A hobo epidemic simulator.

Three people arrive in a small strange city lost in the veld:

Doctor*, a founder of thanatology, a discipline seeking to defeat death itself, whose laboratory is threatened to be closed by the nameless but all-powerful Authorities for his unorthodox methods and blasphemous teachings. In order to avert it, he needs the results and fast, and so he follows an invitation of his colleague and pen pal Isidor Burah, who wrote him about Simon (pronounced See-MON) Kain, a seemingly immortal man living in the city. When Doctor arrives, however, he find Simon dead, and soon learns that the same fate has befallen Isidor as well.

*Technically, he is called Bachelor, but the word has very different connotations in Russian than in English. In Russian, it’s simply an incomplete college degree, which implies that he has to abandon studies in favor of practical work either because of his own personality demanding him in the field, or because of the persecution from the Authorities.

Garuspik, a native of the city skilled in traditional ways of healing and surgery, but sent to the big city to learn modern medicine as well. He’s a son of Isidor Burah and was merely returning home to work under his father in the family business when the mob attacked him, blaming him for the death of Isidor.

Imposter, a young girl found in an open grave by Katherine, a local mystic of some respect and a wife of a man with executive power in the city, and taken in by them.

All of them, each following their own agendas, soon discover that the city is threatened by a mysterious plague that not only kills people, but makes their houses bleed rust and shake if fevers.

The city is locked under quarantine, and the three try to survive the plague and assist the city to the best of their abilities, each in their own way. This task is not made easy by the local tensions. Simon Kain was an unofficial leader of the city, and with his death, three powerful families – Saburov (who hold the executive power and are in charge of the local militia forces), Olgimski (businessmen in charge of pretty much all local production) and the remaining Kains (who have vague but undeniable spiritual authority) – find themselves unsure of their positions, especially since each of them has things to hide that are threatened to be revealed in the crisis.

Normally Ladies (a term I am unsure how to translate properly. Basically it means a woman in charge of the household, but English terms for that either don’t have the proper connotations or have unneeded ones), women of the three families with mystical powers who can see the future and have spiritual hold over hearts of the people in the city, would balance things out, but the two of them are currently young and are yet to fully grow into their power, and the third one is kinda bad at her job. She dabbled with some dark powers, but was scared away. The experience has left her unable to reach her full potential in the other direction, so she is stuck between heaven and abyss, unable to reach either and finding solace in morphine. Her visions still come true, but they are twisted, ironic and almost useless.

As you may guess, mysterious forces are at work, and not everything is as it seems.

For example, there is a mysterious tower seemingly made of paper (though other people call it Mirror Tower) at the edge of the city, which is rumored to contain a miracle:

And Termitary on the other side of the city, a large weird building that serves as home for local workforce, who are called worms and are not entirely human:

 

Both play an important role in the game, though I am not going to spoil what it is. Suffice it to say, depending on who you play and which choices you make, the fate of the city and more will be decided in the end.

Speaking of, plot-wise the game is excellent. While the main plot about the progression of the plague remains mostly the same, the individual storylines and various side-quests are unique for each character, giving the game a lot of replayability potential. Each character provides a unique perspective on what’s happening in the city: Doctor is a man of science and attempts to find a rational explanation to everything, Garuspik is a local and a healer, knowledgeable in veld mythology, and approaches the problem from that perspective, and Imposter is flat-out supernatural, a harbinger of unseen powers making themselves known in this world.

As such, while all three plots would take you to meet all important characters in the city, each character prefers their own company. Doctor is associated with Kains and intellectual elite of the city, Garuspik hangs out with Olgimski and various common folks, and Imposter, despite being associated with Saburov, who are in charge of keeping order within the city, often finds herself in a company of marginals and criminals. That’s actually supported by gameplay as well: each character has a circle of Close People, whose survival is necessary to get good endings. If you fail your task of the day, one of them will get sick (it’s possible to heal them later once you get the cure, though, but it’s still preferable to just reload).

