Back to the Gorky.
Gorky Zero is a duology of stealth prequels to Odium (Also known as Gorky 17.) developed by Polish studio Metropolis Software.They take a fairly drastic shift, being MGS/Splinter Cell inspired stealth action titles with a younger Cole Sullivan.The original Gorky prequel was Gorky Zero: Without Honor (Gorky Zero: Slave Factory in the original Polish ) while it's sequel was called Gorky 02 in Polish, Aurora Watching in the UK and Soldier: Elite in the US.
This game provides examples of:
- Action Bomb: The Test Subjects in Gorky 02 explode on death due to implanted explosives going off.
- Action Girl: Tatiana in Gorky 02.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gorky 02 shows Parecki to have been this in Gorky Zero.
- Dub Name Change: Sullivan is near exclusively (even on the box art) called the codename "White Fox" in the English versions of Gorky 02, there is one moment however where they left in using his first name Cole.
- Evil All Along:
- Gorky Zero presents Parecki as a Reluctant Mad Scientist who is only working for the evil organization in order to have access to the specialized medical care that he needs to live. Gorky 02 shows that he was a straight up Mad Scientist, and not Reluctant at all, and only feigned remorse to Cole so Cole would help him escape. In Gorky 02 he's back to his human experimentation shenanigans and even betrays his employers again in hopes of selling off his research himself for a huge profit. This eventually gets him killed by said employers. Cole never finds out any of this, and even disobeys direct orders to assassinate the guy in an attempt to save him, presumably for old times sake.
- In Gorky Zero the General who gives Cole his orders is revealed to be The Mole and a Treacherous Quest Giver, having been brainwashed with brain nanites by the evil organization and reshaped into one of their members, even bragging that his former self no longer exists. As the brainwashing is irreversible, Cole assassinates him after escaping the base and the government passes it off as a heart attack.
- Game-Breaking Bug: The original Gorky Zero has two:
- The installer simply fails to work properly on modern systems unless you use a virtual machine of an old version of Windows.
- The game will tend to crash when starting unless you re-name the game.exe. (Absurdly to something like Quake2.exe works.)
- Genre Shift: It's a MGS/Splinter Cell inspired Prequel to a turn-based survival game heavily inspired by Vandal Hearts, Gorky 02 also adds mini-game driving sequences, one with a snowmobile and one with a boat.
- Hollywood Silencer: Zigzagged, The "Subsonic" ammunition for the Pistol/Sniper Rifle have an accuracy penalty and can still be heard by close enough enemies but the "Silent" ammunition for the Pistol can never be heard by enemies with a harsher accuracy penalty however both types of ammo are also used without actually attaching a suppressor to the firearm.
- Prequel: To Odium/Gorky 17. However, other than having Cole Sullivan as the main character, the plot doesn't really tie into Gorky 17 in any major way. Gorky Zero and Gorky 02 do tie into each other, though.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: In Gorky Zero, Colonel Trafimov was a Posthumous Character, a high-ranking member of the evil organization whose death was used as bait to lure Cole into the mission. In Gorky 02, Trafimov turns out to be alive and is the Big Bad.
- Short-Range Shotgun: Downplayed, the range is still short compared to reality, but the Shotgun in Gorky Zero can hit and instantly kill enemies at ranges most video game shotguns would do nothing at. (It's even got more range than the Submachine Gun.)
- Standard FPS Guns:
- You get a basic Knife in both games for stealth kills and as a last-ditch melee weapon if you're out of ammo.
- You get a Pistol that is incredibly accurate but slow firing. (and can be used with subsonic or silent ammo)
- You get a Submachine Gun that can't hit the broadside of a barn and is fairly weak, meaning it's mainly used for ambushes.
- A Shotgun that has surprisingly decent range and high damage.
- And finally, the Sniper Rifle, slow firing, can use normal or subsonic ammo but is incredibly loud without subsonic ammo.
- Static Stun Gun: Sullivan gets one after being captured in Gorky Zero, meaning the player can only stun enemies instead of killing them, it is replaced with the ability to stun enemies by hitting them in the back of the head with a gun in 02.
- Stealth-Based Game: Medkits aren't super common and Sullivan can't take much of a beating, so while these games have their fair share of forced action, you're encouraged to use traps/stealth kills to conserve health and ammo when possible.
