Reader reviews for Miasmata

When is a game an adventure game and belongs on this site or a survival game and doesnt belong here. This game confuses me in that aspect. To me this game is more like a survival game with a story behind it…..nothing more. I don’t like survival games that much, but because I wanted to know the story behind it, was the only reason why I kept playing. For me this wasnt an adventure game and that is the reason I only give this game 2 stars. For a survival game I would give it 4 stars.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Miasmata. On one hand it is very atmospheric and the triangulation needed to determine your position and map the island is a unique gameplay mechanic and it is quite fun to do, at first. On the other hand the game is rather amateurish with plenty of spelling and grammatical errors and not so good optimization meaning that the game sometimes runs very slowly even on a fairly good computer and, more importantly, there just isn’t enough variation to the gameplay to support a full length game.

What you do in the game is mainly to map the island that you’re stranded on, to look for plants to be used for making medicine that cures fever, which you suffer from every now and again, as well as a cure for the plague and to ocassionally run away from the beast. The beast I thought didn’t add very much to the game. It shows up every now and again and then you have to run. Looking for plants is really just part of exploring the island. So that is what the game is about, exploration. Central to the exploration is the concept of triangulation, which means that if you see two known landmarks you can determine your current position because you must be where lines drawn from the two landmarks (in the direction your compass tells you the landmark is in) cross. This process is fun at first, and it can be an interesting challenge to find a good place to triangulate your position from, but it isn’t enough to keep the game interesting for its entire length. I also found the triangulation to sometimes involve quite a bit of pixel hunting, a pair of binoculars would have been nice. There is a bit more to the game of course, in particular you can make medicines that improve your abilities to run fast, swim for a long time and sense the presense of the beast. But these things mainly make you die less and doesn’t affect the way the game is played. To sum up, gameplay is mainly about exploration and mapping through triangulation and this is not sufficient to keep the game fun for it’s entire length.

The best thing about the game is the atmosphere, which is supported by the beautiful graphics, and appropriate sound effects. Getting lost at night, and trying to figure out your position with the only light coming from your lighter can be quite an experience. Or perhaps you are more of a morning person and will enjoy climbing a hill at dawn, to look for some landmark or building to head towards.

Had the game only had a bit more varied gameplay, perhaps involving some more survival related tasks such as hunting and making a fire to cook or looking for edible plants and mushrooms it could have been a great game. As it is, it is a good game with some great moments, which frankly is impressive enough for a two man production.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours
Difficulty: Just Right

I just finished playing Miasmata, and I have to say, I was blown away. I never really like first person survival games. I was more the puzzle RPG sort.

However, Miasmata is worth it. I was first impressed with stunning artwork. The island is just beautifully designed and completely realistic (including a different atmosphere for different lighting, weather and time of day).

Some of the struggles I had were firstly, the controls. Although I was ok within an hour or so of starting the game, I had to completely customize them.

I also got pretty confused with the saving method. The lack of a main menu (apart from customizing controls, music and sound FX, and other technical specs), you can only restore an old game. It took me a bit longer to realise that the game can only be saved in a certain way/location (infuriating at first but once you get into the game it actually makes perfect sense-although a short introduction would have been SO helpful!).

Finally, this game is best played with headphones on or in a VERY quiet room. I got extremely frustrated at the start because, even with the sound effects at 100%, I still couldn’t get auditory cues to danger. Earphones took care of the problem though and I finished the game in about 10 days or so.

On the plus side:

On other forums, players have complained that the game is ‘choppy’ and they have reported a number of bugs. I’m pleased to say I faced no such problems and my laptop is about 6 months old or so (you still need a pretty awesome graphics card and tons of memory to do the game justice!). On occasion, when I had programmes running in the background the game got a bit ‘choppy’ but that was by no means a big problem. Game was still perfectly playable, just marginally slower.

The atmosphere of the game is incredible. Apart from the weather and the character’s breathing, you only get to hear music very occasionally and when you do it is a lovely, somber, moving melody.

The game is so immersive that you will find yourself panting and your heart just about to beat out of your chest alongside your character. Even though I struggled with the mapping/navigation/triangulation system, I have to admit that with about 3 hours worth of practice it actually got to be a really good fun challenge, especially later on in the game.

However, I found the best part of this game to be the many unfolding narratives. So you know your mission, you know to stay away from the lurking monster but how on earth did you get there in the first place and why? You will only know as you uncover different paths of the game, as you discover little clues about what happened before and how you are left the only survivor of a mysterious plague and a bout of mass hysteria…

But I can’t say any more without giving the game away.

I would highly recommend Miasmata. It is a game to be both played AND experienced and I have to say it has been, for me, an amazing introduction into a whole new genre. Do not give in to frustration at the beginning. Stick with it and you will be glad you did.

Thanks to the Johnsons for a brilliant gaming experience!

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Time Played: Over 20 hours
Difficulty: Hard