P is for... Paradise Lost

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Game Information

Developer:	PolyAmorous	Date Started:	14/03/2025
Platform:	Steam	Fresh Play / Continuation:	Fresh Play
Genre:	Adventure	Time Played:	4.3 hrs
Theme:	War	Date Finished:	17/03/2025
Difficulty Rating:	Walk In The Bunker	Recommendation:	Recommended for lore and story. Nothing else.

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I had gotten this game as part of a Humble Choice collection back in February 2022 and while I had tagged this game to play at some point, I had never touched it until now.

I do remember that after looking into Paradise Lost, there was enough about the game that piqued my interest - primarily the claim that there was a mix of Slavic mythology with retrofuturistic technology.

I'll admit, I hadn't realised when I first got the game that it was a walking sim. I didn't mind that as long as the story kept me interested.

For the story, we are the eyes and hands of a young Polish boy - Szymon - who has made his way across a frozen wasteland to a seemingly abandoned German WW2 bunker. He is searching for a man who turned up in a photo alongside his recently deceased mother. While searching the bunker, you uncover documents that reveal its history and purpose. Furthermore, you encounter the mysterious Ewa, who is trapped in a control room in the lower levels of the bunker. The mystery of the bunker deepens as we try to learn who Ewa is and how she ended up in the lower levels.

Paradise Lost focuses on casual exploration. There are no threats to the player, so even if things feel dark and spooky, nothing will ever jump out at you. Additionally, the game is extremely linear. While there may be the occasional side room to explore for any lore, the game will always corral you towards the correct path. There are some minor split paths that you can pick from. Their only difference is in what lore you uncover. There is at least one choice that is tied to two achievements, so at least a repeat of the chapter is necessary to get both achievements.

The different areas of the bunker that you explore have the potential to tell a story, especially when coupled with documents that you find lying around. For instance, at one point, I needed to go through a train carriage that was on a turntable. Once I climbed in, I discovered the carriage to be riddled with bullet holes while abandoned guns were aimed out of the windows. I was able to conclude that this was a German defensive position that had eventually been overrun.

And there are other similar situations like it, as long as you can interpret the scene before you.

One thing I did not like, however, is that the game is slow. Everything your character does seems to drag on - walking, climbing, talking, rowing. There is supposedly a sprint button, but it is a lie because it doesn't feel any faster. For me, it felt like it only zoomed in a fraction to give the illusion of speed. If the game had been a little faster, I suspect I would have finished it in about two hours.

There was also an annoying bug that required me to look it up to get around it. Whenever you reloaded from a checkpoint, your character was frozen in place. The bizarre workaround was to disable the head bob feature in the settings menu. One other bug sometimes had my character not holding an item that was being discussed in a cut scene. While not game-breaking, it looked odd seeing that they were discussing something but his hands were empty.

One other thing that felt disappointing was that there was absolutely no challenge whatsoever. No real puzzles to solve, no exploration to find your way to the next section, no nothing. Honestly, if it weren't for the story and the lore, I would have enjoyed this game a whole lot less.

And even still, the story wasn't that brilliant. It didn't help that in the first few minutes of the game, there was a strong Fallout feel to the game, so I already had theories in place. I called the first big reveal/twist in the second chapter after reading a document and noticing a camera was watching me. The second big reveal, I had a strong suspicion about around the same time, but could only confirm it much later in the game. So really, it was mainly the lore that had me mostly interested. And if you skip a lot of the documents that are lying around, you'll end up missing out a lot on this.

One last thing that I didn't like is that at the end of the game, the final decisions are tied to five achievements (depending on choices). If you're not paying attention and you let the game conclude after the achievements pop, the game removes your save file. This means you would need to play through the game again at least five times to get all the achievements. Thankfully, and mainly because I saw a comment about it on a forum, you can reload the checkpoint after the achievements pop to restart at the decision point to alter your choices and get the remaining achievements. While I got most of the end game achievements, I wasn't in the mood to keep replaying the last section just to get the last one, which required me to see ALL ending combinations.

If I were to be honest, Paradise Lost felt like it dragged on. While I was interested to learn about the bunker, a lot of the stuff I read was of mild interest. It was only as I entered the fourth chapter (out of five) that things started to take a really dark turn.

And now that I have finished the game, while I do believe I will recall elements of the later part of the game, the rest is pretty much forgettable. In a way, I am glad I got this as part of a Humble Bundle rather than a direct purchase.

I would only really recommend this to people if they want a quiet, simple game with some interesting lore and a somewhat interesting story, and it would have to be on sale for me to even do that. Beyond that, I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone.

After this, I look forward to playing something a little more fast-paced. It's a good thing I have Quake 2: The Reckoning lined up next.