Atom Rpg Golden Fish Catch Again

1. I really liked ATOM RPG and when I started playing Trudograd I immediately found that it was good. Since I knew I would play it more than once I figured that I might as well put down my thoughts in a review. Below is my review of Trudograd which is also my commencement effort at a game review. I hope information technology's worth reading. Give me your thoughts in the comments and blame the author for any faults.

   There are some spoilers to the main quest as well as some spoilers for other quests. If you are sensitive to that then I advice you to read the review after you have played the game. The spoilers shouldn't take been in only this is my beginning review and I somehow missed the number 1 rule.

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   Atom RPG: Trudograd Review
   
   A part of the world map

   ATOM RPG Trudograd (from hither on simply Trudograd) is a stand up-alone expansion that builds on ATOM RPG and continues it's story. It'southward large plenty to be called a proper sequel rather than just an expansion as it was outset conceived.

   To me the game is a tribute to our beloved Fallout. Someone less impressed might call it "inspired" or but a clone. Organization-wise the only significant difference betwixt the two games is that Trudograd lacks a karma system and reputation.

   While the original Cantlet RPG let you freely roam the post-nuclear Soviet wastes Trudograd takes you to a metropolis in the due east that went untouched by the bombs. My go-to comparing would be Baldur'south Gate 1 and 2. Where the outset game is more than free-roaming and the 2nd is mainly focused on one large city. Trudograd is likewise a much more refined experience compared to the original, in the aforementioned ways as BG2 is compared to BG1. Simply like in BG2 y'all go along the story of your character from the first game which besides means Trudograd is not a depression-level adventure. But like BG2 you don't need to have played the first game before going into Trudograd. Notwithstanding since ATOM RPG is a flawed masterpiece past my standards I would highly recommend that you play that one first. Then you would too capeesh the various improvements over ATOM RPG that Trudograd comes with.

   All players of Fallout i,2 or ATOM RPG volition feel familiar right from the commencement. Trudograd is a game for you!

   General Story/Globe
   
   Trudograd gate

   The events of Trudograd takes place in the year 2007, which is two years after the end of ATOM RPG, and continues the story from the cliffhanger ending of that game. Information technology besides continues your story as you are once again sent by the ATOM organization on a difficult mission. This time the task at mitt takes you to the eastern city of Trudograd. Trudograd means the City of Labor and is a urban center fabricated out of your typical commieblocks. The city is surrounded by a thick wall and with a big beautiful gate in information technology and so that people can enter the city legally (or simply shoot yourself in). To separate themselves from the streets and their lowly life some residents accept built their dwellings on top of the rooftops and created a level chosen the Second Tier. As Trudograd is located somewhere in the east the docks are naturally run by Chinese merchants chosen the Gwon-Jo. They bring drugs and crime into the city and are also involved in protection rackets and extortion. By the inclusion of the Chinese the world of Cantlet expands with new lore, it's not simply Russian federation anymore. With highrises used as supporting pillars the metropolis bigwigs have let built a big snow globe similar structure for themselves called the 7th Heaven. Seventh Heaven is a well dedicated and secluded area and to finally enter information technology will be an important office of the principal quest…

   The game opens up with a really cool live-action sequence, it's nicely done and information technology helps set the tone. Then y'all have the full general narrated introduction, a Fallout 2 type of thing, every bit expected, and then you find yourself sitting opposite a veiled stranger at a campfire. In this short sequence yous are asked a few questions dating dorsum to the events of the get-go game. The purpose is to help figure out what choices your character made and then that they tin can exist carried over to Trudograd. You could also import your character from the original, using the end game save, and continue from where you left off. A new character starts at level xv whereas an old grapheme continues at whatever level you had in the original, probably level 20+. I wouldn't recommend continuing the adventure with the same grapheme as it would exist also much of a breeze for a game that is already on the easy side. The game is improve counterbalanced for a character that starts at 15.

   If Atom RPG was something more alike to Fallout 2 then the setup in Trudograd is more like Fallout: New Vegas in it'south setup. There'southward a big pre-war city unhurt by the war, there'south a hydroelectric dam that supplies its power. There'due south an army of northern barbarians that threatens the urban center and when the invasion eventually comes it begins with a battle at the dam. The city is run by corrupt officials and the go to comparison is to the NCR and Caesar'southward Legion of New Vegas.

