The game story develops with help of a unique system called Mental Echo - the ability to penetrate another character's memory and change the actions taken by that character in the past. This can involve saving people's lives by taking over their bodies in their memories and changing the course of history.

One of the available gameplay videos shows the protagonist enter the memories of a cow carcass, thus reliving the final moments of the animal in a slaughtering house before being decapitated.

The game, being set in an arctic setting, employs body heat as a health meter - the player must use heat sources (such as lights or stoves) to replenish health.

Cryostasis takes place in 1981 on a nuclear icebreaker called the North Wind, which has become shipwrecked near the North Pole. The main character, Alexander Nesterov, is a Russian meteorologist who must investigate what happened onboard the ship. But he’s not alone, and the North Wind is now plagued by dead crewmen who have undergone a bizarre metamorphosis due to the effects of the incredibly cold climate. Alexander must try to unravel the mystery of the ship captain’s death and discover whether it was the cold or possibly, something far more sinister.

The game is the first to make use of Nvidia PhysX real-time water physics as displayed in a tech demo of the game engine.

Cryostasis has so far received mixed reviews. Resolution Magazine described the game as "tense, frequently innovative and attractive," and claimed that "its shortcomings are definitely outweighed by its strengths," awarding it 78%. Eurogamer was slightly more critical, awarding the game 6 out of 10 and stating that "it's not quite creative enough - its environments fall into a monotony of samey rooms and bulkheads - and its combat is too clunky to be delicious." PC Format meanwhile award the game 83% and called it "A beautiful, yet flawed gem that offers up a thoroughly unique experience."

Cryostasis doesn't utilize multi-core CPU support, and thus makes it difficult for many players to play the game smoothly. This is uncommon as most modern games take advantage of multi-core CPUs. The issue has been discussed in the official game forum.