Korsakovia

[Barnz]

You can skip this part to read review (which has same first paragraph)

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Korsakovia is a singleplayer/horror mod from the creators of Dear Esther (which is one of my favourite HL2 mods). It's one of the best mods I played in a while, combines storytelling with puzzle elements. You can get more information, and download it from link below:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia (it's 112 MB, requires EP2 to run)

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Here's my review:

Warning: this is not an addon for people who are not into adventure games/puzzles. No spoilers given in following review.

Korsakovia is a singleplayer/horror (perhaps a bit experimental) mod from the creators of "Dear Esther", which is one of my favourite Half-Life 2 addons.

It's like a book, using digital elements to tell its story, and letting you solve the puzzles in a some sort of dream world. Like Dear Esther, Korsakovia's using a little amount of custom content, but amazing voice overs/use of sound effects, cleverly done puzzle design that makes gameplay fun, and interesting. It's an incredible experience, with a many memorable moments/scenes.

You see, the development team behind this work - they try to create something new using experimental gameplay mechanics/ideas, which is something we don't see in video games in these days (thanks to publishers). They used a similar (gameplay) concept from their previous game which worked well, and now they're furthering it with Korsakovia. Some ideas may not be original, but they're executed well, in different forms, makes Korsakovia an unique game/experience.

pros:
. creative/fun gameplay, and puzzles
. believable atmosphere
. there's a story! a good one
. voice acting (possibly best at its kind)/dialogue/music - it's also easy to understand

cons:
. no subtitles
. ear rape (or maybe my headphones suck)
. some (little) mapping errors/dark maps

misc:
. you can use many alternative ways to defeat your enemies
. did I say how good is voice acting?
. visuals are not up to today's standarts, but this doesn't mean they're bad
. i feel bad for playing stalker (and killing countless bandits because of bugs), and skipping this yesterday

final note: 8/10 - there's nothing much to say. go, play it. have fun!

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Here're some screenshots (512x384):

Spoiler

Our old friend is back, again.

"Televisions are more fun than mirrors."

I was serious about televisions.

It's a trap! Yes, it is (but not for you).

Strid- Junk Mountain (just kidding). You have to climb your way up.

"Now this is the story of how my life turned upside down..."

Smoking kills!

"Here is your room, sir."

Additional screenshots (direct links):

Spoiler

No more jokes.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/korsakovia020023.jpg

Basement.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/hospital0011.jpg

You're safe here...or are you?

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/korsakovia010015.jpg

When electroshock therapy goes wrong.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/tenement0013.jpg

1645 (don't worry, you don't have to enter any code)

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/warehouse0028.jpg

Going up, or down.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TehBarnz/Other/Korsakovia/finallevel0001.jpg

 

[Au-heppa]

It sounded great when they were talking about it in Podcast 17.

And the monster is really cool. Stuck in the second level, though.

 

[Barnz]

IIRC there's a ladder to upper platform where you can get a crowbar to break locks.

 

[Jerry_111]

Loved it. Really, well, mind ****y.

 

[MultiVaC]

I thought Dear Esther was a lot better. It was simplistic, but I felt oddly compelled for reasons I can't explain to keep playing and finish it in one sitting. It was great. In Korsakovia I got stuck several times, and spent most of the time running around in dark, ugly rooms with no indication of where to go. I still haven't finished it yet. The audio is great, the concept is great, and the atmosphere is great. But the level design, puzzles, and player cues are all terrible. It's just really frustrating, because it's such an interesting project. If only they had someone working with them who really know a thing or two about Source level design, it could have been so much better. Check out the remake of Dear Esther this guy is doing: http://www.littlelostpoly.co.uk/devblog/?p=389

 

[Botolf]

Here are my impressions (I've posted this in several places).

Alright, finished it. It's a mixed bag, with some good and some bad.

Spoiler

The enemies and environments were kind of a let-down, and at times would actively interfere with the interesting story going on. The environments were puzzling, because unlike in Dear Esther, (DE and Karsakovia spoilers to follow) where the environments were both physical and places in the mind of the narrator, Karsakovia's environment's felt like neither: too bizarre and too copy-pasted to feel like a real place, too mundane and not imaginative enough to feel like a place in the mind. In some cases, I would be attacked by the wind monsters while a monologue was playing, and that made it difficult to catch some story bits.

I liked the later chapters more than the previous ones, which suffered from some really monotonous level design. The building slowly unravelling into a cloud of debris as you progressed was kind of cool, but only really shines when you see it all exploded like that. In a way, the building is a metaphor for Christopher's mind, he deteriorates and slides further and further into his post-apocalyptic fantasy, dragging his fictionalized version of the doctor with him.

Smashing the TVs was an interesting mechanic, especially because it was mainly suggested to the player through the monologues. Christopher smashed his own personal TV, his hands wrapped in (copper?) wire, thus burning himself. IIRC, that was when the Karsakoff's Syndrome set in, and he forgot about his previous life.

Overall, I got way more out of Dear Esther. Still, Korsakovia has some neat moments, so if you've got time, give it a spin. If you've only time or interest to play one of this modmaker's works, play Dear Esther. Cannot recommend that one highly enough.