   It'southward a bit unclear why Trudograd went unhurt but there'south a rumor that the Americans simply sent five nukes towards it and that they all got shot down before they reached their target destination. However the same guy also thinks Trudograd of such importance that the Americans should take sent 5000 missiles towards information technology…

   
   The poor man has lost his herd of goats

   Already in the starting location, the city outskirts, there's a lot of rumors going around about the looming Northerners, led past Syoma Voronok, and their coming invasion of Trudograd. When yous enter the city y'all volition encounter lynch mobs who, unprovoked, assault resident northerners on the streets. In the showtime it's hard to gauge if the Northern invasion is just a rumor or if it'south an actual thing. One merchant tells you lot that the lower classes are just attacking the northerners living in Trudograd out of frustration with their own situation and 1 of the city guards really dismisses the whole invasion matter as a false rumor. There are likewise some that are very much convinced of the evil intentions of the northerners as is put along in the Plots of the Northern Elders by Aqil Pugachev. Still he is eventually very allow downwardly when it turns out his Northerner neighbor is not involved in a Northern conspiracy and is only a caring son trying to help his sick mother in hospital by getting coin from selling drugs. Past the finish of the game however information technology gets much more than apparent that the Northern invasion is not just a rumor but an actual threat and when the pillaging barbarians eventually attack you lot can even join them if you lot similar.

   
   The OR-1 Railgun

   The main quest has yous tasked with finding a pre-war railgun said to be found in a factory, the Invertor Manufactory, located in the city of Trudograd. The railgun is the but weapon deemed capable at destroying the threat discovered in the end scenes of ATOM RPG. The chief quest does it's job every bit it sends yous all over Trudograd doing side quests and it fifty-fifty sheds some uncertainty on what you really need that railgun for. However the task is easier said than done and when you lot detect out that the mill has been torn down and moved your next task is to enter the previously mentioned Seventh Heaven to become some much needed answers. The main quest is now split into ii, mutually exclusive paths, yous can either side with the metropolis police or with the underground revolutionaries. The goal is to get your hands on official documents that will let y'all enter Seventh Heaven. Yous could also play as the Outlaw blazon of graphic symbol if you lot want and carve your own path. You can either bribe yourself into 7th heaven, or perchance shoot yourself within, however yous will miss a lot of side quests going this route.

   A lamentable affair is that 7th Heaven feels very underwhelming when you finally get at that place. It looks so cool from the outside and yous hear a lot about it on the streets only when you enter it's mostly empty and no rich people reside there, in that location'due south just a few government officials.

   
   A burning tank during the Northern invasion

   As mentioned, by the cease of the game you also become the selection to assistance the Northerners equally they invade the urban center. These different paths to complete the master quest adds replayability for certain and most other quests can be solved in dissimilar means as well. Dialogues and quest resolutions can also be influenced in different ways depending on your graphic symbol build. Strong characters tin can most often threaten their way through conversations whereas charismatic characters tin can use Speechcraft to get their way so on… There'south no sense of urgency to the main quest and you can go off on little adventures like visiting a pirate island if y'all like.

   
   Hexogen speaking his listen

   There are fewer companions in Trudograd than in Atom RPG only that doesn't matter much. Depending on which path you lot choose in the master quest you lot go different companions, either the immature law lieutenant Razin or Blaze of the revolutionaries. Both start equally pistol builds. There are no companion quests, however they often interject during dialogues and they might even leave your company if you go against their morals. Razin wouldn't let me help the Northerners during their invasion for instance. Razin is taunted a lot by other characters and erstwhile Hexogen seems to adopt Blaze. That'southward right! Your erstwhile comrade Hexogen makes his glorious return as he seems to be one of the game writer's favorites. I like him also of grade! His stubbornly held worldview, which frequently conflicts with reality, makes his interjections into dialogues to most often be off point in a funny fashion. As a companion Hexogen is very versatile and you tin can go with either weapon skill you desire with him, however he is most skilled in unarmed and rifles when you get-go rendezvous.

   
   Where accept I heard that before?

   The game features a lot of humor that is put into the dialogues. Information technology comes in different forms and I appreciate information technology very much, even so if it'due south not your blazon of humour then you would be less tickled. In the margins there's an unspoken conflict of sense of taste betwixt those who prefer beets and those who prefer turnips. There's a rich guy getting pleasance from moving mannequins around at dark to spook his neighbors and to drive them crazy. There'due south as well some scenes in the game that are and so absurd that yous can do nothing merely express mirth. For case there's one human being who killed almost an unabridged village. When the few children who survived have grown into adulthood and gone through a lot of perils on their journey to seek vengeance on their parents' killer, yous can stop them right in their glorious moment of vigilante justice, free the man, and and so collect the 100 rubles from him that he owes a local pimp. The applesauce of information technology all fabricated me express joy out loud. When high on joints you lot can even meet 1 of the writers of Trudograds (or does he really exist?). Sometimes things just finish desperately for the character involved in some form of black humor. In that location's too a lot of references, obvious ones similar for example a former chemistry teacher turned pharmacist and producer of illegal drugs and some more obscure ones. And there'south also some Fallout references of course. Never forget! Personally I loved the references in Fallout ii, they brought a lot of humor and to me it's a big role of the amuse. I tin merely cherish the fact that ATOM Team continues in this vein.

