Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason

 PC
  • Publisher: Aspyr
  • Release Date: Apr 24, 2009
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 221 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 145 out of 221
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 221
  3. Negative: 25 out of 221
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  1. Chrisn/A
    Dec 21, 2009
    3
    This game gets a 3/10 for it's storyline only. The game itself looks awful, the water effects are extremely cheesy and bad... and not to mention on top of looking awful it also RUNS AWFUL! This thing would probably lag even with a GTX-285 or something, I mean my god talk about terrible optimization. The gameplay is stiff and boring, I can really only see playing it for the story... This game gets a 3/10 for it's storyline only. The game itself looks awful, the water effects are extremely cheesy and bad... and not to mention on top of looking awful it also RUNS AWFUL! This thing would probably lag even with a GTX-285 or something, I mean my god talk about terrible optimization. The gameplay is stiff and boring, I can really only see playing it for the story... which is slow as dripping molasses mind you. On the plus side this minds me of Call of Cthuhlu, so I give it a 3/10 for nostalgia and having an 'alright' storyline.… Expand
  2. EricW
    Oct 4, 2009
    0
    Absolutely the worst game I have ever had the displeasure of playing. I bought it on clearance for $15 and in my mind was still overpriced. This steaming pony loaf is a monument to superficial minds at the heart of technique and style over substance. Any reviewer who tries to say the story is solid or even comprehensible is as ignorant, vapid and/or juvenile as those that slapped it Absolutely the worst game I have ever had the displeasure of playing. I bought it on clearance for $15 and in my mind was still overpriced. This steaming pony loaf is a monument to superficial minds at the heart of technique and style over substance. Any reviewer who tries to say the story is solid or even comprehensible is as ignorant, vapid and/or juvenile as those that slapped it together. If you merely read the synopsis of the box and read the "survival guide" you will see they don't even agree with each other on the narrative premise. It is not clear what the folk tale that is told throughout has to do with the main plot. Unless you are a typical inarticulate adolescent with little or no education in literature and even less common sense, the thoughtlessness with which themes are slapped together will just be insulting. It is not satisfying as an action game either. It is slow and confining. One might say it is appropriate to the scene but I get the distinct impression combat is heavily hamstrung to prevent performance issues stemming from the fatuous emphasis on empty bullet points of features. Ultimately the loser in the trade-off is game-play. In the worship of shadowing effects some downright asinine design choices have been made. The folk-story telling should really be treated as a cut-scene that you can skip or the auto-saves should happen after every section is read. The "last weapon" hot-key should be implemented like every other first person shooter: Last _equipped_ weapon. In Cryostasis you have to have fired a weapon for it to be the last weapon. It should probably be a clue that this game is one of the biggest half-assed efforts ever seen in that the sub-title "The Sleep of Reason" appears nowhere on the packaging; at least nowhere on the copies that were on the shelf where I purchased it.… Expand
  3. rasLivity
    Aug 12, 2013
    3
    Omg. Finally its over. Im so happy that i got it from a cheap bundle. In level 7 i had enough and i started to use god mode cheat. The melee weapons (especially fire axe) are soon useless for fighting enemies. Axe swing will disorient you so much that u are pretty helpless against faster enemies. Both Mosin rifles are EPIC fails. Reloading time is like 20+ minutes...reloading time andOmg. Finally its over. Im so happy that i got it from a cheap bundle. In level 7 i had enough and i started to use god mode cheat. The melee weapons (especially fire axe) are soon useless for fighting enemies. Axe swing will disorient you so much that u are pretty helpless against faster enemies. Both Mosin rifles are EPIC fails. Reloading time is like 20+ minutes...reloading time and inefficiency is a BIG problem also with other firearms. And that folk-story wtf was with that...How exactly should that fit in with the main plot? AND WHY AM I LOSING HEALTH WHEN I LISTEN THAT DAMN FOLK-STORY U idiots!
    So yes, this game got very fast boring and frustrating. Im very disappointed.    … Expand
  4. KElseas
    Jul 26, 2009
    0
    This game is so bad I deleted it soon after installing it.Don't bother; it's that bad!
  5. Indrigis
    Dec 20, 2012
    3
    This game has: One pretend deep plot, a dozen frames per second graphics performance, a few gross of grey rooms, grey doors with big rotary handles and grey crewmen-turned-zombies, three clumsy melee weapons, dull puzzles that don't give much of a challenge, but rather force you to redo them until you guess what you are supposed to do. Note - it's not "How do I do this and that?", it'sThis game has: One pretend deep plot, a dozen frames per second graphics performance, a few gross of grey rooms, grey doors with big rotary handles and grey crewmen-turned-zombies, three clumsy melee weapons, dull puzzles that don't give much of a challenge, but rather force you to redo them until you guess what you are supposed to do. Note - it's not "How do I do this and that?", it's "What the love am I supposed to do here?!". Example - one puzzle features a crewman dead in a chair in front of a broken window. His chest is full of glass shards. You possess him and... five seconds later you hear a siren blaring, twenty seconds later you hear (or even see) the glass break, then you see a failure screen. You can exit the room, you can enter another one, but it won't matter. Have fun guessing what the problem is. This game doesn't have: a point where it becomes interesting, a point where it actually starts making sense, a point where the story told by the sketches becomes somehow relevant to the ship's story. Also there's the heat-as-health mechanic, which is as innovative as it is idiotic. Because, somehow, warming your hands at a lightbulb helps you survive a few more hits from a fireman's axe.… Expand
  6. Broyax
    Apr 19, 2020
    0
    Quelle est la daube du jour aujourd'hui ?... attendez que je farfouille dans ma poubelle... oh j'en ai une belle, je crois même que c'est la daube du week end ! c'est russe apparemment t ça se passe en Sibérie ou à un endroit où on se gèle les couilles !

