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Not really GreenPunk, aside from the ending, but since this is a fairly unknown subgenre I think we can be a bit loose here. SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL is primarily a first-person shooter, but more tactical than your typical Doom or Call of Duty FPS, and it features some light RPG (role-playing game) elements.
The game itself is actually set in an alternate reality, where there was a second Chernobyl power-plant catastrophe, this one far worse than the first. Triggering a massive radioactive zone (The Zone), wildlife and people in the area mutated, rocks were warped into glassy artifacts that grant the possessor enhanced abilities, and mysterious changes to the laws of physics can be found in certain high-radiation areas.
Time passed and eventually groups of Stalkers—people who illegally enter The Zone to explore, find artifacts or adventure, or just live a new life away from civilization—formed their own outposts here and there in The Zone.
You play as The Marked One, a Stalker suffering from amnesia. Found by a black-market trader named Sidorovich, the only clues you have about who you are is a PDA with one note—"Kill Strelok"—and a tattoo on your arm, reading: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Sidorovich provides you with information and leads in exchange for doing jobs for him, information which may help you remember who you are, why you're tattooed and who this Strelok is. You can also do little jobs for other Stalkers you meet around the Zone.
Naturally, things aren't as they seem, and you'll be given some choices here and there on who to side with. There are multiple endings, one of which is fairly GreenPunk—you have the opportunity to return The Zone to a state of bliss, free of its off-the-charts radiation, ripe with healthy flora and fauna. It can be heaven on Earth once again.
The game is loosely based on Roadside Picnic, the sci-fi novella by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, as well as Stalker, the film adaptation, and Stalker, the novel adaptation of the film adaptation, which was written by the original authors. Also, the game was made by GSC Game World, a Ukrainian developer, who went to great detail to capture the feeling of the famous real-life Zone. The game oozes an authentic atmosphere.
This is the first in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, though the next game, CLEAR SKY, was a prequel to this one. The third and so far final game, CALL OF PRIPYAT, is set after this one. All are excellent, unique games. Darker than the recent games in the Fallout series, less RPG, and far more difficult, SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL is an immersive experience not to be missed.
2. A NEW BEGINNING
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A point-and-click adventure game from Daedalic Entertainment, A NEW BEGINNING is set in a world ravaged by man-influenced climate change gone unchecked.
You start the game in the past, controlling a retired scientist named Bent Svensson, who invented a blue algae–based biofuel before health issues forced him to abandon his ambitions of changing the world's reliance on fossil fuels. While working on his idyllic property and reminiscing on old times, a strange-looking helicopter lands in Bent's yard and Fay, a woman in uniform, steps out, saying she needs to talk to him. She doesn't appear to be from any known agency.
Bent gives her an ear, and she tells him she's from the future—a future where Earth is all but inhospitable, where many life-forms have gone extinct and humanity is about to disappear. People can only live underground. Fay says Bent's biofuel is the key to saving the planet's future, but they have to act now.
Ever the rational skeptic, Bent doesn't believe her.
So she starts from the beginning, and now you control Fay as she and others travel back in time to 2050, which they discover is still too late to make a difference. They need to go back further in time. Even worse, most of the other time-travellers have died in various natural disasters raging across the rest of the world.
Because it's a point-and-click adventure, you'll need to solve puzzles with items you pick up, the environment and through dialogue. You'll learn more about the backstory and even get clues as to how to proceed by exploring, examining the environment and talking with the other characters.
One negative was the not-so-great English voice acting. Characters often deliver lines in a very flat manner. Given that Daedalic Entertainment is a German company, and that the game was originally in the German language with German voice actors, I suspect the voice acting will be better in German.
All in all, A NEW BEGINNING is ripe for the times we live in, and you should check it out if you like these kinds of games.
