Stasis Bone Totem Video Review – HALLOWEEN Update
Stasis Bone Totem is the all-new point and click sci-fi horror from The Brotherhood Games.
Update: Originally published 31 May 2023 – While our original review was in-progress, we’ve since finished the game and updated our review score. Check both the video and update below.
We’ve published a Halloween Special 2 Minutes Edit of our review, watch now or continue below:
I’m mainly a console gamer these days, but there are a few studios and games that make me dust off and fire up ol’ reliable the moment they become available.
This is most definitely the case when it comes to anything that comes from The Brotherhood Games, a South African-based studio responsible for Stasis and Beautiful Desolation.
The original Stasis was clearly a love letter to a childhood filled with sci-fi, horror, and sci-fi horror—with an all-new setting and story set in space that had its dimly lit corridors filled with the echoes of the games, books, and movies that inspired it. It was dark and tense, violent, and had all the traits of point-and-click adventures that I miss from the old days of PC gaming. While the old-school feel was charming, it could also feel a little clunky and dated.
WATCH THE VIDEO REVIEW – Or keep reading below:
About halfway into Stasis Bone Totem, I’m happy to report that a move to full 3D graphics, improved cinematics, and some much-needed updates to interface and game design have gone a long way.
Deep Blue Sea
Stasis Bone Totem is an isometric sci-fi horror point-and-click adventure that tells a personal tale of salvagers, a husband named Mac and his wife Charlie, who come across what looks like an oil rig, only to discover that they are trapped. Together with Moses, a ridiculously creepy toy bear retrofitted with some advanced functions, and a small gizmo that lets them share items via a pocket dimension, they unravel an ancient and sinister mystery—while also struggling with the pain of having lost their daughter.
Stasis Bone Totem is about exploring an underwater lab and the environments it’s connected to, as well as reading and solving puzzles to progress through the story.
The three characters spend most of their time split, with you needing to jump between them GTA V style. As mentioned before, they share items. However, Mac can use his strength to bend and break things, while Charlie can repair or combine items.The bear’s job is to be creepy (it can also hack certain devices and do most normal things).
Creepy-ass creepy bear.
Puzzle Fighter
This makes for an interesting system where you are constantly trying to figure out what might work with what or where—and I also liked that each character’s descriptions of items are different based on their outlook or knowledge. Stasis Bone Totem is chock full of puzzle scenarios that need to be solved, and make no mistake… some can get quite tough. Just like in the ’90s, you might find yourself backtracking or clicking on all the items as you scratch your head to figure out what to do and where.
The thinking needed to solve some of the puzzles was enough to make me wonder if the solutions were obtuse, even with the in-game hints that sometimes present themselves, or if I was just being brain-dead. But we now live in a connected world, which means the answer is always a quick Google away. However, if you, like me, really want to try to take them on without help, prepare to get stuck a bunch.
Get something wrong or take a wrong step, and you’re sometimes treated to a death cinematic. I say “treated” because they’re awesome to watch and make failure a part of the fun and even count as achievements.
A Novel Approach
The incredible art and sound design alone could do a lot of heavy lifting, but the incredibly detailed writing isn’t afraid to challenge your intellect. It elevates the experience to one that isn’t afraid to take the necessary risks to deliver something special and feels like it’s willing to perch itself on the same level as a solid sci-fi novel.
There’s no cheese-ball video game writing going on here.
On that same note, some of the really great story beats and discoveries of what took place are delivered via messages and logs from personal PDAs. While it’s old school in its nature, it can become quite tiresome to read through a whole bunch of messages, but that’s also the nature of adventure and indie games, so it’s not a major complaint.
Oil Rigs on Old Rigs
Considering the age of my hardware, I was pleasantly surprised that the game was able to look as good as it did while running at 1440p with all the bells and whistles turned on, with loading as well as hot swapping between characters taking only a few moments even without an SSD.
Conclusion:
I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve had with Stasis Bone Totem. So far, it’s almost everything I wanted from a sequel – despite it not being directly linked to the original.It’s familiar in some ways while feeling completely fresh in others, with visual and gameplay upgrades that give you a great reason to jump back into its world and unravel its mysteries.
If you’re looking for a deep isometric sci-fi horror adventure to get stuck into, my experience with Stasis Bone Totem so far says you’ve come to the right place.
Verdict (Update): ✪✪✪✪✪ (Must-play!)
✪ Poor (0-5) ✪✪ Mediocre (6-7) ✪✪✪ Good (8) ✪✪✪✪ Great (9) ✪✪✪✪✪ Must-play! (10)
