Party for the Weekend: turn-based strategy Distrust (review)

The opening intro is reminiscent of the classic horror film The Thing - a helicopter approaches a polar base, but the landing does not go smoothly due to a strange unexplained phenomenon. There isn't a soul on the base, and only the scraps found by the original explorers reveal an outline of what happened.

In the game itself, you control individual characters as they move around the map, searching for the necessary resources and tools, trying to survive the cold and hunger while finding and opening a path to the next level. Maps are generated each time, and the quests needed to enter the next level are also randomly selected. Everything is complicated by the omnipresent frost, so you need to find a warm place to stay warm as soon as possible. It's not that hard at the beginning, but later on, building entrances will be locked or covered in snow, and heat and power generators will be broken. Locks need to be picked or picked, generators need to be fired up or repaired, and you need some materials (wrenches, planks ...) to do it all. You need to find it, but don't hurt yourself, otherwise you need to heal yourself with a first aid kit or a bandage. But in the meantime, the character must not freeze, starve ... So you're in for quite a rollercoaster ride.

The introduction of the game looks quite simple - on the opening screen you choose 2-3 characters to play as (as you play and complete quests, more are revealed, so you can eventually choose from up to 15 characters). Each character is characterised by three stats: frost resistance, stamina and movement speed. In addition, they may have some special ability, such as repairing with less material, more resistance to frost ... While playing, you have to take care of the three main indicators of each character: warmth, stamina and satiety. And also, of course, health. Warmth can be found in the buildings by the stove, stamina is best replenished by sleeping in bed, hunger can be fought off with food. All of this takes place in real time, but you have the option to pause the game and think about your next action.

The introductory tutorial will teach you the basic game mechanics, and then it's on to the real thing. That being said, each time you're faced with a slightly different map to try and survive on. If you don't, it's over. Yes, this game is unforgiving. That can be pretty frustrating, because it's just easy to overlook something sometimes, get a bit stuck, and then not have time to resolve the complications that arise. There are buildings scattered randomly across the map that need to be explored. In the first level (zone) you can afford to explore them all in turn, warming up or growing up everywhere. No such comfort awaits you later on, and in later levels you'll be glad for one heated building with working pebbles, closed doors and boarded up windows, and an unbroken bed.

By playing progressively, you'll get practice at what's important and what to focus on. You'll no longer send characters along to keep one waiting by the door while the other tries to pry it open. It's more like this: the first character tries to open the lock, the second runs (because he's faster or more durable) to the next building to find some fuel for the stove, and the third calmly collects medicine or food at the other end of the map (especially if he has a special ability related to medicine or food). The shared inventory is slightly surprising - what one character finds at one end of the map is immediately available to the other character somewhere else. Even with this, of course, you can then tactically work with it.

Unless you die and complete the necessary task to open to the next level, you all still have to walk to the gate itself. There are only six such levels, but they'll give you a hard time. While the first level will take you a few dozen minutes the first time, after a few more starts you'll surely fly through it quickly. Unless you get bored with the game, which I was a bit threatened by. But I didn't give up, and I eventually cracked the whole mystery of that base. This took me a couple of hours of pure time, which was the perfect length for me.

Verdict

Distrust was ultimately quite enjoyable until the end, its relative brevity meant that it didn't get tiresome despite some repetitive gameplay. But the desire to survive and conquer all the pitfalls was a good motivation.

Playing Tips

• Try the tutorial, don't be discouraged by the first failure in the form of death, next time it will be better ;-)
• For a little orientation, check out https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1773206091, where I found the food list section especially helpful
• Don't take unnecessary risks - don't touch alien artifacts, don't eat spoiled food, don't use dirty bandages... The risk of possible negative effects is too high.
• If you don't feel like playing again after finishing, you can find a YouTube video with all the alternative endings
• If you have 1-2 friends available, you can try playing online co-op