   
   Vigilantes stopped in the act

   There's also some occult Lovecraft stuff and you even go to kill some fish people.

   All in all Trudograd expands on the globe building of its predecessor and in a good style. The Soviet wasteland and it'due south lore is far from generic however it fails to keep me every bit intrigued as Fallout did back in the 24-hour interval. It might be because I was in my early teens when I first played Fallout and thus beingness more impressionable. Nevertheless it'south globe with the vaults, FEV, retro futurism and more notwithstanding has that special lure that I believe is hard to recreate. I'chiliad non sure why only most things in Fallout 1 simply have a special attraction, it's yet stimulating for me to retrieve of Fallout and it's universe, and the Cantlet games have yet to create the same feeling. Just is that even necessary though? With Trudograd I believe ATOM Team has managed to grow their universe in a positive way.

   There are also some less original ideas like for instance the ATOM organization itself, the remnant of a pre-war scientific discipline and military organization, that you are a member of, which is in my mind just still some other version of the Desert Rangers, the Alliance of Steel and others. So zippo new there. I wouldn't call this a particularly large outcome though, and Trudograd, just as Cantlet RPG, manages to create both memorable locations and characters. They are interesting on their own, something that I believe is sorely missing from some other recent RPG:s. With the add-on of Trudograd the lore of ATOM is without question much more interesting than that of the recent Wasteland games, which is the go-to comparison. Who could fifty-fifty go into Wasteland lore after the recent additions?

   Atom Team has a huge advantage in being a non-western programmer. They can tell stories that are now taboo in the westward, but nonetheless enjoyed. And they don't accept to fill their game with current day western liberal left-wing politics either.

   Gameplay
   
   Combat grid

   Every bit mentioned higher up Trudograd features more or less the aforementioned gameplay as Fallout 2, with some minor improvements here and in that location of course.

   The combat system is the same which is nifty for any purist or nostalgic. Sure, the tactical combat of Wasteland 2 where y'all have total party control, a cover arrangement and with destroyable covers, is much fun merely this trustworthy one-time servant of Fallout style combat still does the job. Each character takes turns co-ordinate to their sequence score and the available actions are dictated by your action points. Yous tin use different modes of fire, for example single or outburst, besides as aimed shots. Your companions act independently merely by holding downwards the left mouse button you can give them orders like evidence target and hold footing. Y'all fight criminals, street mobs, animals and mutants. The principal problem with combat is that there are so few difficult or challenging encounters. My get-go character, a melee build, just had ii difficult fights during the entire game. My 2nd character, a weakling of a crossbow shooter, had a more than challenging first only if you're supported by a companion wielding an AK47 it'due south all the same far too like shooting fish in a barrel.

   
   Fending off the Northerners at the Dam. Notice the acquit.

   The human being enemies are most often badly equipped and in a urban center similar Trudograd I believe that it'south an accurate portrayal to be primarily assaulted by low level banditry. Lore-wise I wouldn't purchase it if your assailants used peak of the line equipment similar power armors and the best machine guns. There is one squad of highly armed militants that you tin can run into during night time but that's one of the rare. Another affair that makes combat like shooting fish in a barrel is that the enemy AI doesn't use any tactics to speak of. They don't attack from unlike directions and they most ofttimes don't use throwables. However in a game with so much dialogue information technology would exist a nice change of stride to have some challenging battles in between all that reading. The lack of difficult and stimulating combat encounters is the biggest flaw of the game. And that's not a pocket-size affair!

   
   A random encounter

   It's also far too easy to avert battles, even when playing on Expert. With either 1 of the skills Survival, Speechcraft or Stealth you tin can avoid most random encounters to gain some experience. An odd thing with random encounters is that yous don't end upward in boxing immediately and nigh often yous take to go around the map to wait for your assailants. To me that's a fleck ridiculous since the reason yous had to stop was because they attacked you. Then if you are attacked, and so you can in most cases just avoid the fight and leave the map. If information technology'due south a pack of dogs for instance they will not requite you that much XP for killing them and there will exist no lootable items except meat and so why waste material the ammo? In that case y'all would most often merely leave the random see without having fought the damned dogs.

