“Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.” ― Sue Grafton, I is for Innocent

Beastiarium is the first of Fazan's games, and I must say that it is highly exaggerated, based on its Steam Store description. Nope, there is nothing adventurous about it. Nope, there is no horror factor into it - and nope, calling it a puzzle game would be a downright lie. It is basically a glorified waste for Unreal Engine 4, since the same effect could have been achieved in Unity, for much cheaper. Talking of price, the game is also overpriced for your "an hour" playthrough.

To begin with, the only story narrative about the game resides in the store description: "The action takes place in underground Petersburg in the beginning of 20th century, one hundred years later since the monsters invaded the planet". Sounds at least a bit intriguing, yes? Not really. Throughout the whole game, this is the only bit of lore that you will get. There is no decent plot, no story explanation, no character that would even speculate about any depth. There is neither any hero, nor journey into it! It is a complete loss of time, plain and simple.

As you start, an ambiguous creature introduces itself as an embodiment of curiosity and decides to tag along with you for some reason. For another reason completely unknown to us, there is a monster raid and we are - somehow - out during the attack. We keep looking for a safehouse and deal with creatures that consist of a diamond eating shrub, crawling zombies, stalking patches of grass, a walking table - yup - and flying electric fish. According to the game lore, those are the monsters that drove all humanity underground! Aside dealing with these, you get to solve some primary school level riddles; and that's it. You finish the game, only to listen to the most irrelevant sage advice - and that's literally it. There is no why, where, how to anything!

The game is available in various languages, yet I would guess the original would be in Russian - since there are quite so many Russian posters or books - oh, and the game takes place in Russia. There is a shallow totalitarian air as you start, which soon dissolves into a "okay, what's that supposed be now?" atmosphere. Developers, apparently, were too lazy to model and animate people! All characters that you encounter, will be talking to you behind closed doors. You never, ever, even once, see a person throughout your playthrough - even though the store claims that there would be "Charismatic characters — each one with its own personality and background". Fair warning: developers lied to you. You have just paid 15 dollars for total time loss.

Gameplay? First person camera, WASD. You run around a bit, combine some items. Atmosphere? Well, it's nothing extraordinary - or even interesting. Horror? What horror? You'd get scared of flying fish? Really? Creatures are somewhat cute even, at least momentarily. Puzzles? Please tell me you'd have an IQ higher than room temperature. Yes? Then there is no puzzle in this game. Even if you'd get this game at a sale - which gets around for 3 dollars - you'd be cheated out of your money. There is nothing to enjoy here, even hypothetically. Please carry on.

Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page here - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!

[b]“Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.” ― Sue Grafton, [i]I is for Innocent[/i][/b] [i]Beastiarium[/i] is the first of Fazan's games, and I must say that it is highly exaggerated, based on its Steam Store description. Nope, there is nothing adventurous about it. Nope, there is no horror factor into it - and nope, calling it a puzzle game would be a downright lie. It is basically a glorified waste for Unreal Engine 4, since the same effect could have been achieved in Unity, for much cheaper. Talking of price, the game is also overpriced for your "an hour" playthrough. To begin with, the only story narrative about the game resides in the store description: "The action takes place in underground Petersburg in the beginning of 20th century, one hundred years later since the monsters invaded the planet". Sounds at least a bit intriguing, yes? Not really. Throughout the whole game, this is the only bit of lore that you will get. There is no decent plot, no story explanation, no character that would even speculate about any depth. There is neither any hero, nor journey into it! It is a complete loss of time, plain and simple. As you start, an ambiguous creature introduces itself as an embodiment of curiosity and decides to tag along with you for some reason. For another reason completely unknown to us, there is a monster raid and we are - somehow - out during the attack. We keep looking for a safehouse and deal with creatures that consist of a diamond eating shrub, crawling zombies, stalking patches of grass, a walking table - yup - and flying electric fish. According to the game lore, those are the monsters that drove all humanity underground! Aside dealing with these, you get to solve some primary school level riddles; and that's it. You finish the game, only to listen to the most irrelevant sage advice - and that's literally it. There is no why, where, how to anything! The game is available in various languages, yet I would guess the original would be in Russian - since there are quite so many Russian posters or books - oh, and the game takes place in Russia. There is a shallow totalitarian air as you start, which soon dissolves into a "okay, what's that supposed be now?" atmosphere. Developers, apparently, were too lazy to model and animate people! All characters that you encounter, will be talking to you behind closed doors. You never, ever, even once, see a person throughout your playthrough - even though the store claims that there would be "Charismatic characters — each one with its own personality and background". Fair warning: developers lied to you. You have just paid 15 dollars for total time loss. Gameplay? First person camera, WASD. You run around a bit, combine some items. Atmosphere? Well, it's nothing extraordinary - or even interesting. Horror? What horror? You'd get scared of flying fish? Really? Creatures are somewhat cute even, at least momentarily. Puzzles? Please tell me you'd have an IQ higher than room temperature. Yes? Then there is no puzzle in this game. Even if you'd get this game at a sale - which gets around for 3 dollars - you'd be cheated out of your money. There is nothing to enjoy here, even hypothetically. Please carry on. Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page [url=http://steamoss.com/steamstore/curator/11672469/]here[/url] - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!