Chornobyl Liquidators Review – Is This PS5 Game Worth Your Time?

by Jim Smale · March 12, 2025

Explore the immersive world of Chornobyl in our comprehensive Chornobyl Liquidators Review, where we uncover the highs and lows of this PS5 action-adventure game. With realistic mechanics and atmospheric design, this firefighting experience brings unique challenges and thrilling moments. Curious about whether Chornobyl Liquidators is worth your time? Read on to find out what makes it stand out and where it falls short!

Chornobyl Liquidators Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
7.10GB download size.
Platinum trophy.
Controller settings – stick sensitivity slider.
Tutorial messages – on/off.
A full 3D game world with 360 degree camera control.
Action adventure gameplay.
The tutorial section will be opened with ongoing pop-ups if enabled.
Save when you want from the menu.
Everything you do is manual, so putting out a fire, for example, has you grabbing a hose, carrying it to a water supply, hooking it up, and then using it.
Fire trucks need to be refilled and you learn all about how to connect hose lines to water supplies to fill the truck.
Objective markers show up on screen at all times, making it easier.
The quest book fills in as you play and ticks off objectives as you go.
The hose lets you adjust the pressure, which in turn adjusts how much water comes out and the cone of it.
Radial menu for fast selecting tools and items.
You can pause the game.
Fully voiced characters including the person you play.
Very atmospheric and having the radio as the main source of communication only adds to it.
Strong lighting model.
In game cutscenes that are blended into the game, never breaking the immersion.

Chornobyl Liquidators Review Cons:

You cannot remap the controls or tweak any other settings except for the sensitivity.
No graphics settings.
You have no display settings.
No accessibility options.
The controls feel clunky from the radial menu to the game’s reluctance to recognise interaction prompts.
The tutorial pop-ups can at times feel delayed or too vague.
The noises and flashing lights are part of the game, but they can be very triggering, with a borderline annoyance, but this is probably just me.
It’s hard to always see your hose and this is an issue as you only have X amount of hose to move around so you have to manage that.
No clear way to know how much hose you have left.
I constantly fell into situations where I couldn’t get out and had to lose a load of progress as I had to reload my save.
Invisible walls are very common.
I’m not sure if the game is going for a game approach or a more Simulator type approach, either way it skirts both of them and never fully commits.