''Krater'' is a

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Fatshark Fatshark is a Swedish video game development studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. The studio is located in Stockholm. Fatshark acted as a subcontractor for several AAA titles for PC and consoles, and the studio also develops its own games. In Jan ...

developed the game following the studio's moderate success after developing '' Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West'' and other titles. ''Krater'' was released in 2012 via the

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

digital distribution platform.

Gameplay

Krater is a squad-based real-time strategy role-playing game. The player controls a team of gas masked survivalists in a post-apocalyptic

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Players venture in a post-apocalyptic world scoured by a nuclear war. Players can command up to three characters, but reserve members may be purchased. The combat system of the game is fashioned similar to

Blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

's '' Diablo'' series. The player control's a team of three characters from a range of four different classes and their "mutated" variants. The classes are "Bruiser" which takes the role of a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

. A "Medikus" which takes the traditional role of a healer. A "Slayer" which is generally used for short range DPS, or damage dealers and a "Regulator" which is generally a longer ranged DPS. The mutated variants of these classes offer differing, yet similar skills. The player can also have a team of reserve characters. The player's team always attack together, but individual members can be reassigned to attack other targets. Each member can have up to two fixed skills and are only cool-down dependable. There is no traditional levelling system in the game and is only dependable on stat-enhancing character mods called "implants". The game also features

permanent death Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the p ...

s of party members. Once a member dies, they must be replaced with a new recruit. The crafting system in the game is dependable on acquiring blueprints and gathering materials for the construction of the item. Players find blueprints by either looting dungeons or purchasing from vendors.

Reception

''Krater'' received mixed reviews from critics upon release. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the game holds a score of 52/100 based on 36 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviews praised the game for its unique storytelling and setting, easy learning curve, and its crafting and character development. However, reviewers also stated that the game needed improvement with balancing in combat, uninteresting quest design, and too few skills and customization.

References

External links

''Krater'' official website''Krater''
at

''Krater''
on Fatshark's homepage {{Expand Russian, Krater, date=October 2016 Role-playing video games Action role-playing video games MacOS games Post-apocalyptic video games Video games developed in Sweden Video games set in Sweden Windows games 2012 video games Fatshark games