Tunguska: The Visitation

Explore a desolate soviet wasteland in Tunguska: The Visitation, a top-down survival game inspired by the real-life mystery of Tunguska. As a Ghoul Hunter, your only task is to survive in a world where nothing makes sense anymore, and where hordes of abominations roam free.

Featuring a frankly impressive AI system, this game is a love letter to one of the most iconic survival franchises of all time. This twin-stick shooter incorporates tons of elements from other games, becoming the developer’s idea of a perfect survival game. However, just how well do these ideas mix with each other? Let’s find out.

Wasteland Exploration

The Tunguska event took place on June 30th, 1908; a massive explosion shook the vicinity of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. While there were no officially confirmed deaths, the strange phenomenon has captured the imagination of people for decades, trying to understand just what happened that day in Tunguska.

In Tunguska: The Visitation, players will step into the boots of a Ghoul Hunter as they brave a ravaged Tunguska. Heavily inspired by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, exploration and looting are the game’s main focus.

The game’s played from a top-down perspective, offering players a better look at their surroundings. However, it’s worth noting that this perspective isn’t as effective as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s first-person approach, especially when it comes to creating tension while exploring your surroundings.

Resource Management

As you acquire loot, you’ll need to find a suitable place to store your precious provisions. Tunguska: The Visitation uses an inventory system that seems to be inspired by the Diablo series. Items are placed in small squares inside your inventory, and you must always keep in mind that there’s a weight limit for how much you can carry.

We should also mention that the game’s AI is actually quite good. Both enemies and NPCs act in a coherent way, making the world feel a bit more believable. Speaking of enemies, these abominations are quite unique, and the time-space distortions that can show up randomly will keep you on edge at all times.

Killing enemies will also grant you body parts that you can use to craft power-ups. These augments can be both positive or negative, so you’ll have to think twice before equipping everything you come across.

A Dead World

A very neat thing about Tunguska: The Visitation is how open it is to various gameplay styles. You can go in all guns blazing against your foes, but a stealthy approach is also a valid option.

While not too visually impressive, the game’s world is detailed enough for players to be enticed to explore it. There’s also some level of interactivity with some elements of the world, like shooting at lightbulbs to create dark areas and such, which are a nice touch. Additionally, Tunguska: The Visitation has a day/night cycle and a realistic weather simulation thrown into the mix. While they don’t affect the gameplay all that much, they’re certainly a nice touch that keeps the game’s world feeling realistic.

Pros:

• A rich world to explore
• Fascinating setting
• Great AI

Cons:

• Visually unimpressive
• The UI could use some work