Twitch Rivals is an exciting event where various streamers battle against each other in Rust. What's even better is that you can watch this event live and earn Twitch Drops. If you don't know what Twitch Drops are, they're basically rewards you can get in-game for watching qualifying streams. Here's everything you need to know about the Rust Twitch Rivals drops.

All rewards of Rust Twitch Rivals drops

There are various exclusive rewards that you can earn from the Rust Twitch Rivals drops. Here are the rewards:

• Nikof and ElMamene Assault Rifle Skin
• Blooprint and hJune Vending Machine Skin
• Mendo and deathwingua Rocket Launcher Skin
• Twitch Rivals Jacket Skin
• dilanzito and IsLautaARG00 Thompson Skin
• Twitch Rivals Backpack Skin
• Krolay and JLFranklin_ Sheet Metal Door Skin
• Oilrats and riqqeloff MP5A4 Skin
• Willjum and SinksR Jacket Skin
• xXxTheFocuSxXx and s3kox Sheet Metal Double Door Skin
• NoraExplorer and CoconutB Garage Door Skin
• Dhalucard and CaptainMyko Semi-Automatic Pistol Skin

How to get all the rewards of Rust Twitch Rivals drops

First of all, you have to make sure that your Rust account is connected with Twitch. If it is connected, jump on the Twitch directory and start watching ??the streams to get the rewards. Here is t?he list of required watch time needed to snag each reward:

There are also four more rewards that have not been revealed by the developers. The only thing we know is that ??these rewards will not be based on any streamer.

What are the start and end dates of Rust Twitch Rivals drops?

Rust Twitch Rivals drops is set to go live on December 9, 2024. However, it will run for only a week and will end on December 16, 2024.

The post Ru??st Twitch Rivals d?rops: Rewards, start date, and more appeared first on Destructoid.

There are a lot of survival games out there, and it can be difficult to f?igure out which ones are worth putting your time and money into. If you’ve got a PlayStation 5 and want a new challenge to dive into, we’ve got you covered. 

But what makes a survival game? Generally speaking, if you begin with very little and have to work your way up by gathering and crafting, then it can likely be included as part of the survival genre. If you can build your own base and customize it to your own tastes, then even ?better. 

Here are ten survival games available to play on PlayStatio??n 5 right now, and each of them is definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre. 

Minecraft

As far as survival games go, Minecraft is a classic. You enter a pixelated world and have to work your way up from nothing but your fists. Gather resources to build a shelter and food to fill your stomach, and then you can go exploring in the cave systems under your blocky feet. One of the major plus points to Minecraft is Creative Mode, allowing you infinite resources to build glorious creations?. 

The best thing about Minecraft is that it’s the perfect game to introduce a younger generation to the joy of survival games, with children everywhere loving the blocky world and everything in it.?? 

Rust

After waking up naked on the beach with a rock, you’re tasked with surviving on servers filled with other players who are all only looking out for themselves. You then need to gather (or steal, if you’re feeling brave) resources that will allow you to build shelters, all while avoiding the hostile wildlife such as bears and wolves who will attack you without a second ?thought. 

To top off the survival experience of Rust, all servers get reset on the final Thursday of each month. This means that all of your bases, and a??ll of your progress, is removed, and once again, you f?ind yourself naked on the sand with only a rock.  

Ark: Survival Evolved

Have you ever wanted to tame dinosaurs and don them in mecha suits that turn them into war machines to use in survival against other pl??ayers? Well, if that’s th?e case, then Ark: Survival Evolved might just be the survival game you’ve been looking for. You can play either single-player or multiplayer and form tribes with others on your server. 

It goes without saying that you begin your life in Ark: Survival Evolved with nothing, and you have to gather and craft your way up. Eventually, you can tame dinosaurs as mounts and take on mythical creatures. You can even build mobile bases on ?the backs of some of the larger prehistoric beasties, giving you the ulti??mate RV. 

