KickStarter INSOMNIA: The Ark - dieselpunk sci-fi action-RPG set on a decaying space station

[Tweed]

What a shocker. Remind me never to buy games ever again.

 

[Zariusz]

So when was the last time this got updated?

 

[Jenkem]

So when was the last time this got updated?

RELEASE DATE:
Sep 27, 2018
DEPOTS UPDATE:
12 May 2020 (642 days ago)

 

[toro]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/783170/discussions/0/3199240042190186032/#c3184610318760526219

Hi! Unfortunately, we as a publisher have no legal right to do that. All assets of the game belong to people from the dev team.

 

[ADL]

That fucking blows man. They did an incredible job on such a small budget.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

i just randomly thought of this game and see if there's any planned update to this game, check the steam forum, and turned out they're done for.

RIP


https://steamcommunity.com/app/783170/eventcomments/3085520348624457637/?ctp=2

The game support is officially end:

Dear players. Thank you for your support and continued interest in the game. Mono Studio has been trying to keep the project afloat for a long time, both on its own and with the involvement of third-party help, in order to fulfill all the promises made when launching the kickstarter.
Unfortunately, the project team eventually fell apart.
We tried to finish what we started with the help of hired specialists, but due to the complex architecture of the project, it turned out to be impossible to do this. Even highly qualified professionals could not solve all the problems that needed to be fixed.
At the moment, we do not have people to bring the game to its proper form. We are very sorry and I apologize on behalf of the whole team for this situation. We believed in Insomnia, worked on it for a long time, but failed.
Thank you for being with us. And once again, forgive me for the fact that the Ark did not make it to its destination.

Oh no! I still had a small bit of hope left.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Today I finished Insomnia: the Ark. Took me 41,5 hours, I managed to reach level 16 (I thought 15 was kind of a level cap, but I guess it was soft enough to break through).

Got some really infuriating/fun bugs during my playthrough, some of them typical, but some truly original which I haven't seen described ANYWHERE else. Fortunately nothing game-breaking. I am not sure I managed to grasp every aspect of the plot, the writing in general was pretty good, but tended to venture into philosophical themes that obfuscated the story. BTW, introducing an entirely new (sub)faction in the final dialogue was clearly not a good choice.

I guess I managed to get the best ending for the citizens of the station - by letting the Committee win and introduce the violent regime, that managed however to secure peace and force all the other groups to work for the benefit of Object 6. After watching the alternative endings in the movies folder of the game I consider this one the optimal, even if sad. However it seems there are no good outcomes for the people living in the station. They are alone onboard of a decaying generational ship, traveling into the unending darkness of space. It is not certain if there even is the legendary Evacuation Point and whether their voyage has a final aim. So I guess relative peace and fulfillment of basic needs is the best you can get.

It's a beautiful game with tons of unrealized potential. A pity that "the Ark did not reach its destination", even if it's playable from the beginning until the end. Imagine what could have been with higher budget and non-Russian organizational skills of the publisher. On the other hand it was the Russian gloominess that gave Insomnia its inimitable atmosphere.

Anyway, here's a bunch of screenshots to remember the most gorgeous, mesmerizing and weird moments of this game.

 

[Abu Antar]

There was a post somewhere that listed game breaking bugs, and how you can avoid them. I have been wanting to play this for some time, but I don't want to waste time on it if the game craps out on me.

 

[toro]

There was a post somewhere that listed game breaking bugs, and how you can avoid them. I have been wanting to play this for some time, but I don't want to waste time on it if the game craps out on me.

The game is worth the effort of trying at least once.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I played this for a few hours some years back. I remember the weapons feeling really good to shoot with.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I played this for a few hours some years back. I remember the weapons feeling really good to shoot with.

Yes, they nailed it. Despite the combat system being pretty basic you feel actual difference when shooting a revolver, smg, heavy machine gun or a sniper rifle. They all act in their own way, forcing you to adjust your behavior and tactics. Reloading times and animations also add to that. Shooting in this game is fun, unlike the melee in which you just stunlock and slaughter your enemy 80% of the time.

 

[Sloul]

I stopped playing near the beginning of the game because of bugs. I don't quite remember what happened. But otherwise I was very enthusiast about it.
It felt like playing a Gothic1&2 with guns.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I want to finish this one if it's a bit playable nowadays, damn it even had cybernetic Morte in it

 

[Lord_Potato]

I stopped playing near the beginning of the game because of bugs. I don't quite remember what happened. But otherwise I was very enthusiast about it.
It felt like playing a Gothic1&2 with guns.

