KickStarter Encased - isometric post-apocalyptic RPG under the dome

[Lord_Potato]

I think liking Encased can only explained one way: there’s just so little out there for competition: in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king.

Little competition?
In 2017 Fallout of Nevada (English translation)
In 2018 Atom
In 2020 Wasteland 3
In 2021 Atom: Trudograd, Olympus 2207 (English translation)
To be released in 2022: Broken Roads

Last years have been really generous when it comes to Fallout clones, total conversions, spiritual successors.

 

[gurugeorge]

I think liking Encased can only explained one way: there’s just so little out there for competition: in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king.

People are so starved for a good game like Fallout and Atom that they’re willing to overlook the most glaring flaws or compare Encased flaws with other great games who had the same shortcomings… which isn’t rational.

A. Game A. has a lot of flaws. Including flaw x such as in game B.
B. Game B. is a polished game which shares the same flaw as game A.
=
Game A. is as good as game B.?
Yeah, no, I don’t think so.

Honestly, if you’re happy with Encased you have very low expectations. Which is probably a good thing as it can allow some enjoyment of ultimately mediocre games.

Encased is the embodiment of amateurism. It feels like a fan game or a mod with little to no identity. I didn’t research this but I would bet that this was a first game for the team or most people on the team being inexperienced. They’ll get better with practice but this shouldn’t have been released. Then again, as long as people unfinished games it’ll keep occurring.

There's a more ironic way of looking at it though: Game B. wasn't as polished or as brilliant as rose-tinted memberberries make it seem.

Also (in some other cases) it might just have been accidentally brilliant (one-hit wonder). Indeed, if one is someone who complains about the contemporary output of people who made "classics" in the past, isn't that an implicit admission of this latter being the case?

 

[Zizka]

There's a more ironic way of looking at it though: Game B. wasn't as polished or as brilliant as rose-tinted memberberries make it seem.

That's a fair point. Playing Fallout mods, I'm wondering if I had played them first now if I would consider them classics. It's hard to say.

A game should evaluated for all of its parts. Encased emptiness is only one of its many glaring issues.

 

[gurugeorge]

There's a more ironic way of looking at it though: Game B. wasn't as polished or as brilliant as rose-tinted memberberries make it seem.

That's a fair point. Playing Fallout mods, I'm wondering if I had played them first now if I would consider them classics. It's hard to say.

A game should evaluated for all of its parts. Encased emptiness is only one of its many glaring issues.

I suppose it depends on the standard by which one is evaluating. In absolute terms or in terms of what's available (as you said) and in terms of what you'd expect from a first-time indie developer.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Encased caught people's attention not because it was post apocalyptic, but because it took the theme of roadside picnic and really ran with it, at least in the prologue. A dangerous zone that the wider world tolerated because of valuable stuff that could be extracted out of it. As development went on, the devs watered the concept down.

 

[jackofshadows]

One of the biggest flies in the ointment for me is the absolute utter retardation of your companions when following, stepping on mines, getting in the way, and going the long way round in a way that alerts mobs Which is a shame, because they do offer more tactical options than if you're just on your own, and they're pretty cool characters (love Crump with his Buddhist violence schtick and his Geordie accent ).

Mind you, it's not that different from the wandering retardation of some companions in older games like BG, so it's still "classic" in that regard

Just in case you haven't noticed: there's a "toilet-chain" system integrated a-la Div:OS to be able to control them individually, you have to unchain followers for that every time you face mines, mobs etc.

 

[Lord_Potato]

So, I ended act 1, took me 26 hours and 16 levels. Now I'm 6 hours into act 2, level 23. I agree it's more barren than act 1, but not completely empty. I am still getting sidequests and visiting new locations. Maybe they added them in post-lauch updates?

 

[The Wall]

Devs on Discord said that "more patches are in the works" but that they "can't really comment DLCs". That sounds to me like there will be DLC. Hopefully something good

 

[Herumor]

What's the story and worldbuilding like in this game?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

What's the story and worldbuilding like in this game?

just imagine a bunch of sci-fi tropes thrown together in a blender

 

[Alphons]

What's the story and worldbuilding like in this game?

