Shadows of Kurgansk | PS4 Review
Updated: Nov 18, 2021
Shadows of Kurgansk is a single player survival RPG, developed by Yadon Studio and published by Gaijin Entertainment. It is currently available on Windows PC, PlayStation, XBox, and Nintendo Switch. For the purpose of my review I was playing the PlayStation 4 version.
Shadows of Kurgansk tells the story of a hiker who’s exploring with a group of friends when a massive explosion happens. When he wakes up he realises that he’s alone and certainly not mentally or physically prepared for the horrors that he’s going to experience within this radioactive wasteland known only as The Zone. Upon starting the game, you’ll find yourself in a post-apocalyptic world where you’ll be fending off zombie-like creatures alongside other threats. You’ll be given the choice of two areas where you can start; one is a coastal area and the other is further inland.
As mentioned, Shadows of Kurgansk is a survival game so during the tutorial you will learn about gathering resources, maintaining your basic stats and crafting items that will help you along the way. I’ve spent a lot of time playing survival games lately - mostly The Forest and Green Hell - so I was already prepared for looting and collecting as much as I could. I instantly walked over to a tree and started swinging my fists and I very quickly had a basic axe to get me moving. The tutorial also takes you through the crafting screens; teaching you how to build a fire and how to cook.
I enjoyed the art style of Shadows of Kurgansk, as it very much felt like the cell-shading in Borderlands combined with The Long Dark, making a moody and ambient environment which I really liked. I feel like there's a lot of pressure on survival games to fit a certain look in terms of realism and quality so games that don’t follow that status quo carry a certain amount of charm and unique qualities.
One element that makes a good survival game for me is the ways in which they keep us on our toes and always checking round every corner and Shadows of Kurgansk is no different. If your sanity meter starts to decline you’ll have a fright incoming and it certainly didn’t fail at giving me a fright a time or two. If your sanity meter dips even lower then you’ll black out and wake up in a random location which will almost certainly leave you lost and confused.
As I progressed through Shadows of Kurgansk I found myself starting to struggle with managing tasks and actually managing to get stuff done - the UI didn’t really help and left me feeling slightly more confused, however the map is a godsend for helping me get to the various quests and tasks that I had to accomplish. Completing quests will earn you skill points but equally, so will just surviving, which will allow you to upgrade your characters overall health and also increasing your carry weight, which is an essential for me because I’m well known as being quite the hoarder in games. Alongside a slightly convoluted and confusing UI, I also struggled a lot with the crafting. Making ammunition was a massive challenge for me and I just feel like it required too much and at times didn’t make much sense to me.
Shadows of Kurgansk is a relatively cheap game and certainly has a unique perspective to offer the survival genre. The eerie atmosphere will keep you on edge and engaged and the resources and crafting system is in depth and will keep you exploring and looting just to progress a little further.
Lj’s Rating: 3.5 creepy entities out of 5.
For more information on Shadows of Kurgansk please use the following links...
Yadon Studio - Developer | Website
Gaijin Entertainment - Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Plan of Attack for the Review Key.
Shadows of Kurgansk | Steam Store | PlayStation Store | XBox Live | Nintendo eShop
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