Recent reviews by Interval

Прикольная игрушка про Акулу, прошел на 100%!
Забавный диктор, психованный босс как в Far Cry 3, а с DLC вообще сносит башню всему!
Отличная оптимизация, UE4, игралась на максимальной графике.
Пройти можно за пару тройку дней, недорогая, советую!

Overview:
"Species: Unknown" is one of those cases where soul and atmosphere mean much more than budget and scale. It's a concentrated cooperative survival horror FPS, created by a small but passionate team. You play as mercenaries taking on contracts on the single currently available ship, and the game does an excellent job of immersing you in its grim, tense environment. Don't expect a variety of locations, but what is there hits the mark perfectly.

Strengths:

Atmosphere and the "Director": The game masterfully builds tension. Fans of Alien Isolation will appreciate the "director" system that purposefully hunts down lone players, never letting the team relax. The dark corridors, flickering lights, and brilliant sound design work wonders.

Unique Monsters and Tactical Depth: This is the game's standout feature. Each monster not only has a unique design but also specific vulnerabilities or immunities to certain weapon types. This turns each contract from simple survival into a tactical puzzle.

Well-Designed Arsenal: The weaponry is perfectly balanced for its intended roles. Pistols and SMGs deal low damage to main creatures and are ideal for clearing zombies. Against the monsters themselves, assault weapons (rifle, shotgun) are effective, while their specific weaknesses require specialized arms (flamethrower, freeze ray, laser, or electric gun). This creates clear team roles.

Cooperation and Exploration: The game truly shines in a team. While one part of the squad distracts the monster, the other can complete mini-objectives (collecting cards, activating valves in sequence) and scavenge the location for the right tools for victory.

Weaknesses:

Limited Content: At the moment, the game features only one location (ship), which can lead to a feeling of repetition over time, especially when striving for 100% completion.

Technical Hiccups: While not constant, "fatal error" crashes do happen, and they are particularly demoralizing when they occur at the end of a tough mission. The salvation is using the -dx11 launch option.

Lobby Routine: The long run from the contract terminal to the shuttle chair in the lobby becomes tedious quickly.

Useless Mission: The "Destroy the Ship" contract becomes completely useless after upgrading your character and ship. It offers nothing but credits, which are no longer needed at this stage, making the mission a waste of time.

Limited Interactivity: As a fan of immersive sims, I noted that the world is mostly for observation rather than interaction. You can only pick up canisters and a few Easter egg items.

Verdict:
At the time of writing this review, I have completed the game 100%, and this experience only confirmed my opinion. "Species: Unknown" is a tactical horror-hunting simulator where knowing your enemy and having the right gear matter just as much as accurate shooting. It's not a big-budget AAA title, but a crafted, passionate, and deep work that focuses on what's most important: building paranoia and fostering tactical team play. The enormous potential is visible to the naked eye, and if the developers continue to add content, it could become a cult classic.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend it to fans of cooperative games and tactical horror, where you need to think, not just run and gun. This game is a hidden gem for those seeking a truly intelligent and intense experience and who are willing to put up with some rough edges and the currently limited amount of content.

Rating: 8/10
(Small, but with a heart and excellent tactical depth! A true labor-of-love Indie project worth keeping an eye on).

I love to play it in coop! Everyday some cool updates coming.
Better then own your own supermarket in real life :3

With all due respect to the developers. I have been familiar with the games of Rafael Colantonio since 2002, the first game I played and still play (constantly) is Arx Fatalis (You can look at my profile and see how much I play this game). It was from this game that I got acquainted with Immersive Sim and made certain conclusions for myself. If the rest of the games are given to me for a short time - Arx Fatalis forever. I am quite familiar with Dark Messiah, Dishonored and Dishonored 2. Prey somehow I missed, I need to find time to fix this error.

When I found out about a new game from a new studio (no longer Arkane Studios, but from my favorite developer Raphael Colantonio) WolfEye Studios - Weird West, I tracked every news. I was disappointed in the setting of the game - the wild West, about cowboys, which is absolutely far from me and I don't watch the Western genre. Out of respect for Raphael, I pre-ordered the game on the first day, watched the video materials, and even tried to take part in the closed Beta Test of the game. I received an invitation and the game code, which apparently coincided with my pre-order. I received a polite message from the developers: to take part in the test, you need to cancel the pre-order of the game, and after the test, buy the game again, and they will give me bonuses for pre-ordering. Deciding that it was all difficult, I decided to give it up, and just like all players wait for the release date. On the day of release, I immediately downloaded the game, and spent the whole night playing it. The first thing to note is that I did not receive bonuses for pre-ordering. The reason is not clear to me, the game was pre-ordered on the first day. As far as I understand, I had to start a new game to get these bonuses, but I had moved far ahead in the plot, and I no longer had the desire to start the game from the beginning.

The game is a set of sandbox levels where we can kill/not kill characters, covertly or openly. Each level did not open anything new for me. I chose the passage "Stealth", and each level for me became another Rubik's cube that needs to be collected. But unfortunately, my interest faded when I got to the second character. I just ran out of energy and time to complete this game. Someday I'll come back to complete a couple of levels, but at the moment it's more pleasant to return to Arx Fatalis than to Weird West. I liked the game, the gameplay is good, but unfortunately for a short period of time. My friends noted very good music (it's a pity that the sound tracks are presented only in stereo, surround sound is not supported). The graphics are provided in good quality at both minimum and maximum settings. It is convenient to play, in my opinion, exclusively on the controller. The game is included in the Ultimate subscription for Xbox Series S - maybe I'll return to the game someday, but already on the game console.

I recommend the game for fans of bounty hunting, because this sandbox is exclusively about this. I never managed to get acquainted with the plot of the game.