   
   I studied the blade... Perk pick.

   A major comeback is the new manner of group perks (chosen Abilities in the game). Instead of the not then satisfying perk-tree of ATOM RPG where y'all had to sometimes choose perks you didn't similar in order to progress on that detail co-operative you now have perks grouped after which skill they are associated with. They are graded after how good they are and the bottom ones cost one point to acquire, the next level of perks toll iii, then v and then 7. There are besides more than perks to cull from the more than they cost. In the original Atom RPG the cost of perks would increase by one for every perk you choose. The new way to group perks after skills in Trudograd and how they are now ordered after how much they price makes it much easier to overview.

   The maximum number of skill points in Trudograd is increased from 200 to 300. Simply similar Fallout 2 compared to Fallout 1. The reason for this is probably to allow for characters to reach level 30 and beyond without having every skill maxed by the stop. However fifty-fifty if you beginning with a level xv graphic symbol y'all tin can still max at to the lowest degree ane skill already from the get-go and as well get to take almost of the corresponding perks. This is another issue that helps make combat and then easy, you basically start with a maxed out weapon skill and all the perks to boost it.

   It's a bit unclear what skills and perks are actually useful when you level your companions. Weapon skills, Kickoff Aid and Lockpick are safety choices in regards to their skills. Speechcraft and others are out of the question though. It's non entirely clear if you lot should invest in perks that boost aimed shots. I would like to see some alternate descriptions of skills and perks in regards to companions and possibly perks without purpose for them should exist removed altogether so that you don't choose a redundant one by mistake.

   
   This cheese vendor isn't about every bit obnoxious as the ane in D:OS. A missed opportunity... Could it be fixed by modders?

   Characteristics (from here on stats) are yet maxed out at 10 although you could surpass that with equip-able items. In fact yous can boost your stats and skills with items and easily available consumables. For one of my characters I had a Strength score of ix and Personality of vii. I made sure to e'er have some coffee in my claret to heighten that force to 10. A lot of strength checks are followed by a personality check. In some instances you start need to laissez passer Strength 10 and so Personality ten. Then drink some coffee for Strength +1 and and then spray 2 bottles of cologne for Personality +2 so smoke a joint for that final point, you would and then have 10 and 10 and you can laissez passer both checks. Cologne was a very common loot item during my fourth dimension with the game so yous could use information technology without much thought. Joints withal come with drawbacks like reduced attention and then employ them with some caution. To mitigate this perchance cologne and other consumables shouldn't stack? And logically speaking would another bottle of cologne actually do that much for you? Only in Russia I guess…

   Some very rare quest rewards will give you some strange syringes and when you inject their contents into your veins you are given stat-points. I believe there are two of them then it's nothing game breaking.

   Consumables giving benefits without negatives wasn't a item issue in Fallout and information technology's only the power armor that gives you additional stats (Strength) and some items similar lockpicks, beginning aid kit and doctor'southward bag would raise skills. However Bethesda opened the door to this with their failed attempt at Fallout 3 where clothing and other clothes can requite benefits similar raised stats or skills. Although it'southward very convenient to be able to raise stats and skills this way to pass checks it as well helps make the game easy. I would rather have funny things happen upon failure so that a failed bank check wouldn't mean the end of the globe. Disco Elysium is supposed to be that mode right?

   
   It's cold at night

   Radiation is rare in Trudograd however you all the same need to eat and at present y'all besides have to stay warm, it'southward the freezing cold of the Russian wintertime after all. Even so food items come up in plenty and warm called-for barrels are all around. This ways that you hardly ever need to think virtually heat or consume. With such an affluence of hands available food items the game even turns you into a travelling food merchant of sorts. When the game features survival mechanics it's a bit of a shame that they never come to much utilize! I retrieve I would actually savour the game more if in that location was a struggle for nutrient and warmth. If that would be the instance then yous could actually consider the choice to raise the survival skill to 250, which makes the effects of consuming food concluding twice equally long, right now it'southward simply a big fat waste material of skill points. There's likewise a distinction (trait in Fallout) y'all can cull called Bloodthirsty Ogre which gives you thirty actress skill points in survival and likewise lets you harvest iii food items from every human that y'all kill. It's basically a cannibal trait! But why would y'all choose that when there'southward no struggle for survival? If nutrient was really scarce and then Bloodthirsty Ogre might actually be a good distinction for you to cull upon character creation. There's likewise nutrient items like cheese and onions that lowers personality when consumed and currently there's no need to eat such things. There are ameliorate sources of diet. Only if food was scarce then not existence in the mood for cheese would exist an excuse with more holes in information technology than a slice of fine gorgombert, and you would probably just munch on that wheel of the good stuff. Or eat a raw onion as Mel Gibson does in Lethal Weapon 3!