Subnautica

Subnautica is unlike any other game on?? this list because you have no land to stand on. Well, aside from the giant ship that you get to explore as part of the story and two islands you’ll get to eventually. You’ll need to gather blueprints, resources, and food in order to survive in the middle of an alien sea, surrounded by absolutely giant and very hostile alien creatures. 

There are multiple modes that you can enable while playing Subnautica, with Creative Mode disabling all depletable characteristics like health and thirst. On the other end of the spectrum, Hardcore Mode removes warnings of low oxygen levels and includes a gamer's worst fear �Perm?adeath. If you die, your save file will be gone forever. 

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky got off to a rocky start when it was first released back in 2016, but it’s become a beloved title in the survival genre thanks to multiple game-changing updates. Now, it’s an ??example of everything a good survival game should be. 

As a humanoid explorer of the planets,?? you wake up on a random planet with a crashed spaceship and only a multitool to help you navigate the strange world. On the plus side, the multitool not only allows you to scan and gather resources but also acts as your first weapon if you encounter any alien creatures out to kill y??ou. 

Grounded

Grounded is my personal idea of hell, and seems as though it took heavy inspiration from Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Shrunk down to the size of an ant and suddenl?y needing to survive in a world filled with giant insects, you’ll gradually become more hungry and thirsty as time goes on, having to gather resources and water to survive. 

What’s worse is that Spiders are considered an “apex predator�in the world of Grounded, and as an arachnophobe, having a giant spider chase you across the backyard while you’re starving and dying is not my idea of a fun time. With that said, Grounded does have an arachnophobia m??ode, and I ?guess your enjoyment of this will depend on how much bugs give you the ick. 

The Forest

If surviving against insects isn’t your idea of a good time, then how about surviving in a world filled with cannibals who not only want to kill you but also rip the flesh from your bones? The Forest is the predecessor to Sons of the Forest, and if you play through The Forest and find it enjoyable, I strongly?? suggest that you pick up the s??equel as well. 

The best survival method for The Forest is to focus on b?uilding and exploring during the day, as the mutants with nefarious intentions come out in the dark of night. There’s a huge level of fear and anxiety that you’ll feel when playing through this one, but it’s also hugely satisfying to ?survive and get through the story. 

Pacific Drive

If you’re looking for a survival game with a bit of a four-wheeled twist, then Pacific Drive is definitely the way to go. Using your trusty (if a lit??tle run-down) station wagon, you can drive across the map to scavenge and gather resources to improve both your own chances of survival and the car itself. 

Your car is fully customizable, and you’ll need to focus on repairs and upgrades so that you can explore further and survive for longer?. Anomalies around the map will affect you or the car in different ways, such as scrambling the controls for the car or inflicting damage, so be careful as you explore. 

This War of Mine

This War of Mine is the only survival game on this list that isn’t played through a first-person POV. Instead, you’re in control of a group of people who are hiding in a damaged house after fleeing from a war. They can’t venture outside in the daylight, as there are sniper?s?? waiting to take them out, and you’re low on resources. 

Each controllable character has its own backstory, and you need to keep each of them alive as you wait for the ceasefire to come. However, there is no fixed timeframe for this event, so you’ll just need to keep going until it comes. This War of Mine? is haunting and definitely something you should try if you’re into survival games. 

Green Hell

Green Hell can? be played in either single-player or co-op multiplayer mode and is an open-world survival game set in the Amazon Rainforest. As you likely expect by now, you’ll ne?ed to gather resources, build shelter, and find food in order to survive. 

If you choose to follow the story, which is entirely optional, then you’ll go off in search of your wife, who went missing after venturing out on a solo trip to a local tribal village. Unfortunately, your only contact with her is thro??ugh the radio, and the local Yabahua?ca tribe has not taken kindly to the presence of researchers in their jungle.

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If you haven't played Facepunch Studios' brutal open-world survival game Rust, you should really tre??at yourself. However, do note the word "brutal" used in that opening sentence: it is for those who seek madness?? in an unforgiving world. But that doesn't mean said world can't look nice.

