Encased Reviews
It doesn't quite manage to reach Fallout's brilliance and quality, but Encased is still a fun experience, capable of providing lots of meaningful possibilities and an interesting new post-apocalyptic world to explore.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Very complete and very well written, Encased is a good old-fashioned RPG that knows how to take into account your decisions and in which aficionados of the genre (in need of Fallout first of the name, but also in more recent Wasteland or Divitiny Original Sins) will be delighted to immerse themselves.
Review in French | Read full review
Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG is a worthy purchase for all fans of classic Fallout games, thanks to a well-crafted post-apocalyptic setting, great worldbuilding, reactive world, and solid overall gameplay. The clunky interface, basic combat, verbose writing, and overwhelming amount of status conditions to keep track of damage the experience a bit, however, making Encased a game that only the most die-hard RPG fans will enjoy right from the start.
Dark Crystal Games’ passion for this type of game shines through in every facet. They have made every attempt to make the game as accessible to a wide range of players as possible. The game feels tight in terms of performance and I encountered no bugs. How much one will enjoy the game really depends on how much one will put into it.
Encased is an old school RPG with lots of content and an exciting story. However, it is perhaps a little bit too faithful to the classics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Some jank does not stop Encased from being one of the most ambitious and greatest CRPGs in years.
Encased is a strategy RPG with lots of depth and options that suffers from stiffness and imbalanced gameplay
Encased can suck you into it for dozens of hours for exploration and complex, difficult battles with various tactics but also leave you frustrated with the way it approaches the story and characters.
If hard sci-fi sends you to sleep, you might want to give this a miss, because every now and then, the story be can a little dry. But for everyone else, if you’re prepared to give Encased your time and attention, and overlook what are mostly fixable flaws, you’ll discover an engaging, compelling and pleasingly deep RPG.
"A very decent clone of Fallout." That's at the same time the biggest compliment, as well as the strongest criticism for Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG. It is a labour of love that is almost as fun as the one it passionately pays homage to, and is thus easy to forgive its lack of fine-tuning. Unfortunately, it also lacks what made Interplay's gem the legend it is, which is, of course, the writing. You see, the key word in the phrase "a very decent clone of Fallout," is the word 'decent.' This otherwise entertaining piece of software is definitely that, but decent just won't do for most people.
Solid RPG with a lot of good ideas, promising first half and quite a few flaws in the second half.
Review in Russian | Read full review
A quality cRPG in the footsteps of classic Fallout that will satisfy fans of the genre.
Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG is a title that is a very entertaining, and most importantly, a fresh addition to the ranks of post-apocalyptic role-playing games. This is a highly polished and sophisticated RPG that gives you the opportunity to really empathise with the character you have created. Throughout the gameplay there is a great deal of freedom and the ability to handle different situations in your own way. The world and the environment then continually reacts to these situations, making you feel all the better for playing. The bet on the inspiration of Picnic by the Roadside and Fallout clearly paid off.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Encased is an uncompromising homage to old RPGs. To patient players, it offers complex game systems and an original world which will consume them for a long time. However, grind and fetch quests may be a good reason to skip Encased.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Encased is a love letter to the late 90s RPG and, despite some jagged edges, it's quite an exquisite post-apocalyptic irradiated meal for players, looking for a huge amount of freedom in building their own characters and stories.
Encased is a game that plays into fond memories of similar games that came before it. Although it is a theme that feels a bit overdone at this point, it still adds value to the genre in its own right. If you have been itching to play something that reminds you of the other games mentioned above, I highly suggest you pick it up. It’s a healthy balance of turn-based action, exploration, and story. I am looking forward to my next playthrough already. From what I’ve experienced, Encased receives the Thumb Culture Gold award.
Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG is finally emerging from its nearly two-year Early Access period and is all the better for its time spent in player-engaged development. Fans of Fallout 1 and 2 and Shadowrun are going to immediately fall in love with what Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG has to offer them, from its impressive character creation to vast world-building, from its ambient aesthetics to its divergent storytelling, and every nook and cranny worth exploring in between. You may be stuck underneath this Dome for the rest of your life, but rest assured you’ll be far too busy living your best post-apocalyptic life to care about anything outside of it anyway.
We have mixed feeling about Encased. No doubt for some players it’s a great game reaching the upper echelons of the review scale. For us, less so due to our own preferences or perhaps expectations. A lack of direction, vagueness and tendency to draw on some frustrating quest design over-and-over have us at odds with the neat combat, excellent writing and fantastic audio alongside its neat premise. However, with our grievances aside, we still recommend this for those looking for strategy turn-based role playing. It’s certainly got character and that’s something most people can probably agree on.
The setting and story of Encased have a lot of hooks that will keep any RPG lover engaged. With both the choice of five backgrounds and many dialogue choices, the game has high replay value.
Feeling jerked around by a quest chain? Sidestep the entire thing by stealing the quest item you need from the character who won’t hand it over. Not enjoying the combat anymore? Create a stealthy build and sneak your way through the entire story without fighting a single enemy. Want to destabilize a faction? Craft or buy explosives, activate the bomb timer, then use your pickpocketing skills to plant the explosives on their leader. That was one of my favorite things to do in Fallout, and it’s arguably even more fun to do here.