Project Genom – Preview
Project Genom is being developed by Neuronhaze and is an indie’s approach to sci fi. The game is currently still in its alpha build and the game’s engine is the Unreal engine. The Sci-fi mmorpg is getting another entry in the list and whether or not that’s really necessary is up for debate. So awaken from cryo sleep and start your journey where you’ll pew pew a lot of enemies.
The world has gone to shit. No, this isn’t a rant on how the environment is completely out of whack, and how politicians are ruining things and how wars, famine and strife govern the everyday life. No this is the narrative of the game. Mankind has fucked up gracefully and fucked off to another planet but at least they’ve learned from their mistakes. They now band together to take on the indigenous wildlife that is running rampant and is trying to murder everything. So it is up to you to zap things into oblivion and make choices that change the whole thing up. Don’t think to lightly of your choices on your newfound planet. They could affect things in a grander scale than you’d imagine.
If something can be said it’s that Project Genom looks absolutely stunning. The Unreal Engine 4 really shines and makes the environment pop. The textures look fresh and clean and animations are decent. There are some glitches but nothing game breaking. The biggest flaw the build has is the fact that almost every npc looks the same. This is a drawback when you are trying to finish quests and you are looking for agent in spacesuit number 1 when you are actually talking to agent in spacesuit number 233. What doesn’t really help is that quest markers aren’t shown on the mini map, so oftentimes you’ll be wandering around looking for what to do next.
Quest symbols are also shown overhead but those only come into view when you are up really, really close. Those are small nits to pick when you actually play the game, but in a genre of games that relies heavily on going from one quest line to another, you don’t want to bog down the player with tedious searching for the right npc. Translation can be a big part of experience, so having untranslated parts is quite annoying. Unless you read fluent Russian you’ll be missing out on some parts of the game. You can’t even tell if the parts are important or not. Having to search online what’s being said in the game isn’t really immersive.
Don’t expect voice overs, but do expect a decent soundtrack and ambience. Wherever you meander off to, you’ll find a fitting tune or the hustle and bustle of people around you. Not that this will be the case because sometimes those places will be abandoned, which is strange to say the least.
Gameplay comes in the form of the most cookie cutter way of mmorpg. You wake up wearing nothing but your undies and a short tutorial shows you the basics and hands you a really crappy gun before dumping you in the beginning of the game. The tutorial feels extremely lacking, sure it shows how to use items and how to equip them but it doesn’t go over the finer details of the gameplay. Like quests, armour,… Those things are probably still in the works, but if the Project Genom was a skeleton, then it’d missing quite a few bones.
When you’ve finally found the npc’s that you are looking for you’ll be decked out with some decent weaponry and some armour and you can go out and kick some alien ass.
Conclusion
What is interesting about the founder part of Project Genom is that it’s no part of the ‘Early Access’ of Steam. They are limited and range from a price range that’s acceptable for an alpha build to rather excessive amounts. The alpha build looks absolutely stunning but still has some things to incorporate. Things that should have been a no brainer to implement in the first place. Project Genom is something to keep an eye out for if you are into sci-fi mmorpg’s.
Project Genom – Preview,
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