   
   Mmm turnips!

   As you have probably figured out past now, Trudograd is a very piece of cake game. It's easy because you can boost checks by eating much too common consumables and by equipping stat inducing apparel. It's like shooting fish in a barrel because combat encounters are not balanced to claiming you, information technology'south mostly but street trash that you can impale with a yawn. It's easy because the survival mechanics don't matter much. Fifty-fifty though the game comes with several difficulty levels it doesn't thing much when Expert feels like Piece of cake. I can't fifty-fifty imagine what a cakewalk Easy or Normal difficulty level would be like when Expert hardly gives you any challenge. There's as well a difficulty way called Survival which comes with permadeath, which is very cool, only since dying isn't that common information technology feels somewhat redundant.

   Yous can now alter your weapons with attachments like bigger clips or better sights. Each weapon has a certain number of slots for modifications and attaching them is governed by the Tinkering skill, which makes that skill somewhat more of import. Attachments come as boodle or tin exist purchased in shops and at that place's no reason to not attach them to your weapon(due south). The crafting system is as well governed by the Tinkering skill. I didn't use information technology every bit crafting in games is for degenerates but I guess information technology's a way to brand use of all the lootable junk. If the game would be more than difficult and useful items more scarce so crafting might really be a good pick to consider. Making your own equipment and selling some of your handicraft could be a practiced way to make money. However for me to even consider a playstyle like that then booth coin and items would need to be made very scarce. I call up that the employ of crafting should exist considered if ATOM Team ever re-calibrates the difficulty.

   
   Power armors

   In Trudograd the soviet Power Armor makes its first appearance in the Atom serial. For 45k it tin become yours, or cheaper if you're a good haggler. The ability armor comes in the class of a mechanized, diesel fuelled accommodate of clunky armor and information technology is definitely not for pussies, similar that green i in Knuckles Nukem Forever. The experience of this massive suit is just right, y'all feel very powerful in information technology and it makes a lot of noise when you lot walk around. Wearing the conform you feel like a large daddy in Bioshock or something. The power armor can be upgraded twice, first for 10 1000 and then again if you complete a special dungeon proving basis. The suit can too exist modified with additional parts making it even stronger. Since information technology runs on diesel you lot need to cascade it some fuel every once in a while. Most of the gadgets you lot attach makes the accommodate thirstier, if you activate them, so make certain to carry a lot of diesel. After a while though you become a bit tired of the clunky noise of the armor and it'south slower animations for when you exercise things like open containers. Nevertheless this is how power armor should be and feel in a game and any future entries in the Fallout series should take note. Maybe the project Van Buren by @Hardboiled Wanderer could take some inspiration?

   
   In Soviet Russia Bombagun plays you

   Remember the game Caravan in Fallout: New Vegas? Forget most it considering in Trudograd in that location'southward a game called Bombagun! I can't remember much virtually KoTOR'south Pazaak or Caravan in Fallout New Vegas simply I know I enjoyed every round of Bombagun. The game is starting time introduced as a game of strategic dilemmas equally opposed to primitive games of chance. However in the next sentence chance is called a key cistron or even the sole factor of Bombagun… Whatever part chance plays, it'south the well-nigh fun in-game game that I've played. In Bombagun there are resources cards and attack cards and the goal is to deplete your opponents health before he tin deplete yours. The cards are drawn from a shuffled deck and so that's where chance comes in. I accept null confronting take a chance, to me it adds to the excitement of each circular.

   In the city of Trudograd there are four and so-called "grand-masters" of Bombagun who are spread throughout the game world and if y'all beat them all yous volition become the ultimate Bombagun champion. The game is fairly easy to win, only the final grandmaster gives some claiming. It would exist a hard grind to farm Bombagun for money though. You tin can at nigh bet 20 rubles on a game. If yous take your gambling skill maxed so the winnings would triple just it would still take a lot of work to get rich from information technology. Subsequently yous are asked to help the creator of Bombagun escape a high security prison where he sits for treason. After the rescue you have the gamble to speak to the man who turns out to be not such a great person.