Gameplay in general seems to be crafted to support the character images. Doctor is associated with the elite, which means that a lot of his side-quests give him quite a lot of money, making his walkthrough easiest and most straight-faced. While some individual quests may put him against good people (though you normally have an option to decline), he isn’t required to do anything questionable on regular basis. Garuspik, on the other hand, can carve the flesh of the dead and mix it with plans growing outside of the city (no other character can really see them, let alone gather), making crude homebrew medicine. That makes catching the plague not that big of a deal since you can keep it in check, which in turn makes it viable to go into infected houses and scavenge stuff there. Imposter is restricted in her firepower (she can only carry a small damsel gun which does little damage. Her hands can kill at a distance, but that, too, does little damage, making fights difficult), so her best bet to gather supplies is to steal stuff from healthy households.

It is not to say that the gameplay is spectacular. Most of it consist of walking from one house to another to talk to people, sometimes making me think that the game would be better off as a visual novel. As the game progresses, the process becomes more dangerous. More and more city areas become infected and start looking like that:

Here, you’ll have to dodge plague miasmas:

Which can’t move that far from the point of origin, but they are invisible unless you get close enough.

Can’t get a good screenshot, but this thing looks like an angel of death.

And the infected people, who go berserk with pain and threaten to smother you.

Killing them lowers your Reputation, which raises already high prices in the stores and can lead to people attacking you on sight.

Fights are pretty basic when it comes to firearms. There are very few types of guns, and bullets are rare, so you’ll have to converse them. Melee fights are naturally cheaper, but hard as hell. You’d need to time your strikes while stepping aside when the opponent strikes, which is a rather awkward process.

Speaking of rare bullets, the resources are scarce. Each store has only so much to offer each day, and the prices skyrocket after the start of plague (they fluctuate later, and depend on individual store, so searching for a good price is an important part of the game). Aside from bullets, you’ll need food, as the game keeps track of your Hunger. It’s also a good idea to bring up your Immunity with medicine, and if you get sick, your Ilness can be kept in check with antibiotics. Here is where the gameplay is at odds with the narrative: the plague is described as very virulent and very fatal, but you can actually play fine even if you catch it. You also won’t be quarantined, which would be logical.

You’ll also need rest, as the game keeps track of your Exhaustion. Drugs help with it, bringing down the required time of sleep and allowing you to go around the city more, so by the end of the game you’ll be very familiar with all kinds of painkillers. Oh, and your clothes and weapons wear out with use, and repairing them costs money.

Speaking of going around more, your time is limited. Each day you have a rather limited amount of time to complete the main objective and whatever side-quests you managed to pick up. Once the clock rings midnight, the opportunity disappears forever. Personally, I dislike timers very much as I prefer to play at my own pace. It does create a sense of urgency, sure, but it’s still grating. At least normally the time limit is relatively soft and you can get some free time to go around gather trash.

Because you’ll need trash. Your main sources of income are quests, scavenging/stealing and children. There is a lot of kids of various ages scattered across the city, and they are willing to barter valuable items (basic medicine, lockpicks, bullets and drugs – no, I don’t know where they’ve got all of it) for various stuff you can find in dumpsters: needles, nuts, broken clocks, cheap jewelry, etc.

Tell me, girl, are you with Mafia?

Oh, and local drunkards are also willing to barter bandages for fresh water, to collect which you first need empty bottles found in dumpsters. That’s where the “hobo simulator” nickname comes in: it’s very important to get everything you can out of dumpsters.

What else to say about gameplay? Ah, yes, Reputation. I’ve mentioned it before, and it’s what you’d think it is: do good deeds, Reputation would increase, kill random people, it would decrease. Good deeds involve giving painkillers to terminally ill who sometimes can be found lying on the ground, and killing bandits roaming in the night. The system is mostly here to prevent you from killing the sick and the militia (who have some valuable items on them), but has a special meaning for Imposter, whose Reputations is dropping constantly due to plot. She can heal with her hands, though (or take away the pain at least), so she spends a lot of time around dying people.

All in all, the gameplay is clearly thought out and carefully crafted, but it remains pretty meditative with constant walking, and the persistent concern over gathering resources is not really to my tastes. I tolerated it for the sake of the plot, but it can’t be said I enjoyed it on its own merits.

