Often times a game will kinda come out of nowhere and grab my attention instantly. When I watched the trailer for Industria within seconds I knew this was something I needed to play. With its clear inspirations in Half-Life 2 and Bioshock, Industria has some big boots to fill. It might not quite manage the live up to those greats, but I had a fun time all the same.
We play as a lady named Nora in an alternate history take on the end of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall coming down. A scientist, she and her partner Walter are working on something called Atlas – an all-powerful macguffin that serves as the central point for the story to revolve around – when Walter goes missing. Using the Atlas, she travels to a new time and place entirely, and it’s here we follow her trail as she hunts for Walter and tries to figure out what is happening.
In terms of the story set-up I felt that Bioshock was the clearest inspiration here. There are grand speeches played back for us, a mysterious and singular human helper, and lots of vivid imagery and designs that envoke an world that feels somewhat lived in. The tale weaved is interesting enough to keep us hooked throughout (even if the end falls flat) and finding extra notes scattered around helps fill in any blanks we may have. The acting is less than great though, with some pretty stiff lines from Nora that detracted from the otherwise decent voice work of her radio-based companion.
There’s more here than a decent story, mind. The gameplay is where the Half-Life feel comes in, albeit in diet form. Nora gets some era-appropriate weaponry in a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, and rifle, but also a sturdy pickaxe which with to bash enemies over the head with and break open boxes (much like a trusty crowbar would have done). Combat encounters are generally short affairs, the gunplay fun enough to play. The slightly antiquated weaponry is just awkward enough to use while still remaining on the good sign of challenging. There are two modes of play – Normal and Hardcore. The latter limits saves and resources, while the former (the one I played through on) is more lenient, with auto saves and more ammo and health lying around. There’s never so many enemies at once that we’re overwhelmed, but I’d say that even a mildly competent FPS player might want to opt for Hardcore as I ended the game with almost full reserves of ammo and health having not had too much of a challenge throughout. One late game scene set me up with tonnes of ammo and health and it looked like we were getting ready for a big fight, only to have maybe 5 enemies rush me, most of which I was able to avoid and get to the exit of the room.
We’re able to pick up many physics based objects too, although most of the time this is purely because we can rather than serving the gameplay in any way. A few areas need us to carry a box to help us jump up a ledge but there’s nothing along the lines of Half-Life 2’s seesaw puzzle. Speaking of puzzles, there are a couple throughout but again, nothing that will pose much of a challenge.
Industria is a short game, coming in at about 4 hours from start to finish. While I would have liked another couple of chapters what is here is an enjoyable evening or two’s gaming.
Conclusion
It might not stand shoulder to shoulder with the greats but for those looking for a new story driven FPS to play, Industria is one to check out.
Become a Patron!This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.