   There's no voice acting in Trudograd, thank God, withal some NPC:s will speak a line in Russian when you initiate dialogue with them. I loved that in Baldur'due south Gate and for me it gave that game and then much personality by just having the NPC:due south say some random line whenever y'all click them. Since they all speak Russian I don't know if they actually say what'southward written or if information technology's incongruous like in Baldur'southward Gate. Phonation acting has become a standard for RPG:s nowadays but I and a lot of other players don't treat it. You can read much faster than the vocalism thespian is touting the line and in the end it just gets frustrating to accept VA. Fallout was perfect in the way that it used VA for important characters only and that those characters too had a talking caput for extra immersion. That did very much for the temper. Trudograd doesn't have talking heads or VA and that's not an result.

   
   A voice acted dream sequence

   The stranger at the military camp who is mentioned above has his dialogue narrated and the aforementioned narrator also does the narration of a few CYOA segments throughout the game. Apart from the fact that yous can read faster than the narrator speaks, the main trouble with this is that the narration is washed by an American. An American?! In a game about the Soviet wasteland I would much prefer English language with a heavy Russian emphasis. That would have helped with immersion big time. The intro and outro accept such a guy doing VA with a slight Russian accent but I would have preferred that throughout. Wait at STALKER, Blood-red Alert three or Peter Stormare in Armageddon for inspiration!

   The English translation is great and I but saw one floating text in Russian. There were some smaller translation problems that got fixed past a patch during my time writing this review and so they exist now only in my memory.

   At that place's some overnice reactions to your actions. Sometime afterwards you lot have solved a quest yous can come back and come across how things went for the characters. Like Fred in the Den in Fallout 2. Withal in that location are besides cases where I would like to have seen some reactions and where there are none. Like if y'all terminate Kai Ozersky from killing Shcherba then you should be able to tell Vasmer and Trubachyov who Potap Verbalsky actually was. Things like that. It'south there for some quests only non all.

   Cantlet RPG had its off-white share of fetch quests. Going into Trudograd I expected the same thing and carried a lot of trash in example someone would need it. I was a bit surprised to observe that there was only ane actual fetch quest in the entire game. So on my second playthrough I could safely let the trash items be.

   Information technology can be a bit tedious to wait while your party traverses the map and sometimes y'all have to await for NPC:s to slowly walk across the map to progress a quest. Although your characters run when non encumbered, it would actually have been dainty to be able to accelerate the gamespeed, every bit you can practice in Pillars of Eternity and others. That would also assistance speed upward the very long sex scenes that you can't skip…

   In another matter of convenience it would be very handy to be able to proper name your saves. Currently it's a bit difficult to remember what a particular salve is.
   
   Graphics
   
   Cantlet RPG Trudograd looks beautiful!

   The graphics are a huge improvement over ATOM RPG. Trudograd looks visually stunning, especially the outdoor areas outside of the city. The snowy ground, the wintery trees and the snow clad roofs just look so beautiful. Merely naught looks as good equally the water ice cold nights with harsch winds making you freeze to the very bone. It has been a long time since I final gaped at graphics. Information technology's interesting to compare Trudograd to the recent Wasteland 3 which runs on the same engine and too features a post-apoc winter landscape. Even though the small indie programmer ATOM Squad worked on a shoestring budget compared to InXiles (3m$+ raised on Fig and later infused by additional Microsoft funds) Trudograd but looks ameliorate.

   
   Every game should accept an isometric way!

   Trudograd, similar its predecessor Atom RPG, has a toggleable isometric mode. It locks the camera in an angle that gives y'all that lovely isometric view. I know Fallout had a trimetric perspective simply isometric is good enough. The isometric mode even so allows you to rotate the camera simply it can only snap to 4 directions when y'all release the mouse. Sometimes I wish the photographic camera wouldn't snap and that you could have whichever rotation you wanted. This is primarily an issue of visibility in compact spaces. Hither the game could accept some much needed inspiration from Fallout and have a circle of visibility/transparency around the character that allows you to see through walls and other things that block your immediate view. There'south also the usual 3D camera to be had if you are bothered with walls blocking your sight.

   It's somewhat impressive that this small team, on a shoe-string budget, manages to become better camera settings than InXile, who with a much bigger budget, and while as well using Unity, managed to screw things up with the camera in Wasteland 2 (2.9m$ on Kickstarter). To this engagement Wasteland 2 and iii doesn't even take isometric mode and the camera in WL3 tin can't be zoomed out enough. Such a shame.

