Sonar Shock is one of those games where the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” hits the nail on the head. When you take a casual glance at the game, you’ll probably only notice the low-budget graphics, the somewhat confusing UI and the Lego minifigure looking NPCs. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find a shockingly competent System Shock style immersive sim with intricate level layouts, Eternal Darkness sanity effects, a skill system, psi powers, a hacking minigame, friendly NPCs with side quests, and lots of environmental storytelling. Oh, and once you actually get into the game, you’ll realise that the visuals are much more charming than they might look at first glance. Sonar Shock even has dynamic lighting, which benefits the mood of the game noticeably when you skulk about in abandoned offices and engine rooms lit only by flares and desk lamps.

Now, before you go into this expecting the second coming of Prey: No, that’s not what this is, either. The enemy AI is extremely basic and your movement options are very limited (no strafing, jumping, or leaning), more reminiscent of a game like Wrath of Earth instead of System Shock. And don’t expect the plot to take itself too seriously either. It’s entertaining throughout, and there are some interesting twists in it. But at one point, I found myself helping Sherlock Holmes solve crimes onboard a Soviet nuclear submarine built by cutting out parts of existing buildings (museums, military barracks etc.) and welding them into its hull. So expect some tongue-in-cheek humour and all the gameplay limitations to be expected from a low-budget game essentially made by a single person.

But aside from these (potential) caveats, Sonar Shock really feels like a proper (low-budget) imsim. And that’s not just because of the Ultima Underworld[www.gog.com] / System Shock control scheme that eschews full mouse look in favour of having you wrestle with a complicated multi-window user interface every step of the way. The fairly open structure of the game is also very reminiscent of exploring Citadel Station. The Utopia submarine has several levels which you can explore freely, returning to previously explored levels to grab that gun you couldn’t use yet or to open that one door that you couldn’t open before because your hacking skill wasn’t high enough.

You’ll also have to deal with resource scarcity (ammo, healing items) and there are no quest markers to ruin the exploration gameplay. Sonar Shock even takes inspiration from survival horror games by requiring you to use limited “save disks” to save your game – though you can switch on unlimited saves in the options menu. You won’t have access to a mini-map until you find the GLONASS module for the current map. Oh, and did I mention you have to reload your firearms by dragging ammo onto them? You may even have to manually operate the slide, bolt handle, lever, or pump action on your gun.

As far as I’m concerned, all of these little complexities make the game exceptionally entertaining to play and add to its immersive atmosphere. Sonar Shock’s gameplay may not be as smooth as many other recent (action-focused) imsims, such as Fallen Aces or Fortune's Run. But I actually enjoy the thrill that comes from being required to fiddle with these little details. Imagine you’re exploring some dark hallway by the light of a flare, as you turn a corner and find yourself suddenly face-to-face with a heavily mutated Soviet sailor. But your first shot misses, and to get the second shot off, you have to manually switch from your mini-map to your weapons menu and then operate the pump action on your shotgun. If that sounds frustrating to you, Sonar Shock probably isn’t for you. But I love my imsims that way!

As of right now, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a bit of a Potemkin village of a game. Everything looks and feels authentically S.T.A.L.K.E.R. at first glance – but look a little deeper and you can see that some of the underlying systems that make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game are fundamentally broken.

The most egregious example of this is the A-Life system (and, by extension, believable AI behaviour in general). Many players have noted that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobol doesn’t appear to simulate stalkers and mutants moving through the Zone dynamically, as previous entries in the series did. This means that the game relies mainly on scripted events and enemy spawns instead of having a complex world simulation that allows dynamic gameplay situations to emerge naturally. In fact, the game typically just spawns small squads of enemies close to you every once in a while, relying on its broken stealth system to make them aggro immediately.

GSC Game World have recently admitted that the A-Life system is currently severely bugged. But if you ask me, that admission itself only raises further questions, such as: Why would you put a system into the game that just randomly spawns enemies in your immediate vicinity… unless you were fully aware that your complex world simulation system simply doesn’t work? After playing the game for just a few hours, I’m already firmly convinced GSC Game World just couldn’t get the A-Life system to work, so they haphazardly slapped that atrocious enemy spawn system on it to be able to publish a minimum viable product.

And that’s kinda where I am with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol right now: Most of the time, it feels like a true return to the Zone, creating that same unique atmosphere I've fallen in love with so many years ago. But then you clear out a military checkpoint, start looting the bodies and the game just spawns a bunch of new enemies behind you in places they couldn't have possibly reached without you noticing, completely ruining your sense of immersion. And the thought that the developers were probably fully aware of stuff like this happening due to the non-functional A-Life system before they released the game doesn’t make me feel any better as a customer.

If you're not already a fan of the series, I'd suggest waiting a bit longer for GSC Game World to patch several of the in-game systems (A-Life is only one example) or, at the very least, remove the current enemy spawn system. I have high hopes that this'll still happen at some point down the road since the devs have been very good at patching out the worst of the game's bugs since launch.

If you're a hardened S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan like me, you'll still find many things to love in S.T.O.L.K.E.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol. But if anyone's gonna notice that some of the systems that are integral to the experience of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game are simply non-functional right now, it'll be the original fans.

The bottom line is: Right now is perhaps the worst time to experience S.T.O.L.K.O.R. 2: Hort of Chornobol. If you don't think you'll have the time to play through a buggy game now and return for another playthrough in a year or two, when all the systems have (hopefully) been patched in, then just wait until then. I know I'll definitely come back at that point and (hopefully) be able to change my review to the thumbs-up the game really deserved if everything worked as intended.