It sure has lots of oldschool design elements, like total lack of quest markers and compass with only the most vague descriptions in the journal. You actually need to listen to people you talk to in order to know what you should be doing.

Also, to max out your character you'd need around 128 skill points. But during the campaign you receive around 20, so the game really encourages specialization. You can't simply be a jack of all trades, like in the lastest post-apo games (Atom: Trudograd and Encased, I'm looking at you!).

 

[Cyberarmy]

I stopped playing near the beginning of the game because of bugs. I don't quite remember what happened. But otherwise I was very enthusiast about it.
It felt like playing a Gothic1&2 with guns.

It sure has lots of oldschool design elements, like total lack of quest markers and compass with only the most vague descriptions in the journal. You actually need to listen to people you talk to in order to know what you should be doing.

Also, to max out your character you'd need around 128 skill points. But during the campaign you receive around 20, so the game really encourages specialization. You can't simply be a jack of all trades, like in the lastest post-apo games (Atom: Trudograd and Encased, I'm looking at you!).

 

[Sloul]

I am just starting it again, are there hotkeys for quicksave/quickload?

 

[Lord_Potato]

I am just starting it again, are there hotkeys for quicksave/quickload?

No, I heard quicksave/quickload does not work properly since patch 1.4 The game sometimes autosaves, but better don't rely on that and do a lot of manual saves in different save slots. So that if you run into a game-breaking bug, you can load an earlier save without losing most of progress.

Also, while most game-breaking bugs seem to be irregular and do not appear in different playthroughs, there is one that seems to remain. After a cleansing operation in B-27 (you'll know which one, it's pretty epic main story quest) you HAVE to speak to your commander, Riebel TWICE before leaving the location. Only then he will give you all the necessary info. If you leave the location without speaking to him twice, later in his office he won't have relevant dialogue options and you'll be locked out of the main questline.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There's very few examples of games being close to greatness but faceplanting into oblivion like this game.

 

[Trojan_generic]

Hit a game-breaking bug and quit after 50 hours. Good times, never again.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

This is a great example as to why UE4(& 5) is a massive step backwards for end users. If this was a Unity game, most of these issues could be fixed by fans because of how easily editable .NET binaries are. Same deal with UE3 and unrealscript, many UE3 games still have active modding communities to this day.
People with the knowledge to mod UE4 games(that is, knowledge of assembly-level reverse engineering) and people who want to mod games is a very, very small overlap. The experience, effort, and time required is an order of magnitude higher.

 

[gerey]

This is a great example as to why UE4(& 5) is a massive step backwards for end users.

UE4 & 5 are a catastrophe for gaming.

They are going to spell the death of modding, and likely the death of game preservation. The games with thriving modding communities are either 10+ years old, made with a custom engine, or using Unity. I can't think of a single UE4/5 game that has active modding.

But what's worse is that fans will be unable to unfuck UE4/5 games a decade or two down the line. No fan patches, no fixes, nothing.

China and everything they touch once again proving they are a blight on humanity.

 

[Zariusz]

My favourite moment in this game was in like late game or close to it. There was this long dark circular tunnel and we had to go throught it to go to some secret part of the station/hideout/laboratory or smt like that, there was no music (or only some sneaky ambient) only sounds of metal and your steps and after like minute of this "silence" voice of "narrator" appears, he sounded like he was talking through some old radio and all of this felt very surreal. And what i found after i went through the whole tunnel also was somewhat eerie and weird. This tunnel and that mission set during riots were the most memorable parts of this game for me.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

This is a great example as to why UE4(& 5) is a massive step backwards for end users.

I can't think of a single UE4/5 game that has active modding.

Only game I can think of is Conan Exiles, and it's because the devs go out of their way to provide modding support.
You have to download their 200gb customized version of the UE4 editor btw.

 

[wishbonetail]

After watching the alternative endings in the movies folder of the game I consider this one the optimal, even if sad. However it seems there are no good outcomes for the people living in the station. They are alone onboard of a decaying generational ship, traveling into the unending darkness of space. It is not certain if there even is the legendary Evacuation Point and whether their voyage has a final aim. So I guess relative peace and fulfillment of basic needs is the best you can get.

I didn't finish the game but i thought there would be some plot twist, like they were already at destination point or they never left, or it wasn't a spaceship at all. Oh well..

 

[Rean]

I think I reached a no-go point with this about 2 hours in with some bug.
Fucking amazing soundtrack, though.