   Music/Audio
   The music stays in the groundwork as a soothing ambient. The only bits I tin can really conjure in my mind earlier I go to sleep is the catchy music to the minigame Bombagun every bit well as the tune put forth by the human being playing the piano accordion at the docks. Compare that to Fallout ane&2 from where I can hear almost of the music at will. During the end battles against the attacking Northerners the music played during combat ramps upwards to an intense pulsing crush stressing the fact that the metropolis is nether siege. There's no music by The Ink Spots but just like in Atom RPG there'south some old song playing on the main bill of fare, setting the mode. I'yard not that into music so it's difficult for me to speak on these matters, but I have heard others praise the music of Trudograd as an improvement to the kickoff game, and I guess I have to hold. Sometimes while playing I tin can of a sudden become aware of information technology then I hear it's expert.

   Final Thoughts
   
   The Northern invasion

   Information technology was a pure joy to once again visit the Soviet post-apocalypse and to continue the cliff-hanger catastrophe that Cantlet RPG left us with. Nothing gets resolved during the events of Trudograd simply by having secured the railgun things are looking good for Atom ii and from what I've heard the railgun will come to good utilize in that game. Then we volition finally get some much needed answers on the truthful nature of its intended target.

   The diesel fuel fuelled power armor is a very welcome addition to the series and I like that you can upgrade it in several steps and install different gadgets to boost its functions. The vast and increasing number of different power armor models in Bethesda'due south Fallouts only give me a headache, one model is plenty. Equally Lenin one time said though, communism is Soviet ability + electrification. Then how near adding an electrical engine equally an optional upgrade for the PA? That way the armor would make less noise and mayhap you could fifty-fifty sneak in information technology? The power source doesn't even demand to be microfusion equally far as I'thousand concerned.

   Since the main quest is structured into mutually exclusive paths I would recommend playing the game twice and with character builds that differ a lot from each other, then y'all would see most of what's on offer.

   
   A nice guy

   The game is mostly ploughing through dialogues and doing quests and there's also some exploration of the city and its surroundings to exist had. The writing is good and the embedded humor keeps you entertained while you are busy running peoples errands. Nonetheless the lack of difficulty and challenge in regards to both skill checks and combat tin can make you somewhat bored from time to time. I'm usually a story-fag just this fourth dimension around I was then starved of decent fights that I got somewhat annoyed everytime I could use my skills in dialoge to avoid them. For example I really looked forrad to fighting the Battle Robots in the Invertor Factory and was actually a bit disappointed when I could but bash a reckoner using my strength and thus disabling the Battle Robots and canceling the fight. So the endfight came and information technology didn't even make a dent, I slaughtered all those ability armor wearing guys who came at me. To me that was such an anticlimactic moment when all yous had to do was slaughter a agglomeration of guys and that'due south it. The cease boss fight needs to exist more special, information technology'southward quite banal in its current land and too besides easy. The Chief and Frank Horrigan are of grade much more memorable boss fights and even the end fight in the original ATOM RPG was more than hard. I at least had to reload a few times earlier beating information technology.

   
   A man and his car

   If I am to replay this again, and I would like to, then ATOM Squad must ramp up the difficulty. Seriously, I mean it! Like shooting fish in a barrel should be easy and Good should be for experts, simple as. Currently, as I see it, the game only has varying degrees of easy. Even though one difficulty level is called "Expert", information technology'south hardly anything like that. Make items scarce and battles tough. To ramp up the difficulty of combat encounters I would suggest that you increase the number of assailants and that they as well assail y'all from dissimilar directions simultaneously, currently they just come at yous every bit a blob and from the aforementioned management.

   I would as well make survival mechanics play a larger part with higher difficulty levels. Either that or have a special "Survival mode" that yous can toggle on top of the selected difficulty. In a survival mode all items, except junk, would be so scarce then that the Tinkering, Barter, Gambling and Survival skills become expert options for your character build.

   Information technology's probably hard to make the game difficult for high level players and in Trudograd you start at atleast level xv. As mentioned at that place's no problem to max out a weapon skill and information technology'south supporting perks already from the beginning, even though skills at present go to 300 instead of 200. A style to handle this could be to make skills go expensier the more you invest in them so that it takes longer to max them.

   To ramp upward the difficulty even more and to add some sense of urgency to the main quest I would suggest that yous could too toggle a timer before y'all start the game. The 150 days time limit of finding the water chip in Fallout really managed to stress the importance of your mission. Time limits are an underused feature I believe and they could be a skilful, optional, feature. In Trudograd it would be something like securing the railgun within 12 days or fifty-fifty 10 days.