Let’s move to other aspects of the game. As you can see from the screenshots, the graphic is pretty meh at best. The design is good and has some really memorable imagery:

 

 

But the engine does the game no favors. It is especially notable with characters, whose models are straight out of uncanny valley:

 

Again, it’s clear they are crafted with care, but the engine was old even back when the game was made. Not the worst graphics I’ve seen, but not much to compliment, either.

Speaking of flaws, I’ve heard the English translation is shit, which doesn’t surprise me. I’ve mentioned before the difficulties I had translating some terms, and the game is filled with them. There is a concept introduced early in the game which can be translated as Inner Sanctum or Inner Peace, depending on context, for example. Even the name of the game runs into this problem. It’s called Мор. Утопия in Russian, which can be translated as Blight. Utopia, but is also a reference to Thomas More’s Utopia. I’ve heard that the fandom attempted to rectify the situation with a fan translation, but I don’t know if there were any results.

Currently a remake of the game is funded fully by Kickstarter, so presumably those flaws would be fixed.

No review on this blog is truly complete without talking about the treatment of women in the material, and here it’s a mixed bag. Imposter is the only female character out of the three, and she is locked for second walkthrough only. I understand why she, specifically, is locked: her story builds on what we know already, and her own mystery was built through the game – but that still means you are forced to pick between two dudes for your first play.

She also has the least ability to fight, as I’ve mentioned, and while it fits with her character, what with her being a young girl unused to violence and all, that still feeds into old stereotypes.

I’ve mentioned Ladies before. As you may guess, there is a stark divide between the power men wield (open political power based on military strength, money and faith) and the power women wield (vague mystical hold on the city). It was progressive back when Dune did it, but nowdays it would be nice to see some female authority figures or at least acknowledge the unfairness of the divide (none of the women in the game strive to get the open power, they are content with working behind the scenes).

There is actually such a figure figure. Halfway through the game the Inquisitor sent by the Authorities arrives to take charge of the city:

But she is a witch condemned to death, and this job is her last chance to get amnesty, so not the best example.

That said, female characters are not bad. They are defined by what they want and what they do, and they do have impressive and interesting goals.

Wait, those nipple marks… Is she Batman?

Maria Kaina is a driven and arrogant young woman who attempts to capture a miracle and turn the city into a metaphorical gateway to the supernal realms.

Capella Olgimski is a young girl who believes that the future of the city lies with children leaving behind old grudges of their families and creating a strong community. She works towards forging alliances between them and keeping them safe.

Katherine Saburova is a failed Lady, but that doesn’t mean she is out of the game. She still strives towards creating an utopia within the city. She crafts a new philosophy out of her fears and imposes it upon people under her control.

Anna Angel is an escapee from a dreadful traveling circus which was kidnapping children, living deformed fakes behind, to make them a part of the troupe. She tries to lay low and live her own life, but the dark past catches up with her, forcing her to face old fears.

Osipina is a mysterious figure living at the edge of town who harbors criminals and helps them escape the reach of Saburovs.

And so on. As you may see, some outfits are generally not bad, while others… are. Most notable among them are Eva Yan:

And the dancers:

Who are probably the lowest point of the game when it comes to treatment of women. While there are some quests involving dancers, and they actually play a role in local rituals, for the most part they are here to satisfy the male gaze.

All in all, the game isn’t malicious on sexism front, but it still does some stupid and unnecessary things. Their inclusion taints otherwise good if far from perfect work.

I don’t know where else to mention it, so I’ll say it here: the game has some strong theatrical motifs. You constantly meet two figures whose masks play an important role in local theatrical traditions:

It’s not a bird, it’s a finger with a long nail.

Sometimes they are just people dressed like that because they belong to the theater or because the claw mask, like the traditional plague doctor attire, is believed to ward of the illness. Other times they are here to provide exposition and address the player directly. I normally dislike the fourth wall breaking, but here it’s actually executed fairy well, especially at the end if you get all important people cured and are invited into the theater for the last talk.

In conclusion, while far from flawless on many fronts, the game remains enjoyable, and I wholeheartedly recommend to play it if you like slightly surreal magical realism and horror.