7.5/10

The story, for me, was overall weak. You dont see the ending coming though, so thats good. I had no issues with the QTE. Overall, not the best FMV out there IMO.

I have mixed feelings about this one, but I have to classify it as "would not recommend" because I think the audience that will enjoy it is considerably smaller than the audience that will not.

Let's start with what's good about the game: the production values are quite solid. It's shot in a real location (an actual decommissioned nuclear bunker) and its cast is populated with professional actors. It legitimately looks like a movie, and playing it all the way through takes about the same amount of time as watching a feature film. It conveys a genuine sense of dread -- if you're after psychological horror, there's certainly a fair share of that here. This experience certainly won't leave you thinking that nuclear war is a good idea, if you somehow had any doubts to begin with.

Of course, some of these strengths may also be weaknesses to some potential players: this is grim and traumatizing. If you don't want that experience, you should stay away from it.

But then there are other problems that all players will run into. First of all, while I enjoyed some aspects of the narrative, especially the way in which the back story is gradually revealed through flashbacks, it also has significant flaws. There are only so many long sequences of nervous walking one can sit through before they feel repetitive. I was also mildly annoyed by the very end of the story, which very heavy-handedly explains what has happened, when it should already be obvious by that point.

The biggest problem, though, is the gameplay, which is never fun and is often the opposite of fun. Full motion video games are notorious for poor gameplay, and this is no exception. If you're not aimlessly waving your mouse around the screen looking for random things to click on, you're seeking key A to unlock door B.... and then there are quick time events where you have to frantically click on a spot within a time limit... and if you fail, you have to watch the unskippable and tedious video again to retry. Fortunately, I only had to replay one sequence, but that was more than enough. I liked some aspects of exploring the bunker and learning more about it, but I wish there had been a better way of doing it!

Bottom line: this is the product of hard work, and it's certainly not a total failure... but it would have made a better short film than a game, so I find it hard to recommend.