Karaski: What Goes Up...

https://youtu.be/AshLKCRln9k Offering a great use of declarative statements, this immersive sim punches way above it's weight and with a fair bit of humor too.

I was totally engrossed by this game. It's one of those that really gets at what I like about indies. As I was poking around about it, I saw that the dev considered it a commercial failure, which is really such a shame. Happily they've continued to release games in the years since, but this deserved a much better reception than it seems to have gotten. It was unique, ambitious, and well-written; it was impressively complete for such an ambitious indie game, IMO. Karaski is set in a kind of fictionalized USSR on the verge of balkanization. You and a smattering of other people are on the maiden voyage of an airship whose creation is hugely politicized. When it becomes clear the dirigible has been sabotaged, you have to try to suss out which of the many different political factions is responsible, and who onboard is trying to get everyone killed. The game starts with you, Player Character, waking up in a closet on the middeck of the ship; you walk down the hallway to find that some kind of explosion has happened in one of the control rooms, killing an employee. In a panic, you try to escape, and as you do end up talking over a radio to someone who seems to think you're an 'agent' t…

Karaski is a "mystery" game that substitutes having actual substance with a bunch of vague clues and suggestions. The illusion is so shallow it can't even last one playthrough: in about 2 hours you'll be able to collect incriminating evidence on all 4 suspects, maybe even get a hint that their presence on the airship was organized by some higher power and that they're all fall guys, only to then be forced to pick one and only one of them. If you spend more time digging deeper, you'll find out that you don't actually need any evidence, you can go in empty-handed and no matter who you accuse or what dialogue options you pick your accusation will always go through, and that the "higher power" mentioned previously isn't something you can expose for a secret true ending but yet more smoke and mirrors. Now, I know that a mystery doesn't have to answer every last question and explain every last detail, but when every possibility is as equally valid as any other the result is that none of them matter.

Good game, very dynamic, not overly drawn out, I recommend you try it out

It's okay. Following the story thread is engaging, and snooping around the admittedly tiny airship is good fun. 2 gripes: It's not a im-sim, but a metroidvania. Items you pick up only have 1 use case every time, which is fine but wasn't what I expected. Also, it lacks some of the detail that could have made the game more fun, like how footsteps don't propagate through walls convincingly, or the lack of distinct humming ambience I would expect from a steam powered aircraft (could have been drowned out by the music, but the point stands).

It's another one of those games that makes you wish there was a "neutral" option for reviews. I have to admit that I rather enjoyed my first run of the game. The mystery felt intriguing, the gameplay smooth enough to not bother me much, and it was satisfying to explore the ship and overcome the obstacles in what felt like my own unique way. Unfortunately, that fascination didn't last long. The story doesn't have a satisfying ending, asking you to come up with your own conclusion which could've worked, I guess, but in this case just felt lazy, several of the design choices and mechanics started to grate after a few hours of playing, and of course having to work around the bugs made the experience even more tiresome. That might just be me nitpicking, of course. What got to me the most though was that [spoiler] none of your choices and exploration matter in the end. You can blame whomever you want without having to learn anything about them.[/spoiler] For a story-driven game that was not something I could accept. I've seen this game compared to Consortium and while it has it's own share of questionable moments I'd still recommend it over this one. But if you're satisfied with ma…