In the most recent (and substantial) patch to the game, the Rust developer has really gone out its way to pretty up the harsh environment players are expected to survive in. Simply called "World Update 2.0," this massive download overhauls the game's landscape, complete with some ?"unique environments" to boot.

A quick look at the Steam post shows exactly what the update entails. For instance, the cliffs have been reworked, some new coastal rocks have been added, rock formations have been revamped, and there ??are also canyons and oases to admire.

This game is not going rusty

Okay, so there is plenty to look at in the new and improved exterior locations. However??, the update also includes improvements to some interiors. There are also some new underwater locales to explore, including foliage and s??ome dive sites.

Or how about weaponry? You like weapons? Course you do! With this patch, you'll find a high-caliber revolver, which is built for "prec??ise, long-range shots rather than rapid fire," according to the developer. In short, there is a lot to be getting on with, it seems.

It's been a hot minute since I booted up Rust. I must admit, while I'm not the best survivalist on the island, I do enjoy the challenge of running sans clothes through the land, fighting off wildlife while staving off hunger. Maybe I get to hunker down in a small log cabin I fashioned myself while being exposed to ??the elements. Ah, good times.

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Oh, look. It's been a picosecond since the last Steam sales event. No doubt many of you took advantage of the last one �the Endless Replayability Fest. Well, don't put your money away just yet, as we're a?lready onto the next?? one.

Beginning yesterday, the Steam Open World Survival Crafting Fest (and breathe) offers discounts on a series of well-known and slightly less well-known games from, well, Open World Survival Crafting games. You've got until Monday, June 3 at 10 a.m. PT to c??hoose from what I would say is a pretty good list of titles.

Take a quick look on the sales page to see for yourself. Want 30% off Sons of the Forest? Of course you do. How about 33% off Project Zomboid? An odd number, but sure! Or maybe you want to get Stranded Deep, Valheim, or Subnautica for 50% off each. Even Palworld is there, at 10% off the regular asking price.

Summer lovin'

These events seem to come around more often these days. However, we're not quite at the big Steam Summer Sale just yet. That begins in a few weeks. You can keep an eye on the SteamDB countdown if you really want to see exactl??y when it's scheduled to beg??in.

Crafting and survival games fe??el like they shouldn't be as popular as they are. But as we ?can see here, there are still so many offerings, largely from more independent studios. A lot of them are pretty decent as well, in my experience.

There are definitely more than a few in the sale that I'm keen to try out; Sons of the Forest, Project Zomboid, maybe even Enshrouded.? Can I afford all these games? Check bac?k with me later.

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Since releasing to early access over ten years ago, Rust has become one of the most famous online survival games in the current era. I say "famous" when I really mean "infamous" because, as anyone who's played the game knows, it's hard as frick. What we really need is a tutorial.

Ta-da! As of now, the latest patch for Rust has started rolling out which, low and behold, implements a Tutorial Island, perfect for getting to grips with the fundamentals. According to a post over on Steam, the island offers a way of adding a "safe environment to learn the basic controls and mechanics of Rust before being set loose in the main game wi??th other players."

It also says that? all players will be prompted to run through the tutorial "when they first spawn this month," but you can decline the offer. Here's what you'll learn:

• Basic movement
• Crafting
• Building bases
• Upgrading bases
• Respawning
• Basic combat
• Resources
• Looting containers
• Cooking
• Using Furnaces
• Workbenches
• Using a vehicle

No mention of how to cope with being screamed at by aggressive teens

That's probably one of the biggest things to come out of this update. But there's also another huge improvement that's been made to Rust in the guise of better night lighting.

The update notes go ??on to say that to combat "gamma hacking" from players, the studio has added a "Nightlight feature." Essentially, this is a shader that illuminates the immediate area in front of you at nighttime, "mimicking the effect of natural mo??on light."

