Peripeteia is a new Immersive Simulator set in post-Soviet Poland. Read on to learn about the game and what we think of the Early Access release.
Everything We Know About Peripeteia
Peripeteia Plot
In a cyberpunk reimagining of Poland’s history, a post-Soviet metropolis overflows with corruption, power struggles, and clashing ideologies. Amid the chaos, Marie—a young cybernetic supersoldier—takes on the life of a mercenary, seizing whatever opportunities the city presents.
Survival demands ruthless cunning, sharp instincts, and a willingness to embrace violence. Conspiracies lurk beneath every mission, challenging you to think strategically and adapt to an ever-shifting world. When intelligence and skill aren’t enough, brute force, a loaded gun, and the ability to scale nearly any surface will keep you alive.
Peripeteia Gameplay
Peripeteia is an immersive simulation that combines shooter, RPG, and stealth mechanics, allowing players to approach objectives in multiple ways. Missions can be completed through direct combat, stealth, or alternative solutions discovered through exploration and interaction. The game’s brutalist aesthetic and post-Soviet setting reinforce its themes of corruption and survival, creating a distinct atmosphere.
The gameplay requires patience, as it emphasizes manual inventory management, detailed interactions, and a UI that prioritizes immersion over convenience. Mechanics such as manually reloading magazines and strict object-carrying rules add layers of challenge, requiring players to carefully plan their actions. While its design choices may feel unintuitive at times, Peripeteia offers a complex and open-ended experience for those who enjoy problem-solving and mechanical depth.
Peripeteia Release Date
Peripeteia released on Early Access on February 21st, 2025 via Steam. Interested players can purchase the game there or try its free demo. According to the developers, the game will remain in Early Access until early 2026, or until they finish the game’s last few levels.
Peripeteia Review (Early Access)
Absolutely Will Crush You
I’ll preface this review with an admission: I’m not a big immersive simulation enthusiast. While I have played a fair share of them, they tend to enter my library only because they’re often RPGs. Heck, if STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl weren’t such a big title, I wouldn’t have considered playing it myself (even though that game barely counts as an ImSim itself).
On the other hand, I am quite easy to bait; if the developers use an anime-style thumbnail, I’m likely to at least check it out. But while most of the Steam Store pages I nonchalantly overpopulate my browser tabs with turn out to be terrible, I do get some great hits from time to time. And Peripeteia is definitely one of them.
It’s hard to describe what Peripeteia is without going into the whole charade of "what the hell is an ImSim, anyway?" But basically, Peripeteia is a first/third-person game that mixes shooter, RPG, and stealth mechanics into one admittedly crude but veritably charming product. According to its Steam page, it’s heavily inspired by the ImSims created by Ion Storm and Looking Glass Studios—I’m guessing they mean Deus Ex, System Shock, and Thief.
That said, Peripeteia doesn’t feel exactly like the aforementioned games. For one, it’s much grittier than Deus Ex, features a much more brutalist design than System Shock’s claustrophobic, high-tech themes, and is certainly less narratively engaging than Thief.
But if there’s one thing you can certainly compliment Peripeteia for, it’s its love for player expression.
Freedom to the Adventurous
A defining feature of a proper ImSim is the freedom to approach objectives in multiple ways. Think of it like problem-solving—there’s rarely only one solution if there’s no explicitly required method to achieve it.
As expected from a game in this genre, Peripeteia fully embraces this philosophy. Every task can be accomplished as long as you fulfill the general requirements—a matter that concerns the client more than the literal meaning of the words on your screen.
The very first mission perfectly illustrates this. It’s an infiltration job where you’re tasked with stealing a light bulb from a massive planetarium. However, the planetarium is controlled by an unsavory organization, forcing you to choose between two extremes: infiltrate the planetarium and kill anyone who spots you, or assist the organization in sabotaging the local law enforcement.
Neither option is great. Choosing the former potentially pits you against dozens of soldiers, while the latter might put you at odds with what remains of civilized law enforcement in the area. But the game presents an alternative win condition: carrying a barely functioning robot from the planetarium to your client. This can be done without a single casualty but requires an incredible amount of effort due to the distance you have to cover and the obstacles you need to overcome.
