360 is still in development.
Synopsis
Setting
In the Afterfall universe the World War II had ended differently.In the final moments of the war, Hitler managed to create his Wunderwaffe – a team of Nazi physicists finished the German atom bomb project. In January 1945, a V-2 rocket armed with a nuclear warhead fell on the Soviet army that was preparing to cross the Polish – German border. Military activities were stopped, and truce talks began. During these talks, first USA and then the USSR developed their own nuclear weapons. The atmosphere became tense. The border between Germany and Vistula wasn't ultimately set and Armia Krajowa or AK announced the creation of New Poland. In the aftermath of the treaties between Germany, USA and the USSR, New Poland became a buffer zone with US military bases spread around its territory.Thus begun the global Cold War. The US invested heavily in the development of Poland, especially its military industrial complex. Poland east of the Vistula and San – Socialist Republic of Eastern Poland - was under Russian influence and Warsaw, as its capital, was surrounded with the Warsaw Wall. In 1960, the rebellious Soviet general Kaiser fired a nuclear missile aimed at one of the USSR’s military bases in the former Eastern Poland. Kaiser announced that if USSR wouldn’t fulfil his demands, then had sixteen more of those missiles to fire. During the next seventeen days the USSR withdrew from the occupied part of Poland and Western Ukraine. Kaiser was proclaimed the Head of State and the era of Totalitarian Poland begun. The USA officially withdrew its army from Polish territories, but secret negotiations continued. They culminated with an unofficial agreement concerning further financial support and technological exchange. In 2011 Germany completed the development of a new bomb. Its real power was a mystery even to the bomb’s creators. One year later, the bomb called Entropy exploded over the English Channel. Whether by accident or part of an intentional action remains a mystery. As a result all of the rockets throughout the Cold War theater locked onto their targets and were fired at the same time. The Third World War became a fact; no one had time to ponder over the nature of that first explosion. Some of the people managed to hide in underground shelters which were a part of vast military complexes. Decades had passed before the first tentative expeditions were sent to the surface.[5]
The year is 2035. About 20 years ago the citizens of The Republic had to search for a shelter from the hell of the Third World War. Yet, only few were fortunate enough to have a place waiting for them in the prepared shelters. With the passage of time the fear of death on the surface has become only an unpleasant memory, however, the seemingly safe hideout has turned out to be a curse which cannot be escaped. It was only a matter of time before somebody would snap, and thus the dream of safety becomes a nightmare prison.[5]
Plot
The protagonist of Afterfall: InSanity is Albert Tokaj, a member of medical team which takes care of the mental and physical well-being of citizens living in the shelter. He specializes in the mental disorder called confinement syndrome caused by being locked-up for too long, yet he himself is not free of its symptoms. When all hell begins to break loose Albert has to find the answers to many questions, the where and the why, who is a real enemy and who a trusted friend. He will have to face the dangers lurking in the darkness of the shelter and in Albert’s own mind, battling with his own weaknesses and fears.[6]
Development
Requirements | ||
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Microsoft Windows[7] | ||
Operating system | Windows XP SP2,Windows Vista or Windows 7 | |
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 x2 2Ghz or better | |
Memory | 2 GB for Windows XP and 3 GB for Windows Vista or Windows 7 | |
Free space | 7 GB free HDD space[8] | |
Graphics hardware | 256 MB, DirectX 9.0c i Shader 3.0 (GeForce 8600GT / ATI equivalent or better) | |
Sound hardware | DirectX compatible sound card |
Afterfall was originally conceived as a post-apocalyptic role-playing game in the vein of the Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchises, but was later turned into a survival horror title. It started development as a project by Polish fans of games like Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but was professionalized under Nicolas Games Entertainment in mid-2008. It uses the Unreal engine, making it compatible with both Windows and Linux. The game was released worldwide via digital distribution for PC while a boxed version and a Collector's Edition was released exclusively in Poland.[9] Initially, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were announced but only the Xbox 360 version seems to be still in development.[10]
Marketing
On October 9, 2011 Nicolas Games announced that the game would be available with bonus soundtrack for only one dollar if the game reached a total of 10 million pre-orders, with 10% of money collected going to charity. If they fell short of that goal, they would donate all the money to a charity group. Since they failed to reach their goal by November 25, all the collected money was donated to charity and the game was given at half price along with soundtrack to those who had pre-ordered it. The move was cited by the developer to be to expand the scope of indie videogames, and not as a market strategy.[11]
Extended Edition
Due to the moderate success of the game the Nicolas Entertainment Group released an extended edition of the game called "Afterfall:Insanity 2.0" for PC on 10 August 2012. It will be released for Xbox 360 in last half of 2012.[10] This is the first time this game is being released on a console.
The edition symbolically called "2.0" according to the developers contains a lot of improvements to the basic version of the game. The PC version is being distributed in a form of a free patch for those who already bought Afterfall: InSanity. The Xbox 360 version will include all of the improvements. One of the most important changes will be more dynamic and intuitive fight system. The protagonist of the game – Albert Tokaj – is much more deft now, both as far as his movements and attacks are concerned. Animations also underwent some changes – both in gameplay and in cutscenes. The original tutorial system has been replaced with a new one. Many new weapons have been added. Also the game is being optimized for the Xbox 360.[12]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | 50%[13] |
Publication | Score |
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GameSpot | 6/10 [14] |
IGN | 4.5/10 [15] |
The reviews for Afterfall Insanity have been mostly average.The game holds 50 percent score on aggregating website Metacritic and a 5.3 user score signifying average reviews.[16]
GameSpot gave it 6.0/10 praising the game for its environment details, storyline, puzzles and quick-time events while also criticising the game for its boring melee combat, boring introduction and stilted voice acting.[17]IGN gave it 4.5 out of 10 saying "Insanity is boring." It praised the game for its graphics but criticised its gameplay and sound.[18]
The enhanced edition of the game called Afterfall: InSanity 2.0 got much more positive review than the original one and was given a score of 8/10 by Boothammer.com.[12]
References
- ^ a b http://afterfall-universe.com/en/News/Afterfall-InSanity-available-to-players-from-November-25th
- ^ "Afterfall: Insanity". OnLive. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
- ^ "Afterfall: Insanity Credits". Mobygames. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
- ^ Afterfall at RPG Codex
- ^ a b "Afterfall:InSanity FAQ".
- ^ "Afterfall:InSanity plot details".
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanity specifications". IGN. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanity system requirements".
- ^ "Afterfall:InSanity at Giantbomb".
- ^ a b "Afterfall InSanity 2.0 Enhanced Edition available". 10 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- ^ ""Pre-order Afterfall InSanity- Why One Dollar" at Youtube".
- ^ a b Demandrea (31 July 2012). "List of changes in Afterfall:InSanity 2.0". Boothammer.com. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanitypublisher=[[Metacritic]]". Retrieved November 25, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: URL–wikilink conflict (help) - ^ Shea, Tom Mc (2011-12-07). "Afterfall:Insanity Review". Retrieved 2011-12-07.
- ^ Gallegos, Anthony (2012-01-12). "Afterfall:Insanity Review at IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanity at Metacritic".
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanity at GameSpot".
- ^ "Afterfall:Insanity at IGN".