Left Alive

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

The events of Left Alive take place in the same alternative reality 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, while the fifth is a coalition of Oceanian countries.

However, Left Alive touches on the local conflict between two Black Sea countries — the Republic of Harmony and the Republic of Ruthenia. They were once one state, but due to disputes over their future development paths, they split into two parts.

The eastern part declared independence and formed a strong political and economic alliance with its 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, Harmony and Ruthenia have an unresolved territorial dispute over the Novoslav region and the city of Novoslavsk. Initially, its residents had pro-Western views. However, at the time of the country's division, it was captured by the Republic of Harmony with the help of the armed forces of the Republic of Zavtra.

Almost immediately, a separatist movement called NSN emerged, wishing to return to Ruthenia, which happened shortly before the events of Left Alive — the armed forces of Ruthenia simply captured Novoslavsk. The Republic of Harmony considered this an annexation of its territory and is preparing to take revenge.

The events of Left Alive begin after a large-scale invasion of the armed forces of the Republic of Harmony into Ruthenia. The local defense forces are defeated, so the player must escape from Novoslavsk. Along the way, they can complete side quests and evacuate other survivors to evacuation points. Some decisions will affect the game's ending.

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

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

The plot is presented through cutscenes, the characters' reflections, and the instructions of an artificial intelligence named Cat. There is also a dialogue system in the spirit of Fallout 4, allowing you to interrogate the interlocutor, jump straight into action, or clarify details a bit.

Players were disappointed that the script was dull and monotonous: characters are not developed, the drama is forced, and all the villains prefer 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, there is a wide selection of weapons (pistols, submachine guns, shotguns) and numerous shootouts. From stealth – a developed cover system, movement options, and crossbow kills.

From survival, there are minimal bullets, attentive opponents who kill with a couple of shots, as well as crafting all necessary items (you can make several throwable gadgets and types of grenades).

And the feature of Front Mission – combat robots "vanzers," capable of changing the course of battle. In gameplay, they resemble "Titans" from Titanfall – armed with various types of weapons and able to dash in any direction.

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

The crafting system, although helpful, did not play any key role in gameplay, as promised by the developers. Thus, enemies simply danced in the fire from a thrown "Molotov," and a lot of resources were required for crafting.

Despite the quite large locations, the passage of Left Alive is linear from start to finish. The developers did not have enough time to add alternative movement options; an attempt to sneak past enemies would hit an impassable wall or an invulnerable robot.

Linear routes from point A to point B through crowds of opponents remain. You will have to fight your way through them, mixing accurate shooting with beating armored enemies with a blunt object, which will also break at the wrong moment due to wear. The tactic of luring opponents to set traps and mines may work.

At release, Left Alive was so raw that players exploited flaws in gameplay mechanics to push forward.

For example, dumb bots would forget about the character a minute after shooting at him, or if he kept rolling and, like Kolobok, rolled through the orderly ranks of enemies.

The background mission to rescue surviving civilians turned out to be a real headache. The NPC followed a predetermined route that, to spite, went through the most inconvenient places, controlled by stay/go commands. It required a lot of shooting and praying that a Wanzers wouldn't come running, ready to shoot down the unfortunate rescuer and his charge.

Players on Steam complained that Left Alive was not about intellectual gameplay, but rather mindless trial and error, causing players to die 10-20 times in one spot.