KickStarter Encased - isometric post-apocalyptic RPG under the dome

[Sykar]

It could have been but that chance was wasted.

 

[gurugeorge]

First impressions are definitely good, one feels at home. Just done the Roadside Picnic first "proper" quests.

I could wish for a bit more QOL bits and bobs (I'm l/r-clicking for conveniences but not finding as many as I would like), but so far everything's very nice indeed. Great atmosphere set up, intriguing world, nice coherent art design, music's unobtrusively s-f, UI design, sounds, fx all cool. Conversations flow well, though they're not as involved as I prefer. Combat is smooth and easy to figure out. Lots of abilities and perks that seem to come at a gratifying pace. The logic of progression seems clear. Things in the world behave reasonably as you'd expect them to, and you can interact with them as you'd expect. Map's a bit of an incomprehensible mess.

I've already run into the frustratingly empty containers, but I'm getting used to it in the sense that it's making me not want to investigate everything - if I miss something I miss something fuck it, I'm not going to look into every damn thing, just things that look like they might have something interesting, and the occasional whim trashcan, etc. The world is "readable" enough to do that - things that look interesting tend to be interesting, things that don't, don't.

 

[agris]

You are definitely in the strongest part of the game where the cracks don’t appear so big or significant. If only it stayed that way…

Enjoy leveling up your weapons by putting more coins in them, the 7 disconnected crafting interfaces, and the level scaled disco mutants

 

[Saduj]

The best thing I can say about this game is that it found ways to make it so that somewhat minor investments into certain skills are useful all game. Skills don't become useless if you don't keep pouring points into them every time you level. Not every skill check in high level areas is high level. The abilities and bonuses you get from 30-60 point investments are worth it for most skills and essential in some cases. But there are also bonuses that incent players to max out their core skills.

Other than that, there isn't anything it does particularly well. To me, the quest designs were the worst aspect and they only seemed to get worse as the game went on....

 

[gurugeorge]

Just a bit further into the game now (Junktown and stuff), and I think the best thing about the game for me so far is the way they handle (in terms of mechanics and UI) all the more intricate simulationist aspects, the way they interact with each other fairly realistically. For example, on coming out of Nashville, via the weird place and coming into the game world proper, I found I was suffering from advanced radiation poisoning because I'd left some damn tech gloves on, which leak a small amount of radiation! I was at death's door. That made the fight with the scavengers at the Nashville observatory really desperate, there was a huge impact on all my stats, and I only barely escaped alive. I managed to get to

Spoiler

Junktown and after a bit of exploring found the autodoc in the underground area (and fortunately I had tons of cash on me),

but it was wonderfully dicey up to that point. I like that you can live with some degradation from those sorts of factors for a bit, but you do have to watch out because if you leave things too long without attending to them, your performance will be degraded.

I love that, I love the "miniaturization" of reality in games that way. Just as in real life, you can struggle along in a degraded condition and still be reasonably effective for a bit, but eventually at some point you have to fix the problem. (This in contrast to "realistic" systems that immediately give you some annoying penalty - that seems pointless to me, you might as well not have the feature there, because it's just an irritation, and not fun or immersive like it's theoretically supposed to be.)

 

[razvedchiki]

are the fights interesting or you breeze through them after the early game?

 

[Alphons]

Neither. They're both boring and a slog.
Just skip them with Stealth.

 

[gurugeorge]

are the fights interesting or you breeze through them after the early game?

They're not particularly tactically interesting. On the hard (second to last) difficulty the combat's already starting to get a bit too easy now (I'm towards the end of Act 1). It's the usual story of there being some apparently interesting options but straight dps being the most effective - so basically (on hard) you damage a lot and you get damaged a lot, but it's relatively easy to clear up the damage after the fight (at the cost of accelerating the need for rest a bit) if you have a medic on the team (and hypos are generous enough to keep you from the brink of death in-combat).

It's still an enjoyable game so far, and has some of the classic feelz, but I can anticipate what some people are saying - if the cool wee quests dry up and the latter part of the game is just a fetch-and-combat slog then one's enthusiasm might dry up, as the combat alone isn't going to be sufficient to carry one's interest.

Not a must-buy at any price, but definitely a buy-on-sale, or a must-buy if you're rich from daddy's inheritance

 

[Lord_Potato]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

Once you fix it plus the sidequests the game plummets with content quality rapidly. You will see what i mean once you enter Junktown proper

 

[Antigoon]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

Once you fix it plus the sidequests the game plummets with content quality rapidly. You will see what i mean once you enter Junktown proper

I don't know, maybe its because I kept some sidequests for later, but I don't think the second half is as bad as people make it out to be, and the first half also isn't as good. Pretty much all of the serious issues I had with the game were already present act 1. If the only problem were that after the first (great) act you could rush to to finish line within 2-3 hours, great game...

 

[Lord_Potato]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

Once you fix it plus the sidequests the game plummets with content quality rapidly. You will see what i mean once you enter Junktown proper

I don't know, maybe its because I kept some sidequests for later, but I don't think the second half is as bad as people make it out to be, and the first half also isn't as good. Pretty much all of the serious issues I had with the game were already present act 1. If the only problem were that after the first (great) act you could rush to to finish line within 2-3 hours, great game...

Most games are frontloaded, see Gothics or Elex, you can do all side content before moving the main quest forward.

It takes a particularly good designer to spread the content between chapters/acts like Archolos does.

