Looks like I got distracted from Spooktober a bit too early -- Stasis was the next game on my list and happens to be an excellent dark sci-fi horror isometric point and click adventure.

The story is a pastiche of just about every sci-fi horror trope going back to Alien, but it manages to have its own character. You wake up on a ship that turns out to be a research vessel -- in deep space to avoid having to comply with regulations, of course. You don't have amnesia, but you also don't know how you ended up on the ship. You start off seeing instruments for flesh harvesting and some cloning projects gone awry, and things only continue to spiral into the darker and more uncomfortable from there.

The dialogue is generally well written, though there are a few lapses that had me raising an eyebrow. What really gives the game its narrative oomph is the PDAs from various crew members scattered about the ship. They not only fleshed out the greater world, but provided interesting insights into the crew and the sordid and sometimes sultry details of what happened leading up to the start of the game.

The isometric view along with the excellently crafted and very detailed 2D graphics, evoked a bit of the feel of the old infinity engine games. The level design along with well used lighting, and some truly weird and eerie sound effects set an superbly bizarre and disconcerting mood for the story.

As far as the point and click adventure puzzles... they were mostly ok. There is a bit of moon logic here and there, and one early puzzle had a couple more steps than it needed leaving me confused as to whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, the game could have used some extra clues as to why actions were failing to get you back on the right track. Still, I only resorted to a guide once at the very beginning, and many of the puzzles were satisfying to solve.

All in all, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year, and I've played a lot of games this year. I've heard the sequel, Bone Totem, was an improvement in just about every way, so I'm pretty darn excited to start that up next.

I only played it once many years ago back when I was much too young to have been playing it nor understand it. It's dark and oppressive, and I must admit I failed the media literacy check at the end that mandalore pointed out in his video (although it seems to be more of a failure on the writer's part since so many people come away with the same wrong interpretation) also I failed the surgery puzzle and learned why you really don't want to do that which I still remember to this day. Don't fail the surgery puzzle, you will regret it.

Recently a game popped up on gog that looked really interesting called "Stasis: Bone Totem" that looked spooky but with the screenshots and gameplay footage, I couldn't make sense of what kind of game it was. I then learned it was a sequel, or at least not the first game. I did the old check my gog and, hey I got it for free at some point. Turns out it was a point and click game, with an awesome horror atmosphere. I really liked the space setting, and found myself engaged by the text of found logs to piece together what happened or is going on. The story is pretty dark, and as far as point and click games, most of the puzzles weren't total bullshit. Definitely check if you grabbed it for free at some point and play it.

I'm not a big point & click fan, but this game was pretty good.

It was mainly the game world and atmosphere that kept me interested and motivated to keep playing. The main story wasn't that interesting and was pretty cliché. One particular set piece is definitely the highlight of the game and made me wish there were a few more moments like that throughout the game.

The main thing that annoyed me was all the pixel hunting and nonsensical puzzles that the genre is known for. The dark visuals and how everything blends together color-wise doesn't help with this problem. I would recommend using a guide if you don't play many point and click games.

definitely better than cayne, but suffers from some of the same problems

the audio mixing is horrible but i really did like the sound design when it wasnt peaking the volume. puzzles made more sense than cayne even though theres a couple instances of pixel hunting
the story itself is alright, the horrors of [REDACTED] are very real, but it leaves something to be desired at the same time. i dont think the very ending made sense, but i can appreciate a lot of other things about this game. the art also deserves a mention. it is very sanitarium with how gross it feels, which is always a plus to me

its definitely and interesting world, now on to bone totem!

Despite some technical limitations, Stasis is a compelling experience that delivers an engaging narrative of corporate greed and scientific hubris, some fantastically devised horror, surprisingly stunning environments, and wonderful world building (godDAMN some of those PDAs are good.)

Being a huge horror fan, ESPECIALLY body horror (which is this game's specialty), this probably clicked with me more than it did for some, but I am not ashamed to admit I could not put this game down. Some of the animations and models are jarring in their amateur appearance which can lead to some of the immersion wavering, but even acknowledging that, it's a truly impressive achievement from a staggeringly small team, and I'm VERY excited to check out the sequel!

A game that almost survives by aesthetic alone. The gameplay is your standard litany of pixel-hunting point-and-clickery, helped somewhat by the limited inventory and episodic layout but harmed in equal measure by the dingy, detail-laden environments often obscuring the important bits. The story is "guy wants to find wife", which is even more ludicrous a prospect in this game's setting than it was on the Ishimura (and Dead Space, at least, knew that it wasn't fooling you). Still, though, the game maintained my interest for a good few hours, until I got to the part where if you hang around a certain screen for more than five seconds a robot kills you and you have to listen to a bunch of unskippable dialogue again.