This win condition isn’t immediately obvious—it requires you to actually take the time to communicate with a strange robot deep within the facility. Of course, there are even more ways to complete your mission—the point is that you’ll never run out of choices in this game. All you need to do is keep an open mind and explore your options.
Tastefully Janky
ImSim players tend to expect at least some level of jank in their games, whether it’s frustratingly inconvenient ammunition management or outright infuriating save systems. Brigand: Oaxaca immediately comes to mind with its UI that simply refuses to do what you expect—like opening a completely different menu than the one you wanted. It’s part of the experience and, more often than not, contributes to a product that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Peripeteia doesn’t quite reach Brigand: Oaxaca levels of jank, but it comes close—just enough to make the experience elicit a smile whenever you think back on it.
That said, let’s be real—being crudely made is usually a major con. Enjoying these kinds of games takes more than just an acquired taste. If you asked someone whether they’d like a game where they fall off a ladder half the time they try to climb one, the resounding answer would probably be "no."
And honestly, "troublesome" doesn’t even begin to describe some of Peripeteia’s mechanics. Climbing ladders might already be a pain, but try doing it while carrying an object. Since certain items can’t be stored in your inventory, you’re forced to carry them in your hand—by holding down the "F" button. But if you so much as brush against an obstacle, you’ll automatically drop whatever you’re holding.
Carrying stuff up ladders turns into a multitasking nightmare, forcing you to juggle multiple buttons while staying hyper-aware of your surroundings. Mess up, and it’s back to square one. Fun, right?
…Actually, yes. At the very least, the satisfaction of finally succeeding is hard to describe—and even harder to ignore. That’s probably why I found it so difficult to put the game down, despite all the frustration it caused me.
Micromanage Everything
Most games try to make item management as convenient as possible. Peripeteia does the opposite. It attempts to emulate the nitty-gritty details of real life—the true ImSim experience.
A great way to illustrate this is through ammunition management. In Call of Duty, you simply walk over a body carrying the same type of ammo, and voilà—your magazines are magically refilled. Any extra rounds go into spare mags, even if the game has to manifest them out of thin air.
Peripeteia, on the other hand, makes you do everything manually. If you want ammo, you’ll need to check a corpse for a gun, see if it matches your caliber, stash it in your inventory, remove the magazine, then manually allocate loose rounds to partially filled mags.
And yes, this means you can load a half-empty magazine and get killed because you had to reload sooner than expected. You can even die just from managing your inventory—because apparently, handling old firearms can randomly result in explosions.
Now, is this bad? Technically, yes. But as I played more, I found myself enjoying the process of manually swapping attachments, sorting ammo, and tinkering with my loadout. Having everything rely on precise player input was an unexpected yet satisfying experience—especially in an age where convenience is king.
Of course, that includes all the frustrations of figuring things out when nothing works as intended.
Dense, Yet Empty
It takes real skill to create environments that physically affect players. While not exactly rare—Wuthering Waves’ Rinascita immediately comes to mind—any successful attempt at stage design that elicits a visceral reaction deserves praise.
Peripeteia’s world achieves this, but not in a way that inspires awe or wonder. Instead, it instills dread, isolation, and oppression.
This is no accident. Peripeteia takes place in a post-Soviet Polish city rife with corruption, and the towering, brutalist architecture reinforces that bleak atmosphere to an unsettling degree.
Unfortunately, this design doesn’t extend to the finer details. Many areas feel empty, lacking the liveliness you’d expect from a city full of conflict and opportunity. Some rooms also feel haphazardly decorated, as if the developer lost interest partway through.
An Acquired Taste, For Sure, But Excellent Without a Doubt
Recommending Peripeteia to the average gamer is tough. It’s frustrating, inconvenient, and janky as hell. But for those who can embrace its quirks, it’s an absolute gem.
Despite its flaws, I love this game. It offers the kind of freedom and control ImSims are known for, even if it sacrifices convenience along the way. And aesthetically, it’s brilliant. It may be an acquired taste, but it’s one that only gets better with time.
Peripeteia Product Information
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| Title | PERIPETEIA |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 21, 2025 (Early Access) |
| Developer | Ninth Exodus |
| Publisher | Ninth Exodus |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | Immersive Simulation, Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Peripeteia Official Website |
