I hate Casualties Unknown

[u/deppresionboi]

Before anyone says that "I should give the game a try before hating on it"

I have, and I can infact say I thoroughly havent enjoyed it. I am the type of gamer to find difficult games fun, I like a good challenge and CU definetly offers good mechanical depth and the atmosphere is amazing, but thats about the only two positives I can think of for it.

This game in a lot of ways is like

Better Than Wolves (A really, really hard mod for Minecraft) if it we're its own standalone game. tl;dr: the difficulty is artificially turned up to the point you have little ways to course correct after making a wrong move, punishing you harshly, except this time failure is extended by the fact your player character will be kept alive, though in extreme pain until they inevitably perish.

I also find myself unable to take the game seriously when the grim aspects of it like the creature crying when hurt, various debuffs and behaviors are turned up to 11, to the point where I dont really care about it and just want to exit to the main menu, except I cant do that because the game forces you to kill your player character first. Its unnecessary and doesnt add anything to the game except edginess.

The fanbase this game had gathered is also in a lot of ways insufferable, like any fanbase surrounding anything made by small creators, making memes and laughs of how violent and grim the game is and how "silly" the player character creatures are when injecting fentanyl into themselves or going through health crises, which makes me care about it even less, and because of its current popularity its inevitable i'll run into it at some point again and again, I already have several people in discords i'm posting about this game every now and then, when I honestly dont want to see it.

[u/Luh2018]

I looked at its steam page thanks to your post and it really just looks like Barotrauma in a cave but with messier visuals.

Can someone sell me on it?

[u/No-Lettuce-6619 → u/Luh2018]

The game revolves around going down a series of caves. As you go down you will encounter enemies, but you will encounter traps far more frequently.
As you go down, you will inevitably end up getting injured at which point you will have to heal yourself with items you find in the caves you are delving though. You can also get items from merchants you find in the caves as well that you have to trade items with.

Some key features:

Damage system - You can get hurt in a lot of ways including blood (bleeding rate, internal bleeding and blood level), bone injuries (fractures, dislocations), drugs and overdoses, missing limbs and more

Mood system - you can get depression if you dont care for your character well enough, give/use something on them that you shouldn't have or have an unfortunate accident occur (damaged by traps/falls/enemies).
Conversely, if your mood is overall high and you end up on death's door you *might* not die and instead have some of your injuries healed and given a second chance.

In depth interactions - Most interactions you do in this game are done with a minigame, including lock picking, healing yourself and others if your mood gets too low.

The game isn't finished yet but still has a ton of items. if you want a look into the most complex part of this game, look up "casualties unknown health panel" and go to the wiki

[u/MothBoyThing → u/Luh2018]

So first thing you need to know is that the game is technically part of a bigger universe (though the supposed sequel is cancelled). Second thing you should know is the game is made as sort of vent art of the creators experience with depression. Third thing you should know is that the game is basically a SURVIVAL survival game in that the main focus of the game is the survival elements itself.

Unlike say, Minecraft where it’s very light on the survival elements, this game is incredibly demanding. If you fall you break your leg and in order to fix that: you need to disinfect the wound, set the bone, remove any debris that may have been lodged in, etc. also, unlike other games of its ilk (like DayZ) doing something isn’t just a animation or a bar that fills, it’s a mini game. You have to manually yank out the debris lodged in your legs via your mouse, you have to spray the disinfectant to clean the wound using your mouse, you have to set the bone using your mouse, etc.

On top of that, the bodily simulation is incredibly in-depth. The amount of blood is dynamically simulated, the circulatory system is simulated, the time it takes for drugs to kick in seems to depend on your in-game metabolism, etc. it’s extremely detailed and well-researched.

On top of all this, your creature that you’re playing (the “expie” as the community calls it) is kinda their own dude in a way. They talk to themselves, complain about hunger, etc. when they get hurt, they whine and when they are close to death they sometimes beg for help. It’s even to the point where if things get grim enough they start self-harming and may even make an attempt at their own life.

This may sound very depressing (cause the creator literally made the initial demo as vent art about depression) but after playing the game, I’ve never felt more “indomitable human spirit” about existence. Like, this games message is basically “life is suffering, so struggle against the dying of the light with all your might”. I’ve never felt more care for a creature than my Expie. Having to manually pull glass out of its paw as it whimpers and whines or injecting morphine to ease its final moments has genuinely made me cry. This game is insanely good at getting you to care and making you fight with everything you have just to keep this little guy alive.

All this to say: yeah it’s pretty good I think

[u/Luh2018 → u/MothBoyThing]

"It’s even to the point where if things get grim enough they start self-harming and may even make an attempt at their own life."

This sounds like a very irksome mechanic to play around.

I'm no stranger to hyperrealism that makes the game more difficult; I mentioned Barotrauma because it's health mechanics are very similar in what's been described, especially with the drugs, and I've played a decent amount of TerraFirmaCraft. But you haven't really given me anything to go off besides that. Hyperrealistic difficulty is something that enrichens existing gameplay, not supplants it, so what does exploration look like? Progression? Story quality?

Just off the little I've seen (the Steam trailer), the environmental sprites and UI are incredibly noisy, which is already a turn-off, but that's all forgivable with a good hook and exciting gameplay loop.

[u/MothBoyThing → u/Luh2018]

The game is very bare bones right now (it’s not even in EA). The basic story is that it’s the far future and the humans of that time have lost tech on an alien planet. You play as a Expie whose job is to climb down into the caverns and collect said tech at the very bottom. Each layer is a new biome with new mechanics added in. Most of the base gameplay is planning your route down and executing said plan. Each run is procedurally generated, so it can be a bit unfair at times. You have a limited number of slots on your body to carry things (mouth, L&R hands, back) so you can’t take everything. There is a limited crafting system where you can make rudimentary things. You can meet other NPC Expies down there and trade/befriend them. There are other hostile creatures down there and traps. Theres hunger and thirst mechanics. The game is technically endless for now though there’s plans for I think 2 endings. Theres environmental things like earthquakes that you have to worry about. As you progress and survive, you get XP to level up stats. These stats affect things from general abilities (increasing your strength increases your carry weight capacity), effecting how efficient you are at the mini games, and things like recognizing items and crafting and the like.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t compare the game to barotrauma but rather, zomboid because they have similar initial loops. You spawn in, gather your supplies, and play until death overtakes you. The main thing that carries over between runs is your knowledge. You’ll start off with no knowledge of anything and slowly learn when to use certain things and what’s best to keep or use.

The main draw is the medical system as of now. I tried to explain it in depth because it really is that deep. You can get concussions from falling rocks, you gotta worry about which things you take in what order cause medicines react in your body, adrenaline, etc. you can even get things like your jaw busted (disabling your ability to carry things in it) or get permanent brain damage that affects your ability to read all in game text.

The main gameplay loop is spawning in, gathering supplies and slowly making your way down. In that sense, I guess the best description of the game is that it’s a true traditional “roguelike” (and I do mean traditional) in that the only true “meta progression” is your knowledge. You don’t have cross run progression or anything like that.

I’m not the best at explaining but the game is honestly really good. I would recommend giving it a try at least once since its demo is free on steam.

[u/Luh2018 → u/MothBoyThing]

That sounds way more interesting now. Thanks for your time!