Project: Snowblind

Developed by Crystal Dynamics and released in 2005, Project: Snowblind was evidently meant to be a multiplayer focused Deus Ex title. However, due to Deus Ex: Invisible War's somewhat undesirable reception, Snowblind was then set in its own, yet very similar universe. I don't know if that helped its sales but at least it spared the fans of the first Deus Ex game from another disappointment.

A pale shadow of Deus Ex

Snowblind's multiplayer is now dead and only its 6-hour singleplayer campaign remains. You can definitely see the resemblance to Invisible War in the console shooter gameplay and even visuals but Snowblind doesn't have the same intrigue. You are railroaded through linear maps, often supposedly in a hurry and accompanied by other soldiers. You can sometimes flank enemies by sneaking through a vent or using your invisibility augmentation. Or hack automated defenses to aid you.

It's hardly required though. The easiest way is to simply rush headlong at the opposition with your overpowered shielding augmentation active and shoot everyone in the face. The campaign lacks challenge and there isn't even a difficulty setting. And if you happen to die, you can get right back up using a nanobooster (of which you can carry up to 2).

The protagonist, Nathan Frost, also gets an unnecessary x-ray vision and some lightning power that didn't seem to do anything besides its graphical effect. Guns have primary and secondary fires like in Invisible War and the game introduces them to you in a quick succession in the early game. I don't think I ever managed to use all firing modes. The game's consumables include a spider bot -- again, just like in Invisible War.

Snowblind ran mostly fine on Windows 10. It lacks modern resolution support, though. The solution provided at PC Gaming Wiki helps but is hackish in nature: cinematic black bars and fade ins/outs during cutscenes don't extend to the edges of the screen, giving you unintended visibility on the sides. Some random stability issues were also present. They can be annoying because outside chapter transitions, you can only save inside special save rooms. They're fairly common, however, so you won't have to replay that much due to a crash unless you decided to skip saving on purpose.

Project: Snowblind is hardly worth one's time even at the 0.85€ or whatever it was during Steam's Autumn sale.