In short: you should now be able to see much better in the dark. It's still going to be pretty dark, though, so don't expect to be able to confidently run through the inky blackness with nary a care in the world. This is Rust, after all.

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Popular multiplayer survival game Rust continues its consistent updates with a February update titled Bags to Riches. The update brings one of the most highly requested additions of backpacks to the competitive shooter. The backpacks come in two sizes, small and large, with different increases to inventory size. You can read the full patch notes here.

Carry more

The Small Backp??ack has 12 inventory slots and can be crafted at a T1 Workbench for 50 Cloth and five Sewing Kits. The Large Backpack is military grade and can only be found in military loot. It has 28 storage slots. Characters now have a new backpack slot where you equip your backpack. However, on death, they drop off your character and can be looted on the ground or from inside your inventory. There are no negative effects of using backpacks.

With the addi?tion of backpacks comes a change to player remains on death. The ne??w visual models for backpacks will change based on if the bag has been searched by someone before or not. That way, you can quickly tell if a backpack has already been searched through or not. The visual for backpacks will also show debris if there are more than three items still inside.

Metal Detector detected

A new item, the Metal Detector, has also been added to Rust. Players can search for metal objects hidden under the ground, just as you'd expect from a Metal Detector.?? Green lights on the Metal Detector when used will indicate the general area of an object, at which time you can hold the right mouse button to sweep the area. If all the lights shine yellow, a flag is placed indicating the location of an item. You can then dig it up with any melee weapon.

According to the developers, different areas on the map will yield different types of loot, me??aning you will find something different on the beach from say the roadside.

Shovels have als??o been added in this update, but don't have a purpose yet. Something tells?? me it might end up being related to the Metal Detector and finding loot?

I like to jump back into Rust every now and then. It's still a fun game to jump into with friends and build up a base and do some raiding. Rust has really come a ?long way over the years, and I love that it still gets frequent updates.

The February update for Rust goes live today.

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Much like Soulsborne titles, PvP/PvE survival games like Rust and DayZ are known for being quite punishing. However, it's this brutality that's evidently one of the reasons they're so popular. Speaking of Rust, it recently turned 10 and the developer has shared some int?eresting stats about the game.

In a recent post on Steam, Facepunch Studios celebrated Rust passing its first-decade milestone. That's if you include the earl?y access release �which the developer obviously does �as that came out in December 2013. The full version didn't officially drop un??til 2018.

As for what's occurred in that time, well the studio says that Rust has sold more than 16,000,000 copies in total. That's an astonishing achievement for an indie outfit and is just under half what Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold. On top of that, the game has raised more than $1.7 mill?ion for charity, had over 244,000 players at its peak, and has had mo?re than 370 patches.

And the updates keep on coming

The game recently had its first update of 2024, and starting in February, players can look forward to more inventory space. Rust will be getting a backpack? implemented, which will be craftable an?d allow you to carry more items.

The post on?? Steam also says the developer has a "ton of content currently in development." Some of these include improvements to the world and environment, bringing down memory usage for better performance, a possible rev??isit of nighttime lighting, plus plenty more.

Here's a quick look at what's coming to Rust, hopefully this year:

• Older monument reworks and improvements
• Continue experimenting and making meta changes to gunplay
• Softcore game mode Improvements
• Hardcore game mode experimenting
• Experimenting with progression
• Improvements to AI
• Improvements to events such as the patrol helicopter, Launch site APC and Cargoship
• World environment
• Underwater exploration
• Missions
• Using our data analytics to identify less commonly used items and balancing
• Experimenting with new ways/events to encourage players to engage with PvP

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All this debacle surrounding Unity's upcoming Runtime Fee has caused a major stir, especially among developers. This includes none other than Facepunch Studios, best known for Garry's Mod and the brutal survival game Rust.

In a statement on Garry Newman's (not that one) blog, the founder ??of Facepunch has outright said that Unity ca??n now "get f*cked." This alone pretty much spells out how most people feel about what's going on with the popular game engine at the moment.

