Review: COVID-19 Isolation |

Covid-19, Corona, isolation. We’ve all heard and read these words way too many times already. We’ve all been staying at home as much as possible these last few months, and it has taken its toll on all of us. Well, while we’re all spending our time inside, why not find some new video games?! And then you bump into… COVID-19 Isolation. What?! Yep, developer Maxim Arefiev made a game with that title. As far as I know, this is the developer’s first title, and it’s gotten our attention right away.

What we liked!

Different endings: A simple game can get boring real quick. Luckily, there are different endings to experience, keeping you curious. I won’t be giving away every ending, but I’ll let you in on the first few ones I experienced myself. The first one, and I’m not proud of this, was because I let my dog die of starvation (I’m still not over that) and then I ended up dying myself (fair enough). The second time I died, which was at 11 days (just like the first time), it was because I neglected an old lady who needed help. I know, how dare I! But I didn’t have any groceries for her, and I didn’t want to go to the store to pick some up for her. Unfortunately, she was picked up by an ambulance a few days later. Oops. Another time, I, again, denied help to someone. In this case, a friend and my parents. Y’all must think I’m horrible, BUT I WAS OUT OF MONEY, GO EASY ON ME. My character couldn’t live with himself and hung himself. Oops again.
Music player: When the game started, one of the first things I noticed, was the music player on the television screen. This got me excited right away, being a big lover of music. And sure enough, there were a few songs I could play. This may seem like a minor asset to the game, but it’s something that caught my attention right away and I liked switching the music every day.

Somewhere between

Always the same (text): Every time you die, and you will die a lot, you start again from scratch. This got repetitive really fast since you get the same exact text every time you started over. And the same exact things happened over and over again. Of course, sometimes you could make different decisions, but after a while, you’ve made all those different decisions and you keep reading and experiencing the same things.

What we disliked

Too expensive: Even though I enjoyed this game, I wouldn’t pay 10 Euros for it myself. It’s a cute little game, but for me, it got a tad repetitive (yes, even with the various endings). It’s a super simple game where you click, click, and yes, click, and at some point, there just isn’t that much to do but the same things over and over again. You play a video game, enjoy your guitar a little bit, water your plant,… I just don’t feel like 10 Euros is the right amount for this game, maybe 5 Euros would be better.

COVID-19 Isolation is a simple but fun little game. Unfortunately, it’s too repetitive and expensive, making it not really worth it, I think. The way I see it, Maxim Arefiev found a way to make money out of this global situation. It’s a game with a title that will catch your eye, and everyone has heard of COVID-19. I feel like the game costs 10 Euros because it’s a ‘trend’, and that’s a shame. The idea and concept are great, but I won’t be recommending this game.