Left Alive

Left Alive is a single-player third-person stealth action game in which the player is sent to a war-torn Black Sea region. The art director of Metal Gear participated in the development, from whom Left Alive inherits a similar style and design. The gameplay is variable: you can engage in numerous shootouts, move stealthily, or lure enemies into traps. The player also has access to huge mechs, similar to the robots from Front Mission.

The events of Left Alive take place in the same alternate reality of our world as the Front Mission series, specifically in the year 2127, after the events of Front Mission 5: Scars of the War and before Front Mission Evolved. The planet is controlled by five different political blocs, four of which are analogs of the USSR, the EU, China, and the USA, and the fifth is an alliance of Oceanian countries.

However, Left Alive touches on the local conflict between two Black Sea countries — the Republic of Garmonia and the Republic of Ruthenia. They used to be one state, but due to disputes about the future development path, they split into two parts.

The eastern part declared independence and formed a strong political and economic alliance with a large northern neighbor, the Republic of Zavtra. The western part retained its name and became an independent but poor state, striving to establish relations with the EU and the United States.

However, Garmonia and Ruthenia have an unresolved territorial dispute over the Novoslava region and the city of Novoslava. Initially, its residents had pro-Western views. However, at the time of the country's division, it was captured by the Republic of Garmonia with the help of the armed forces of the Republic of Zavtra.

Almost immediately, the NSN separatist movement emerged, wanting to return to Ruthenia, which happened shortly before the events of Left Alive — the armed forces of Ruthenia simply captured Novoslava. The Republic of Garmonia considered this an annexation of its territory and is preparing to retaliate.

The events of Left Alive begin after the large-scale invasion of Ruthenia by the armies of the Republic of Garmonia. The local defense forces are defeated, so the player needs to escape from Novoslava in any case. Along the way, you can complete secondary quests and lead other survivors to evacuation points. Some decisions will affect the game's ending.

Being a single-player story-driven action game, Left Alive is divided into several chapters, each dedicated to one of three characters with different backstories and motivations:

Being a single-player story-driven action game, Left Alive is divided into several chapters, each dedicated to one of three characters with different backstories and motivations:

The story is presented through cutscenes, character reflections, and instructions from an artificial intelligence named Cat. There is also a dialogue system in the spirit of Fallout 4, allowing you to question the interlocutor, jump straight into action, or clarify some details.

Players were disappointed that the script was dull and monotonous: characters were not developed, the drama was forced, and all villains preferred to chat with the heroes and give them several chances to survive.

Left Alive can be called a mix of different genres. From the shooter genre, it offers a wide selection of weapons (pistols, rifles, shotguns) and many shootouts. From stealth, it has a developed cover system, movement options, and crossbow kills.

From survival games, it features minimal ammo, attentive enemies that kill with a few shots, and crafting of all necessary items (you can make several throwable gadgets and types of grenades).

And the Front Mission feature – combat robots "wanzers" capable of changing the course of the battle. In gameplay, they resemble the "titans" from Titanfall – armed with different types of weapons and capable of dashing in any direction.

Despite the great potential, all game mechanics were insufficiently thought out and poorly worked together. Shooting was difficult and inconvenient, and due to the lack of ammo, not always possible. Stealth did not work – the character was easily spotted from afar through a small gap or not noticed at all up close. Stealth kills and neutralizations were absent as a class, which is unacceptable for a survival game.

The crafting system, although helpful, did not play a key role in the gameplay as promised by the developers. For instance, enemies would just dance in the fire from a thrown "Molotov," and crafting resources were required in large quantities.

Despite fairly large locations, the passage of Left Alive is linear from beginning to end. The developers did not have time to add alternative movement options; an attempt to sneak past enemies cleverly would run into an impassable wall or an indestructible robot.

Linear routes from point A to point B through crowds of enemies remain. You will have to fight your way through them, mixing accurate shooting with beating armored enemies with a blunt object, which will additionally break at an inopportune moment due to wear and tear. The tactic of attracting enemies to set traps and mines might work.

At release, Left Alive was so raw that players identified gameplay mechanic flaws and used them just to break through.

For example, dumb bots would forget about the character a minute after shooting at him, or if he kept rolling away like a bun, rolling through the orderly rows of enemies.

The background task of rescuing surviving civilians turned out to be a real headache. NPC следовал по заранее заданному маршруту, который назло проходил через самые неудобные места, а управлялся командами стой/иди. Приходилось много стрелять и молиться, чтобы не прибежал Ванзер, готовый расстрелять незадачливого спасителя и его подопечного.

Игроки в Steam жаловались, что Left Alive приходится не интеллектуальным геймплеем, а тупым перебором разных вариантов, заставляя умирать по 10-20 раз в одном месте.