   Overall I would say that ATOM Team have done God's work with Trudograd and it is hands the best game I've played since their last one. I had a very skilful fourth dimension with information technology. Cantlet Team is nevertheless calculation to it and in that location volition even exist a ModKit, so the future looks bright for Trudograd. I really liked the upgrades Trudograd received like better graphics and meliorate grouping of perks. Something I really wish for is a proper remaster of the original Atom RPG that brings it to Trudograds levels of polish.

   • [Rad] 10 12

2. I tried to edit this but it threw upward some other java script message. @Korin Did my permissions become removed here for some reason?

   Groovy review. Looks like a good game.

3. Great review!There'due south besides a golden fish that you can catch at the docks if your Luck is high enough. And your stats tin get a bit high if you import a character that used both syringes in ATOM, defenseless a fish in Otradnoye and got a Luck bonus in Roaring Wood.Y'all can actually tell Trubachyov about Kai and ask for a reward for saving him. He replies that he was ever loyal to Kai and he would never kill him. Then he laughs at yous for trying to con him.
   Vasmer has no dialogue though.

   ATOM Squad is however adding new dialogue options and even NPCs into the game, so maybe the selection was added later?
   The broken quest with the Honest People was only fixed later on I finished the game.

   • [Rad] ten 4

4. Hell yes, Proletären made a review! About time!

   • [Rad] ten half-dozen

5. Oh I missed the golden fish! So if you import a character then you volition almost exist god-similar? I imported my endgame save just to test it but I didn't feel like playing Trudograd with a level 21 char though.Sorry I missed that! I only went to Vasmer and so supposed Trubachyov would be the aforementioned. But you should never write something based on assumptions. I know that. I won't edit the review but let it be known that it'southward flawed.I know and that'due south awesome! That'south why it's important to talk about the game while they are still at it.

   e: @reev4eg are you reading this? Thanks for still another great game.

   e2: I'thousand distressing for all the spoilers! I thought I would requite some examples merely I now realise that you wouldn't want to know the upshot of specific quests like that. I will do ameliorate side by side time.

   • [Rad] x four

6. Well, Van Buren would have been the first Fallout game to offering accurate armor/clothing rendering thanks to Jefferson engine, which alone would accept been a huge step forward in terms of immersion in this game genre and I suppose that's just near equally far as I would like to button it. I know this level of immersion might non run into today'due south standards, but that'due south not a goal anyway, correct? I mean, we call these games "former school" for a reason.

   Besides, to exist honest, I prefer to concentrate on the design aspect of armors rather so their presentation. Van Buren's game system offers a whole new alchemy with numbers (absent-minded DR, fatigue mechanic, etc.) and I retrieve that in the end, that'due south where the ultimate feeling of any weapon or armor volition come from for well-nigh players.

   • [Rad] x 2

8. Nope, I haven't touched them... if it was a Javascript error I'd gauge it was something else. What was the mistake?

9. I don't know it asked me to open the console. If I tin can't edit posts in the news I am powerless and must be exiled on the Long Walk.

   • [Rad] x 1

10. I understand and respect your choices and they are probably sound in regards to what you are trying to achieve.

    I thing I forgot to mention is that the power armor in Trudograd is an object in the earth rather than something that you can carry around with you lot in your inventory. You can enter and get out information technology and when yous exit it will stand hulking on that aforementioned identify until you decide to enter it again. That gives the PA a sure materiality which plays a huge function in making it feel special. It's not just something you wear.

    • [Rad] ten 5

11. That is pretty cool. Too BAD THEY STOLE Information technology FROM BETHESDA!

    

13. I heard it was in the Van Buren pattern docs...

    

    Man now I wish I bought these instead of Pathfinder and Gothic.

16. Holy shit, yous haven't played the truthful OGs of the open up-earth games?!

    Anyway, what's with them?

17. Nothing. I merely desire to play something different correct at present and then I have non booted them yet, plus I am in the middle of my LP and then I detest starting a big RPG like that. Plus it feels overwhelming having to play some old favorite that I did not play at launch. I don't want to botch my run by burning out or something.

    • [Rad] x 1

19. Dainty 1 for taking the time to review Trudograd. I played an early release a year or so ago. I know Atom team have updated TRUDOGRAD recently so I will wait a while to replay. I recall the game (s) are an honest homage to Fallout, my disappointment was cipher was new actually. My pet detest with RPG games is finding fresh fruit in a butt, chest or waste material bin lol. Atom RPG had an apple vendor at least. I think 1 of the Fallout games mentions going into peoples houses and searching their belongings with no punishment; other times affect something an information technology'south a kicking off. I was happy to bump into Hex again he reminds me of my dad lol.

    • [Rad] x 2

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Source: https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/nma-atom-rpg-trudograd-review.220906/

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