Prologue is a cool Roadside Picnic, then it degrades into the post-apo tropes (crazy raiders, Junktown, post-apo church that totally doesn't have an insidious goal and just wants to spread happiness, authoritarian guy that wants to rule over democratic guys, etc.) and near the end even that gets thrown out.

 

[jackofshadows]

Yeah they wanted to make another Fallout so badly that missed a great opportunity of making a game with original, warm and pleasant setting of the prologue. They could've done post-apoc for the finale stretch or something.

 

[gurugeorge]

One of the biggest flies in the ointment for me is the absolute utter retardation of your companions when following, stepping on mines, getting in the way, and going the long way round in a way that alerts mobs Which is a shame, because they do offer more tactical options than if you're just on your own, and they're pretty cool characters (love Crump with his Buddhist violence schtick and his Geordie accent ).

Mind you, it's not that different from the wandering retardation of some companions in older games like BG, so it's still "classic" in that regard

Just in case you haven't noticed: there's a "toilet-chain" system integrated a-la Div:OS to be able to control them individually, you have to unchain followers for that every time you face mines, mobs etc.

Oh yeah I know, I resent having to use it though. My companions should be smart enough to avoid mines my PER has seen (notionally I'd be saying, "hold up, see the mine there?"), and they should be smart enough, when queuing up through a narrowish space, not to wander off backwards and go the long way around and randomly run into and aggro mobs. Just fucking wait in line you doofus!

Toilet chain makes sense for bits of tactical positioning in combat, it shouldn't be a crutch that the player has to use to compensate for the companions' awful AI.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

As someone wrote it should have been a pure sci-fi RPG with horror themes. No post-apoc.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

As someone wrote it should have been a pure sci-fi RPG with horror themes. No post-apoc.

The quest with the human obelisk was cool, should have been the entire game like that, yeah...

 

[gurugeorge]

As someone wrote it should have been a pure sci-fi RPG with horror themes. No post-apoc.

I think it's a good gimmick for setting up a post-apoc-style "bubble," but I agree with what someone said above that the themes it uses are too timeworn and over-used (raiders, church, etc.). If they hadn't been so wedded to making another Fallout, they could have made a thematically more interesting game retaining more of the 70s s-f aesthetic.

I dunno, maybe if they hadn't had the "time lapse" idea so that you're plonked into a post-apoc setting that's already mostly run its course, maybe if you came out of the thing quite quickly and were present at the start of the societal in-dome breakdown and had to choose between the factions as they were forming, had to cope with people hallucinating everywhere, etc., it might have been more interesting. IOW, living through the breakdown and societal falling-apart and having to choose sides in that context, and maybe being present at the start of the Emulation project, or something like that, might have made the game more unique.

 

[Serus]

Little competition?
In 2017 Fallout of Nevada (English translation)
In 2018 Atom
In 2020 Wasteland 3
In 2021 Atom: Trudograd, Olympus 2207 (English translation)
To be released in 2022: Broken Roads

Last years have been really generous when it comes to Fallout clones, total conversions, spiritual successors.

The first position isn't a competition to anything. Not because it's bad but because the amount of people who heard of it is probably insignificant compared to games like Wasteland 3 or Encased. Same with the other one. Which leaves with what? In the 2017-2022 period total of 3 new games (included one in the making) and one DLC/sequel-thing. I wouldn't call it "extremely generous".

 

[Lord_Potato]

Little competition?
In 2017 Fallout of Nevada (English translation)
In 2018 Atom
In 2020 Wasteland 3
In 2021 Atom: Trudograd, Olympus 2207 (English translation)
To be released in 2022: Broken Roads

Last years have been really generous when it comes to Fallout clones, total conversions, spiritual successors.

The first position isn't a competition to anything. Not because it's bad but because the amount of people who heard of it is probably insignificant compared to games like Wasteland 3 or Encased. Same with the other one. Which leaves with what? In the 2017-2022 period total of 3 new games (included one in the making) and one DLC/sequel-thing. I wouldn't call it "extremely generous".

