2019 was the year of Eurojank, and this was the best one of all. Some mechanical jank, and excellent art direction, writing, story, and especially themes.

Given we're in the middle of a pandemic it's the perfect time to play. Plague breaks out in a small town far East on the Russian steppe, in the vague anachronistic past. In this installment, you play as the local surgeon-shaman. The combat is uncomfortable. This is because you're not supposed to get into fights. You're the doctor for fuck's sake. You'll be busy researching a cure and trying not to die. If you're tired of games either revolving around combat or being walking sims, here it is.

Strong themes of settler-colonialism; how that influences class conflict under capitalism; failure and powerlessness; religion in conflict with industrialization; the social collapse that accompanies a deadly epidemic, food shortages, and hyperinflation. You'll have moral choices that come from the gameplay and your own desperation instead of dialogue wheels. You won't have time to do every quest and you'll have to prioritize. This can also be a moral choice.

Characters are excellently written. The assholes will even lie to you. Big lies that ruin your day and little white lies, too.

Many of you know about Hbomb's 2 hour epic, but that one's about the original. Under no circumstances should you play it. Here is a 27 minute video that's actually about the remake.