We discovered it a short time ago, to be precise in our special indie of April 2022. Let’s talk specifically about Dead Man‘s Diarythe first-person action title released in late March and developed from TML-Studios. A team, also author of simulators such as Fernbus simulator or The Bus, is back now showing us a very interesting post-apocalyptic world. For this reason, let’s see specifically the title in question in our special “The indie to discover”.
Dead Man’s Diary, survival after the apocalypse
The indie video game in question presents us with a devastated world, where we are alone in a world full of dangers, 15 years after the apocalypse which has swept the whole of humanity or almost all of humanity off the face of the earth. The survivors are inside bunker scattered around the world. The resources available to maintain the population are not enough, so many have been abandoned in the outside world. This situation is narrated by our hero, who also remained outside the bunkers and left at the mercy of fate.
What to do now? We can feed and drink only if we can find supplies of food, scanned by a device that assures us the absence of harmful substances. At night we can only survive by staying in a safe place, and we begin our adventure in a forest with few signals available right now. As if that were not enough, even the batteries of the torch available risk leaving us in the dark, a risky solution that can lead us to run into hidden dangers.
Excellent graphics, less successful survival
In Dead Man’s Diary, the graphic sector created in Unreal Engine is really well cared for, from the point of view of lighting and creation of the atmosphere. The environments are structured in a credible way and even the sound sector manages to strike fear. Therefore, if on the one hand we have an excellent artistic performance, the one relating to the gameplay leaves some perplexity. Although the game menu is full of options.
The gameplay is tricky and by no means immediate in its advancement. We have to wander a lot before finding the way and if we stay in the dark, everything becomes more tiring. Also the puzzles to be solved are not immediate, sometimes without a real motivation related to the level of difficulty of the game. Not only negative sides: we loved the story in the form of a diary, flanked by monologues of the protagonist. There is no shortage of crafting methods, with the possibility of making and updating our tools to a workbench. Overall, we have noticed difficulties with finding resources, organized in an unequal way. A trait that can make the experience unappetizing.
Why play Dead Man’s Diary
Dead Man’s Diary è a sometimes problematic product, at times pleasant. Characterized by a certain and evident repetitiveness and by an unjustified difficulty in finding some objects, the atmospheres are well characterized, but ruined by diving attempts and sometimes not very dangerous enemies. The puzzles present may vary the gameplay, and the only game progress is offered by some rare magazines that enhance the efficiency of our items. The title, however, certainly deserves a try to enjoy the well-kept graphics sector and the menu worthy of a management survival like this. The only traces of survival in this post-apocalyptic indie.