And how many decent post-apo RPGs we received in the period 2001-2016? Fallout: Tactics (if you consider it RPG, I do and aside from lore inconsistencies I enjoyed it), Fallout: New Vegas and Wasteland 2. Only two of them isometric and turn based. That's about it.

I'll call three and a half games (if you don't want Fallout TCs, than: Wasteland 3, Atom+Trudograd expansion, Encased) in 5 years very generous.

And if Broken Roads are indeed published in 2022, we'll have four and a half in 6 years, as opposed to three in 16 years. Even better.

 

[Lord_Potato]

spent too much time making random junk to fill the world

Not true, once you start Chapter 2 everything's so bare that you don't even get the random junk.

The patches must have changed a lot since you played the game.

I'm 14 hours into Act 2. Still (at least) two steps of the main quest ahead of me. After finding Ursula I just travel around the area revealed after ending Act 1 (eastern and sounthern parts of the Dome which were inaccessible before reducing Maelstrom), searching for unique locations and random encounters and I find plenty. Some offer side quests, some puzzles, some simply exploration and a bit of worldbuilding.

Interestingly, I managed to find one or two locations before receiving corresponding quests, so they were even more enigmatic when I first scouted them. Also, despite frequent visits to traders my inventory is still cluttered with random junk and even some quality items I regularly dump at Ursula.

The game does not seem content-poor but sometimes you need to actively search for it off the beaten track, visiting every square of the grid, like in the RPGs of old. There is little hand-holding which I enjoy.

Still, Encased is not as good as Atom or Trudograd, the characters are not as interesting, the worldbuilding kind of thin, but fun nevertheless.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

WL3 isn't much like ATOM/Encased/etc., at all. Just superficially.
Much heavier emphasis on tactics with a strong de-emphasis on personal story & world interactions.

 

[Lord_Potato]

WL3 isn't much like ATOM/Encased/etc., at all. Just superficially.
Much heavier emphasis on tactics with a strong de-emphasis on personal story & world interactions.

They all belong to one established subgenre: turn-based, isometric, post-apo RPGs, they just emphasize different aspects of the experience.

We were starved of this kind of games since the Black Isle Fallouts stopped getting released. Now we have at least a few to choose from, with more incoming. This is a big improvement.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

WL3 isn't much like ATOM/Encased/etc., at all. Just superficially.
Much heavier emphasis on tactics with a strong de-emphasis on personal story & world interactions.

They all belong to one established subgenre: turn-based, isometric, post-apo RPGs, they just emphasize different aspects of the experience.

We were starved of this kind of games since the Black Isle Fallouts stopped getting released. Now we have at least a few to choose from, with more incoming. This is a big improvement.

WL3 feels like a tacticool game with RPG elements to me.

We were starved of this kind of games since the Black Isle Fallouts stopped getting released.

Krai Mira(it's in your sig )
MetalHeart: Replicants Rampage
The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
Omega Syndrome
Planet Alcatraz
Shadow Vault


Like Encased, most of them sucked.

 

[Lord_Potato]

We were starved of this kind of games since the Black Isle Fallouts stopped getting released.

Krai Mira
MetalHeart: Replicants Rampage
The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
Omega Syndrome
Planet Alcatraz
Shadow Vault

Like Encased, most of them sucked.

I'd agree most of the sucked, that's why I did not list them among the quality post-apo RPGs of the period. With the exception of Omega Syndrome, which was a surprisingly well-done single developer's game, alas not post-apo. Btw, Encased is miles above Krai Mira, I know cause I played it to completion.

I must play Planet Alcatraz one day but I've heard English translation is quite poor and censored and regretfully I do not know Russian.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I must play Planet Alcatraz one day but I heard English translation is quite poor and censored and regretfully I do not know Russian.

There's a sequel btw
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/planet-alcatraz-2-english-translation.139198/

 

[Lord_Potato]

I must play Planet Alcatraz one day but I heard English translation is quite poor and censored and regretfully I do not know Russian.

There's a sequel btw
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/planet-alcatraz-2-english-translation.139198/

Thanks! Didn't know there was actual English translation of 2.