    Mais ce n'est pas tout, car si on se les gèle assurément (virtuellement bien sûr) ce jeu, ce FPS pète aussi les couilles à domicile.    Quelle est la daube du jour aujourd'hui ?... attendez que je farfouille dans ma poubelle... oh j'en ai une belle, je crois même que c'est la daube du week end ! c'est russe apparemment t ça se passe en Sibérie ou à un endroit où on se gèle les couilles !

    Mais ce n'est pas tout, car si on se les gèle assurément (virtuellement bien sûr) ce jeu, ce FPS pète aussi les couilles à domicile. Déjà, il plante dans les options graphiques quand je paramètre ce merdier... je suppose que c'est le pixel shader qui l'a fait tilter... le "pixel shader" ? nan mais tu te fous de ma gueule ou tu prends le train ? c'est le 3 ou le 4 ? tu pourrais pas le détecter toi-même, espèce de jeu de merde ?

    Bon, rebelote... ça fonctionne cette fois-ci. Je crois que le 3 lui plaît ou alors c'était autre chose qu'il aimait pas... mais pourquoi la souris dérive comme ça ? attends, c'est inversé... alors j'inverse. Non, la souris continue de glisser, elle veut se faire la malle. Reste là, petit rat ! allez on quitte et on relance le jeu fini à la vodka !

    Ah cette fois, ça y est, tout a l'air normal. Quand même. Bon bah, qu'est-ce qu'on a là mon petit bonhomme ? une sorte de survival horrifique à la con, c'est bien ça ? avec du surnaturel dedans, tant qu'à faire... moué, moué. Tu l'as finie ta bouteille, Yvan ? parce que je pige que dalle à ce qu'il se passe dans ton jeu, camarade !

    Bon, tout se passe à deux à l'heure, tout est balisé et scripté... tout est plein de vent, de flou et de neige. Et de glace pour ce qu'on en voit. Et plein de vent. Chaque action prend une éternité, on se déplace ici comme un russe alcoolique qui sort du bistro (bistro, bistro !) avant de tomber dans le coma. Bref, ça m'a soûlé à mort d'autant que ça reste plutôt moche, buggué, lent et chiant...    … Expand
  7. The_D4RknesS
    Apr 15, 2023
    0
    what a rubbish game!! it had potential but whoever produced the game doesn't know what optimization is because the game is unplayable even on a Strong PC. This mediocre game from 2009 was supposed to run with everything at maximum on the PC and it doesn't even run at the minimum!

Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
75
#75 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 28
  3. Negative: 2 out of 28
  1. Absolute Games
    74
    Design flaws and the game's tendency to wax philosophical do not distract from the core idea and its stylish execution. This is what Vivisector, Action Forms' previous project, should have been like.
    Read full review
  2. Eurogamer
    60
    Cryostasis is a brave, fascinating, often very beautiful game, but I find it impossible to recommend it - and not least because it runs like an exploded dog on most PCs. It's not quite creative enough - its environments fall into a monotony of samey rooms and bulkheads - and its combat is too clunky to be delicious.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    70
    Cryostasis is a kind of revelation in the horror genre where you can alter the past to change the present. Game excels in visuals but lacks in combat system. [Feb 2009]
See all critic reviews »