EBOLA 3

Review

Your name is David, a military contractor who has the unfortunate experience of stepping on a landmine and finding himself transported to a secret medical facility for life-threatening surgery. This medical establishment was created and owned by a genius professor who found a way to treat all kinds of untreatable diseases known to date. But this discovery always attracts the interest of big players, some with devious intentions. This is precisely what happened in this case! The wealthiest man on earth, who is also interested in biological weapon warfare, managed to purchase 80% of the company that owns this facility! The bottom line is that you wake up and find yourself alone in the operating room, and everything looks weird!

Ebola 3 is a first-person survival horror game with puzzle elements developed and self-published by indie games studio on the 20th of September 2022 on the Steam platform.

I don’t play this type of game except for well-known franchises such as Resident Evil. So, I was really intrigued to experience how an indie game developer portrays this genre. I was expecting a lot of issues, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. However, there are some issues with this game. The first one is the graphics; they look rough around the edges, but they’re ok. The voiceover is terrible, though, and to make it worse, the synchronisation with the main character’s opening cutscene is just wrong. The aiming system could be better. To focus a shot, you have continually press the left mouse button, and your icon target will become smaller; at one stage, it will stop, and it will mean that your shot should be effective and inflict serious damage to the enemies. Well, It seems to be random. For instance, if you use a gun, it might take up to seven shots for a Zombie to drop, but if their heads are still attached to their bodies, they will rise again after several minutes. And here comes the issue, there is no pattern to learning how to dispose of a Zombie effectively. I never came across any Zombies or walking dead-brain people, and I am not talking about politicians! But based on movies, if you shoot or stick a sharp instrument into their heads, they should no longer bother you.

I restarted the game a few times from scratch, so I could try different tactics in terms of weapon combinations. After all, this game is based on savings ammunition and finding an effective way to eliminate enemies without wasting them. So far, the shotgun and handgun combinations are the best. However, there are no guarantees that you will get rid of a Zombie with one shot from each of these weapons. One shot with the shotgun and then between 1 to 4 shots with a normal gun or up to two shots with a magnum. As far as I can see, automatic weapons are a waste of time as they inflict minor damage.

The game is well-structured regarding the levels, however, and you will need to find items that will allow you to progress to the next stage. Is it very scary? I don’t believe it is, with the exception of a few jumping moments based on my current playthrough, and to be fair, I haven’t finished the game. But I don’t think it will get worse from what I have seen.

In terms of the challenging aspect of the game, there are 3 different levels of difficulty. I always choose to play games on the average level, and I think this game is more challenging than you would expect, which I welcome.

You’ll find ammunition, weapons and other gizmos at each location you visit. You’ll also find transcripts that will help you progress through the game. The main ones that you will find early on in the game are how to create ammunition with different coloured powders and blood combinations that will regenerate your health. There is also a collectable item, a policeman figurine, and there are 25 to find throughout the game. The puzzles are average, and you do have a fair bit of help if you can’t figure them out after a certain number of attempts, which I welcome. The inventory interface is simple and easy to use, which includes crafting items.

In terms of enemies, I came across Zombies, Bears, Spiders, Swat teams and a couple of bosses in my last playthrough, and I am aware there is a lot more game time in that regard.   

As mentioned, the graphics are ok but need more polish, and the voiceovers are terrible. However, I enjoyed the story and experienced a few jumps while playing that game. Still have to finish it, though!

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

 EBOLA 3 Steam Store Page