The Thing That Happened Remains Unplayable
A review by Igor's Lab finds The Thing That Happened, a post-apocalyptic survival game from two-person studio Jericho Game Development, remains
The Thing That Happened, a post-apocalyptic open-world survival game from Hungarian two-person studio Jericho Game Development, is too unfinished for a convincing version 1.0 release according to a review by Igor's Lab. The game's visible world, technical reliability, and basic gameplay systems are broken, with buildings disappearing while their collision remains active and firefights shaped by invisible geometry.
Core Technical Failures
The most damaging problem is the separation between what the game displays and what its physics engine recognizes. Bullets can stop against apparently empty air because an invisible wall remains. Buildings and objects appear only when the player approaches closely or disappear while staying physically present. This turns basic navigation and combat into an unintended process of ballistic surveying.
Shader stutter persists, and the game's saving system is unreliable. The camera also presents significant issues; when aiming, the player model could clip into the camera view. Even after corrections, the perspective remained uncomfortably close to the character. These are fundamental functions that should have been reliable before the final release, not late-stage discoveries.
Development Timeline and Patch Response
The game spent more than two years in Early Access before reaching version 1.0 on July 20, 2026. Late changelog entries reportedly included adjusted fog, repaired quest textures, and corrections to water and food consumption. The article argues that in a survival game, fixing basic consumption mechanics so late is a fundamental failure.
Patch 1.03 has made the game at least playable again for the reviewer, eliminating the most serious errors. However, the article states this does not undo what paying customers were served for weeks beforehand. An unfinished developer build in debug mode was sold as a finished product, and fundamental errors remained for weeks without a clear response.
Suspected Causes and Lost Opportunity
The article notes the developers disclose using AI tools during programming. It suggests there is reason to suspect automatically generated or modified code was not checked consistently enough, leading to errors that should have been caught in a basic review. Regardless of AI assistance, humans must review the results, the article argues.
The game's concept is described as the main lost opportunity. With a smaller scope, stronger technical discipline, and more development time, the project might have become a modest and entertaining post-apocalyptic experience. Instead, the released product combines an ambitious open world with systems that frequently undermine the player's ability to understand what is happening on screen. The reviewer ultimately spent more time debugging the game than playing it.
