The Chernobyl disaster that happened on April 26, 1986 continues to fascinate us, but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 isn’t the only game coming out this year that focuses on it. Chornobyl Liquidators by Live Motion Games aims to place players into the shoes of the unsung heroes who battled the invisible and deadly enemy of radiation as the disaster unfolded, making for an interesting premise. But despite its noble intentions and gripping atmosphere, the game struggles to deliver a cohesive and engaging experience over the course of its relatively short runtime.
As you’d expect, the game’s narrative takes inspiration from real-life events, immersing players in various roles such as firefighters, dosimetrists, and commanding officers. The intention is to provide a first-person perspective on the harrowing and heroic efforts to contain the disaster. The story attempts to weave together the personal and professional struggles of these people, offering a blend of historical drama and moral choices – a refreshing change as we’re not talking “mutants” here.
But while the narrative concept is compelling, the execution falls short. The storyline often feels a bit disjointed, oscillating between tasks that range from extinguishing fires to tackling the bureaucratic nature of the KGB. This lack of focus dilutes the emotional impact, making it challenging for players to connect deeply with the characters or the gravity of their missions. Although the game presents varied roles and tasks during its campaign, it fails to consistently integrate them into a cohesive narrative and the storytelling could have been a lot better.
Chornobyl Liquidators attempts to blend simulation with narrative-driven gameplay, but this hybrid approach leads to mixed results. As mentioned, the tasks vary widely, from firefighting and cleaning radioactive debris to activities like fetching items or deleting files. Initially, the variety seems promising and intriguing, touching upon many different facets, but repetitive mechanics quickly set in. Firefighting, a core activity, involves simply holding down the left mouse button and aiming until you’re done, stripping it of any strategic depth. Other tasks, like mopping up radioactive dust or moving debris, follow similarly simplistic mechanics. This repetitive nature can make the gameplay feel more like a chore than an immersive experience. Moreover, the inconsistency in task design, such as abruptly transitioning from cleaning duties to climbing rooftops or smashing steel pillars, disrupts the narrative flow and player immersion.
The control scheme in Chornobyl Liquidators is another area that could have been improved. While basic controls are functional, interactions with the environment often feel as clunky as they are simplistic. You firefighting hose can just pass through solid objects, and moving around generally doesn’t feel as responsive as it should. These issues are compounded by occasional bugs, such as getting stuck in the environment or mission triggers failing to activate, which can frustrate players and impede progress. Clearly, this one would have benefitted from a bit more development time.
Visually, Chornobyl Liquidators presents a mixed bag. The game attempts to recreate iconic locations within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and while some environments capture the eerie, abandoned atmosphere, the overall graphical fidelity is inconsistent. Texture quality varies, and character models suffer from poor animations and clipping issues. And despite running the game on a high-end PC, frame drops occurred, detracting from the experience. The audio design, unfortunately, doesn’t redeem the visual shortcomings. Ambient sounds and Geiger counter clicks lack the immersive quality needed to convey the tension and danger of radiation exposure, and the voice acting is another weak point, often sounding stilted and lacking in emotional depth.
Chornobyl Liquidators sets out with an admirable goal: to honor the bravery of the people at Chernobyl through an immersive and educational simulation. However, despite its strong premise, the game is hindered by repetitive and shallow gameplay mechanics, clunky controls, and inconsistent visual and audio quality. The potential for a deeply engaging experience is evident, but it remains unrealized due to these execution flaws. For those deeply interested in the Chernobyl disaster, Chornobyl Liquidators may offer some moments of historical interest, even though it leaves much to be desired and we’ve seen these environments realized in other releases (like Chernobylite and Chernobyl VR) before. A tighter focus on core mechanics and a more polished 1.0 release could have significantly elevated this one.
Score: 6.0/10
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