MISERY

MISERY drops its players — private military contractors guarding a secret research institute in the fictional post-Soviet Republic of Zaslavie — into a sixty-second scramble for the bunker as a nuclear siren sounds, then leaves them to scavenge a radioactive exclusion zone with up to nine friends. Released 23 October 2025 by the small independent studio Platypus Entertainment, it's earned a devoted, Very Positive following across more than 19,000 Steam reviews for its chaotic, genuinely funny co-op energy. It's also a game whose launch month was disrupted by a real, well- documented controversy, and whose own fans raise a specific, recurring concern about how much content actually backs up its full 1.0 release. Untangling all three threads honestly is what this review sets out to do.

Chaos, comedy, and a genuinely distinctive atmosphere

The single most consistent throughline across the review sample is how memorable MISERY's co-op sessions are, often for reasons the developers surely never scripted. "Lured a dwarf into my bunker with vodka... he now runs on a hamster wheel to power my things. I also ate my own poop for science. fun game, good loop," one review states, and that specific flavour of improvised, dark comedy recurs constantly. "Bought it, played it a bit, bought it for a friend, and we spent a night before a work day playing it until 5 am," another review states, describing a session that "[bunker] crawls can be genuinely creepy, and you can make crayfish fight each other." The game's post-Soviet, STALKER-adjacent atmosphere draws real, specific credit as a genuine achievement in its own right: "this game hits you with such a strong post-Soviet vibe that I immediately felt like I was back at home fixing a broken radiator. Gritty, gloomy, absolutely delightful," one review states, while another frames the comparison carefully: "many people compare this game to the STALKER series but both games really have nothing in common aside from the setting and atmosphere."

A real, recurring complaint about content depth

What tempers that enthusiasm across a substantial share of the sample is a specific, repeated argument that MISERY simply doesn't have enough content to justify calling itself a finished release. "The game has potential, but as of now there isn't much to do. You can experience almost everything it has to offer in about 2-3 hours of playtime, and after that it starts to feel repetitive," one detailed review states, a specific runtime claim echoed by others. "I don't know how you can call it a '1.0' when this plays like your average early-access... title," another argues, while a third puts the underlying frustration plainly: "Lots of love went into this and it shows, but this is by no means a finished product, and it is misleading not to label it as 'Early Access'." That's a meaningfully different, more specific complaint than simple dissatisfaction — several of these same reviewers explicitly say they don't regret the purchase at its low price, but object to the framing of a complete release rather than an ongoing work in progress.

Combat and balance draw a related, more mechanical thread of criticism. "The biggest issue for us was the loot system and the economy. Finding valuable items, managing resources, and making progress often felt more tedious than rewarding," one review states. A specific, dateable balance controversy erupted in January 2026, when a patch sharply reduced item sale values: "the price of sold guns is terrible and repairing them is so exorbitant it's not worth selling them," one review from that period states in frustration. Checking the developer's own patch history directly confirms this wasn't left to fester — a follow-up update titled plainly "YOU CAN SELL VEGETABLES AGAIN" shipped later the same month, a specific, good-humoured acknowledgment of exactly the complaint players raised.

A launch month disrupted by a real, documented dispute

Separate from the game's content itself, MISERY's first weeks were genuinely overshadowed by a dispute with STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World. Independent press coverage, including reporting from PC Gamer and TechRaptor, confirms GSC filed a DMCA takedown against MISERY in early November 2025, alleging the game infringed its copyright — Platypus's own team characterised the action publicly as "an abuse of power against small independent developers by a large corporation." The game was removed from Steam for roughly a week; checking the developer's own news feed confirms the timeline directly, with a post titled "We are under attack!" on 8 November followed five days later by "WE ARE SO BACK!" on 13 November, alongside Platypus's public statement that the dispute had been "resolved" as a "misunderstanding" following contact with GSC's legal team, and an acknowledgment that two specific issues involving STALKER assets had been addressed in the update that restored the game's listing.

That same dispute period saw a real, separate incident worth reporting plainly: press coverage confirms a member of Platypus Entertainment's small development team, posting under the handle Maewing, sent an offensive Discord message directed at GSC that included an ableist slur. The developer subsequently apologised for "past words" and "old posts," though press coverage notes that framing sits awkwardly against the message having been posted during, not before, the dispute. Platypus has since put a formal moderation policy in place for its Discord community. Separately, some players speculated the DMCA action might be connected to allegations of pro-Russian sentiment within the MISERY community, given GSC's status as a Ukrainian studio amid the ongoing war — this review found no independent verification of that specific claim beyond scattered community speculation, and treats it as unconfirmed rather than reportable fact.

A studio that kept building afterward

To Platypus's credit, the studio's output since that rocky start has been genuinely sustained. Checking the developer's own update history confirms a real, ongoing cadence — a major update adding 10-player servers, third-person view and bug fixes in April 2026, followed by hardcore mode, Steam Deck and controller support in March, and further hotfixes through May 2026. Several reviewers credit that ongoing investment directly: "it's $10 dollar STALKER that lower end PCs can run, what isn't there to like — I know there are bugs but the dev is super active in trying to fix them," one review states.

Where this leaves a buyer

At NZ$18.99, MISERY delivers a genuinely fun, atmospheric co-op survival experience that earns its Very Positive reception on the strength of its chaotic, memorable multiplayer sessions and distinctive post-Soviet tone. The honest, necessary caveats are twofold: a substantial, specific thread of the game's own fans argue its content doesn't yet justify a finished 1.0 label, and its launch month was genuinely disrupted by a real, well-documented DMCA dispute and an admitted offensive incident from a member of its small team — both facts worth knowing rather than glossing over. Players looking for a short, funny, atmospheric co-op session with friends, at a price that matches that scope, are likely to get real value here. Players hoping for a deep, long-term survival loop, or who weigh a studio's public conduct heavily in a purchase decision, should factor both concerns in before buying.