Stasis is a horror story told through a point and click adventure game. The style is a high definition Black Isle Studios isometric perspective with haunting atmosphere helped by music by the great Mark Morgan. It is a gruesome game, with some disturbing sci-fi. It feels very cool to have this kind of presentation used in this kind of story and setting. And the game is down right terrifying at parts.
The point and click adventuring and puzzling falls into the same old problems older point and click games do by obscuring a lot of important parts of the puzzles so you're basically waving your mouse around just looking for what to click, and also what bits in your inventory are supposed to be used where. Not great! Especially when the deaths can feel a bit cheap.
However, the story and atmosphere carry the game through, so to experience the story and alleviate frustration, I don't see any shame in "cheating yourself" and using a guide. I used this one: http://adventuredoor.net/walkthroughs/stasis-walkthrough/

Aventura gráfica clásica de perspectiva Isométrica, pero de ambientación muy perturbadora y agobiante.
Si anteriormente jugasteis a CAYNE por ser gratuito, este no debéis dejarlo pasar. (aunque actualmente no este muy bien de precio)
La historia es de 10, como un pequeño libro de ciencia ficción con mucho gore. Terror poco, quitando un susto o dos.
No apto para estómagos sensibles ni mentes cerradas. Recomiendo leer toooooodas las PDA del juego para meteros bien en la Historia de la GROOMLAKE e industrias CAYNE.
Si queréis saber más, aquí mi analisis para Orgullogamers http://www.orgullogamers.com/2017/09/stasis.html

Point and click adventures are a dying breed. They used to rule the 90’s when computers weren’t quite powerful enough to fully render beautiful and detailed environments. Instead, they would be pre-rendered images or animation that played out with triggered scripts. This was carried over into consoles with games like Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, and even Final Fantasy. You won’t see pre-rendered graphics anymore, but there’s a novelty about them. Stasis is a modern game but is built like it was in the 90’s and gives it a certain charm. I have to say this is one of the best I have ever played and is so memorable.

With this kind of game, it’s all about the story and characters, as well as atmosphere. Without those adventure games of yore are pointless and uninteresting. There’s very little gameplay involved with just you guiding your character around and solving puzzles as well as unraveling the story. Stasis does all this perfectly with very little inventory management. You just use your mouse to guide John around on the screen and click on things. Puzzles are actually quite good, make sense most of the time, but occasionally you get the one where you have to finally break out the walkthrough. This is an unfortunate staple of the genre and there’s no fighting it.

With the controls and gameplay aside let talk about the story and atmosphere, and man does it have a lot of that. The atmosphere is so scary and incredibly detailed that it trumps some AAA games today. John wakes up on a desolate ship that’s been torn apart. He wakes from stasis sleep and must find his daughter and wife. This involves talking to a character through radio content who guides you the whole way and the whole story folds out mostly through PDA log entries which are perfect for this kind of game. Without reading these logs you won’t care much about the story, but the logs are written so well that the characters come out. They are small entries that take a few minutes to read, but they really stick with you through the whole story.

Each area of the ship has a set of characters that were fighting about something or going through some sort of psychological issue prior to the ship being overrun by Hybrids. This tells you how life on the ship was before and during the disaster. The Groomlake is a mining vessel turned laboratory run by a corporation that specializes in human cloning and genetic research. This, of course, go awry as their experiments break out and kill everything on the ship. It sounds cheesy, but it’s unfolded slowly and down very well. The atmosphere is pronounced with the great voice acting, sound design, and music that go along with it all. Gore is everywhere as well as some of the most disturbing imagery scene in a game that would give anyone nightmares. The horror and ambiance of this game are bar none and really set some standards in my book.

When John screams or is in pain you really feel it despite it being a pre-rendered animation on the screen. The sound effects are just blood curdling and make your skin crawl. From the weird robotic voices of the announcers to the blood splatters and screams you here, it’s sound design to a whole new level. The Brotherhood really mastered the adventure genre and this game would have made headlines back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. I don’t want to spoil anything but saying more scary or horrifying moments, but I played this straight through and didn’t stop and that’s an accomplishment. Like I stated before, the gameplay is lacking, but that’s okay as the atmosphere and story keep you sucked in and you don’t want anything too complex that would detract you from that.

In the end, come for the story and atmosphere. If you don’t like adventure games this may just change your mind, and anyone who loves the genre has to play this. It sets a new standard for the genre and brings it back in my eyes.

Kultovní izometrické Sanitarium meets neméně kultovní tituly System Shock, BioForge či filmový Horizont událostí.

Debutujícím autorům se výtečně podařilo vybudovat intenzivní znepokojivou atmosféru všudypřítomné tenze; a to čistě skrze (zdánlivě?) temné koridory, příběh či dialogy a navzdory nijak zvlášť zdařilé grafice (nic moc technická stránka umocněna navíc nepřítomností Options nabídky). Z ohledu "omáčky kolem" toho lze této výpravě do hlubin vesmíru i duše hlavní postavy vytknout málo. Děj je sice poněkud přímočarý, ale povětšinou dobře podaný (až na závěrečnou čtvrtinu) a ne hloupě napsaný. S ohledem na rozsah jde o ukecaný titul, který však povětšinou prázdně netlachá.