 

[agris]

Lord_Potato if you don't clear all available quests / go to all available locations before booting up the emulator, the part immediately after won't be quite so bad - but you'll end up feeling it anyway, it's just a matter of when. The combat, map design and itemization starts to get really rote, even on hardest difficulty. When there isn't engaging quest content to buttress those other systems, the illusion fails and you're left with... Encased.

 

[lycanwarrior]

I enjoyed the game quite a bit, although some of the locations in the latter half of the game look like they were not fully fleshed out for whatever reason such as time or money.

Like the one area (forgot the name) that only had one NPC and one quest tied to it. No other people or even enemies to fight.

 

[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

 

[True Ukrainian]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

Once you fix it plus the sidequests the game plummets with content quality rapidly. You will see what i mean once you enter Junktown proper

I don't know, maybe its because I kept some sidequests for later, but I don't think the second half is as bad as people make it out to be, and the first half also isn't as good. Pretty much all of the serious issues I had with the game were already present act 1. If the only problem were that after the first (great) act you could rush to to finish line within 2-3 hours, great game...

Most games are frontloaded, see Gothics or Elex, you can do all side content before moving the main quest forward.

It takes a particularly good designer to spread the content between chapters/acts like Archolos does.

It's especially bad in Encased. Whole areas are left empty or unfinished once you fix the emulator. Enter junktown and see for yourself. There's almost nothing inside.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

The game is still barren post act 1 months after release.

Such a shame. I've just downloaded it because I was bored of Wrathfinder, tutorial location felt really comfy, with a lot of effort put in. Gonna play through the first half, I guess, and quit when it turns into placeholder/scam.

Act 1 is pretty meaty. That's around 15 hours of solid content.

What't the first act? The quest for the Emulator? Because I already have 23 hours invested and I did not even fix this machine, mostly doing sidequests, of which there is plenty.

Once you fix it plus the sidequests the game plummets with content quality rapidly. You will see what i mean once you enter Junktown proper

I don't know, maybe its because I kept some sidequests for later, but I don't think the second half is as bad as people make it out to be, and the first half also isn't as good. Pretty much all of the serious issues I had with the game were already present act 1. If the only problem were that after the first (great) act you could rush to to finish line within 2-3 hours, great game...

Most games are frontloaded, see Gothics or Elex, you can do all side content before moving the main quest forward.

It takes a particularly good designer to spread the content between chapters/acts like Archolos does.

For me it wasnt a problem of frontloading, but the barren locations after act 1. Entire cities with nothing to do. Just placeholder locations. The biggest city in the game, the one you have to jump through hoops to enter, was completely empty in my playthrough. Almost no quests, nothing.... Tumbleweed...

 

[Lord_Potato]

For me it wasnt a problem of frontloading, but the barren locations after act 1. Entire cities with nothing to do. Just placeholder locations. The biggest city in the game, the one you have to jump through hoops to enter, was completely empty in my playthrough. Almost no quests, nothing.... Tumbleweed...

Ok, but we've seen this things before even in great games.

Throughout Atom: Trudograd you try to get admitted into the upper Trudograd district. There are two fat, mutually exclusive questlines to finally win the pass and enter the place.

And once you get there, the place is empty (allegedly evacuated due to terrorist attack). There are just two guys, one a gun merchant, the other endgame questgiver. That's all.

Still an excellent game though. Guess I'll have to check how things look in Encased.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

For me it wasnt a problem of frontloading, but the barren locations after act 1. Entire cities with nothing to do. Just placeholder locations. The biggest city in the game, the one you have to jump through hoops to enter, was completely empty in my playthrough. Almost no quests, nothing.... Tumbleweed...

Ok, but we've seen this things before even in great games.

Throughout Atom: Trudograd you try to get admitted into the upper Trudograd distruct. There are two fat, mutually exclusive questlines to finally win the pass and enter the place.

And once you get there, the place is empty (allegedly evacuated due to terrorist attack). There are just two guys, one a gun merchant, the other endgame questgiver. That's all.

Still an excellent game though. Guess I'll have to check how things look in Encased.

Trudograd is easily the better game btw, it's not even close.

 

[Alphons]

And once you get there, the place is empty (allegedly evacuated due to terrorist attack). There are just two guys, one a gun merchant, the other endgame questgiver. That's all.

Still better than Encased. The City is a prop town. Empty houses and stores without any NPCs.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

For me it wasnt a problem of frontloading, but the barren locations after act 1. Entire cities with nothing to do. Just placeholder locations. The biggest city in the game, the one you have to jump through hoops to enter, was completely empty in my playthrough. Almost no quests, nothing.... Tumbleweed...

Ok, but we've seen this things before even in great games.

Throughout Atom: Trudograd you try to get admitted into the upper Trudograd distruct. There are two fat, mutually exclusive questlines to finally win the pass and enter the place.

And once you get there, the place is empty (allegedly evacuated due to terrorist attack). There are just two guys, one a gun merchant, the other endgame questgiver. That's all.

Still an excellent game though. Guess I'll have to check how things look in Encased.

Trudograd is easily the better game btw, it's not even close.

100 % AGREE

 

[rusty_shackleford]

To be entirely fair though, I'll admit I'm heavily biased. The entire 'post-apoc' part of encased feels incredibly hamfisted. While Fallout, ATOM, etc., do have a lot of goofy shit going on there's also a decent amount of worldbuilding and focusing on the parts of the story/background that matter. Encased just feels like they kept shoveling on themes they wanted in the game from a rough draft doc without stopping to think about how it will all work together or whether they'd even have the time to do it. The more I played, the more I grew to dislike it, so I quit while I was ahead because I saw where it was going.
To incorrectly quote a great man, "It feels thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread"

 

[Zizka]

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.

 

[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?