Given that the ship's interior is mostly devoid of life, one wouldn't expect it to be in the best of shape. In this presumption, one would definitely be correct. The interior is dark and desolate, with rust coating halls and floors, overturned equipment, and tight, cramped corridors. Fortunately, our hero has come equipped for his predicament. A winter coat, mittens, and boots all thick enough to almost be considered body armor do their best to keep you warm, and a flashlight mounted to your rifle can be turned on and off with the quick press of a key (take that, Doom 3).

The line for Cryostasis was quite long, which gave us plenty of time to watch our fellow journalists get killed repeatedly by another bundled up individual wielding dual blowtorches. The licking flames from his weapons made him easy to see even in pitch blackness, but this unfriendly foe also had the ability to leap and crawl along the walls similar to BioShock's Spider Splicers. Even worse, getting close enough to burn you seemed to be only one of his options -- after coming within approximately six feet of the character, the enemy ran his torches along the ground, sending waves of what appeared to be fire and electricity streaming in all directions -- and killing the protagonist in a single blow.

Making the situation even more dire is the unique health system used in Cryostasis. Instead of standard health and armor bars, your character has a heat dial. When you're warm the dial glows red, but since you're in the middle of a freezing tundra, you can't stay warm for long. The red in your heat dial diminishes gradually, giving way to blue and, eventually, death. Only by locating heat sources such as glowing lamps or small bonfires can you "heal" yourself, which makes extended battles, such as the one we watched, quite risky.


As yet another journalist stomped away in disgust, we sat down, punched the quickload key, and got ready to do what no one else seemed able to do: win. Cycling through our fists, an axe, or a rifle, we quickly decided the rifle was our best bet. We jogged through zigzagging halls, already sure of our path due to watching other victims traverse it fruitlessly, until the baddie appeared from around a corner. Squeezing the right mouse button raised the rifle, and after getting him firmly in our sights, we popped off a round into his chest. While everyone else had been aiming for his head, we decided that putting a bullet between this scuttling, wall-climbing foe was too difficult; a broader target seemed our best chance of survival.

He staggered, but one shot wasn't enough to put him down. We stumbled back, again raising the rifle to fire another round, and again he fell away. Deciding that walls were no longer to his advantage against our superior skill, he fell to the ground and began to crawl forward, his torches flaring dangerously. As he raised them above his head, no doubt planning to stab them into the ground and kill us instantly with his mysterious ability, we took aim at his chest, reconsidered, raised the rifle to his head, and fired. Down he went.


Though we'd survived without taking a single scratch (or burn), our heat bar had ebbed dangerously. What felt like seconds had actually been a battle that spanned a few minutes, giving us a good feel for the intense, one-on-one encounters of which Cryostasis is comprised.

We began to search frantically for a heat source, something, anything that would serve to replenish even a tiny fraction of our heat. Reloading as we moved seemed a wise idea. No other journalist had ventured beyond our location; who knew what else was lurking in the dark, rusted, blood-splattered halls?

A bright white orb hanging from the ceiling came into view as we rounded a corner. Bingo -- a lamp! We stood beneath it and peered up. As we did so, the character lowered his gun and raised his hands, as most people tend to do when they're eager to warm their fingers by a fire. Pressing the Use key caused our heat to raise marginally; it was, after all, only a lamp.


Glancing over our shoulder revealed that the line had lengthened, most likely due to an Autosave that had appeared after we vanquished the seemingly unconquerable blowtorch enemy. Relinquishing our seat begrudgingly, we watched the next journalist sit down and begin to explore before wandering off, visions of haunted ships and blowtorches dancing in our heads.

Until next time, Arctic Circle. Until next time.

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason will be released for PC this October.