Problémy je tak třeba hledat spíše v adventurní složce jako takové. Což, jak jistě uznáte, je u starosvětsky klasicky pojaté klikací adventury na pováženou. Že se tu dá tu a tam zemřít by nijak nevadilo, kdyby to nebylo na bázi pokus/omyl, kdy se vám v nějaké obrazovce něco přihodí, co jste ovšem nemohli vědět a příště si na to dáte pozor. Je to na překážku, protože ona zmíněné tenze tu neplyne ze strachu či obavy o úmrtí postavy a díky možnosti ukládání to nemá žádný dopad. Tedy krom zbytečného rozčarování hráče, který se podivuje "proč to tam vůbec dávali, když to nemá vliv na hru, hráče ani prožitek". Prapodivný pathfinding hlavní postavy vyvolává neustálé nechápavé kroucení hlavou. Dalším problémem je sice občasné, ale o to více jako pěst na oko působící pofidérní řešení puzzlů. V trhlé německé komediální adventuře by podobné designové prohřešky prošly, v seriózním a dospělém kabátku již o něco hůře. O poznání hůře. Zvlášť když většina hádanek je přeci jen řešením v logice ukotvená. Problémová je pak již zmíněná závěrečná pasáž, která do té doby komorní až intimní atmosféru zkope do kuličky neopodstatněným (a především nikým nechtěným) utržením se ze řetězů.

STASIS tedy jako adventura vyloženě nenadchne, ale obstojí více než solidně a dá vzpomenout na staré dobré devadesátkové adventury podobného ražení, kterým ostudu nedělá. Jako atmosférický a dějový zážitek z ranku hard sci-fi psychohorroru za hřích a těch cca osm hodin ovšem stojí. Až na to proklaté finále.

Lo mejor del juego fue el escenario, muy del estilo de Dead Space o películas como Alien o Event Horizon.
Lamentablemente algunos puzzles son algo injustos porque requieren interactuar muchas veces con algún objeto que en principio parece inútil (una válvula que parece atascada, por ejemplo) para luego seguir. Esto me hizo perder tiempo buscando objetos que en realidad no eran necesarios.
Otro punto negativo es que los objetos son muy difíciles de encontrar y en ocasiones hay que escanear todo el mapa con el cursor del mouse para poder descubrirlos.

Ni lo amé ni lo odié. Recomiendo comprarlo en oferta.

A visually intriguing adventure game that's let down by obtuse puzzles. They aren't necessarily hard but a lack of feedback often leaves it unclear what the game wants to you to do. For an example, at one point you have to open a furnace. When clicking on it the main character bends down and animates a bit. Then nothing happens. There is no clue why nothing happens, what the problem you need to solve is.
So a lot of the game turns into "using everything in your inventory on everything else" and I thought adventure games have left that particular design flaw behind long ago.

The story feels too simple to be interesting, there really aren't any twists or revelations that make it go beyond of what it seems from the very start. It's a tale you've heard a thousand times by now. Which would be fine if the writing was good which in some instances it can be. But mostly it is just very average, which left me with little interest in the world or any of the characters on the ship. Beyond that, the story is unnecessarily cruel, to the point where it feels more like cheap edgy shock value that left me rolling my eyes than anything else.

STASIS is a point and click isometric adventure game, it kinda reminds me of Sanitarium because of the gameplay, isometric perspective and themes, particularly child endangerment and scientific research unbound by ethics. The former is a risky topic for media in general, let alone video games.
Nevertheless, STASIS managed me to surprise me by being absolutely disturbing. It really caught me off guard in ways I didn't expect. Like over half the achievements are for dying so I thought it would be more edgy rather than horrifying.
Besides that I think the presentation is great, I wish you could zoom in the screen for some puzzles, but besides that the graphics, sound design and writing are great at setting an atmosphere.
Also, I'm always concerned about nonsensical puzzles in adventure games, but I think STASIS is generally straightforward in this regard. I do believe that there's too little direction sometimes, but the puzzles themselves are fine.
Overall, I think STASIS is pretty great and I'm left both terrified and fascinated by it.

I found this game to be serviceable but nothing special. First off, the puzzles aren't great. It's a lot of situations where you use everything in your inventory with everything else until something happens because you often have no logical reason to think to use or combine things in the ways the game requires you to. In addition to that, a lot of the gameplay ignores the ways the genre has modernized which results in a lot of deaths from walking into rooms or using an item incorrectly (neither of which you'd have any way of knowing how to avoid dying until after you've died once).

The horror aspects of the game are mostly jump scares and gore. The game is never really particularly scary (or really even creepy). The gore in particular starts to feel gratuitous to the point of being eye-rollingly edgy. Some of the 'creepy/spooky' sound design is quite good though, so I'll give them that. It's unfortunate that that alone isn't enough to salvage the game though.

The vast majority of the writing in the game is nothing to write home about. It does have some good bits here and there, mostly scattered throughout the PDAs that function as diaries for characters in the months leading up to their deaths. Little stories of who these people were, their role on the ship, their relationships with other crewmembers, and hints at their eventual deaths.

The art of the game isn't bad, per se, but I didn't find the vast majority of it to be particularly interesting. It probably doesn't help that game is so damn dark all the time.

Overall not a point and click I'd ever actively recommend but it's far from the worst one of the genre I've ever played. So you could do worse, I suppose.