Newman expands on this by saying that there's trust has now been broken between Unity and pretty much every developer that uses its toolkit. The post then concludes by saying: "Rust 2 definitely won't be a Unity game"

Does this mean a follow-up is in development?

It's difficult to not take this as an off-the-cuff way of confirming that Rust 2 is in the pipeline. It could well have just been Newman letting off some steam by saying that any future projects will not be ut?ilizing Unity products.

As such, we can't say for definite whether a Rust follow-up is in development. It could well be that Facepunch Studios is looking to do a se??quel of its popular PvP/PvE/PvLE (Player vs. Literally Everything - that one's mine) title. We'll have to just keep an eye on whether this gets elaborated on in the future.

The general takeaway from ??Newman's post is that nobody is happy with the direction Unity is curr??ently heading in. Seemingly, the reasons are obvious to everyone but Unity itself.

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Facepunch Studios' brutal online survival game Rust has b?een going (and going) for year??s. Its punishing gameplay seems to entice the most sadistic of players, and updates continue to add to the world. Now, the most recent patch implements enough new stuff to match a Schwarzenegger flick.

A recent video uploaded to the Rust/Facepunch YouTube channel gives? a good idea of what you can expect the next time you log in. Among other things, the developer has now added an attack helicopter, which comes complete with a gunner seat. There's also a homing missile launcher to take down said helicopter, and also an armored hot air balloon because why not?

//youtu.be/gTKll4bk968

One other thing that's been included in this latest update is the weapon rack. As the name suggests, this gives you a handy place to store all those guns. And while you're at it, have some parachutes as well, which allow you to "travel silently over long distances." More details about the new patch can be found on Steam.

Not rusty yet

If you're a newcomer to Rust, you'll know how tough it is to make it through those first few days. When it's?? n?ot the threat of starvation or the wildlife that's keen on gnawing your bones, it's the other players who are, quite frankly, trigger-happy.

Still, it's worth it if you can thrive in this harsh environment. The game's been out for several years now �originally releasing to early access in 2013 �and Facepunch Studios seems only too keen to keep improving its survival IP. Plus, now you can literally "Get to the choppa!"

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My hot take in stunning 8K resolution

One of the most impressive things about games is just how far they've come technologically in only a few short decades. There was a time when a few blinking pixels on a screen were cutting-edge technology, and now we have games that are so photorealistic that we can see every grimy pore on our player character's face.

Look, I would never be? one to diminish the hard work that people have put in to make that happen, but at the same time, I don't think that it's all that necessary.

For one thing, hyper-realistic games don't age super well. Something that we think loo?ks real one year will appear outdated in the next due? to constantly improving technology. Remember, there was a time when people thought the first Metal Gear Solid game was the most realistic thing they had ever seen. If a developer wants to go for a more grounded style, I think it works be?tter to lean ever-so-slightly into some stylization. 

The Telltale games are a great example. Those games are far from photo-realistic, but the art style actually mimics the cell-shaded style of comic books, where many of the Telltale IPs got their start. They were great at creating atmosphere and a sense of place, which to me is so much more important than a one-to-one feeling that I'm in the real wo??rld.

Personally??, I'm a big fan of stylized art forms. Even when you want to go for a more grounded feel, you can still use the art to help achieve that feeling. The art style can set the whole tone for a piece, and? since games are such a visual medium, there's nothing I love more than seeing devs use the art to help build on the game's tone, because I believe that's one of the most powerful tools they have at their disposal.

We also can't ignore the fact that the more "realistic" you want to make your game, the harder you??r designers, artists, and animators need? to work. We're at a point now where you can easily find a balance between making things look how ?you ??want, while also not crunching your developers into oblivion. The pros just don't outweigh the cons in my eyes.

When the storytelling or gameplay is strong enough to carry a game on its own??, that's what I really care about. If taking away a sense of visual realism makes your game unplayable, then I'm sorry, but you might just have a bad game? on your hands.

Besides the visual??s, then there's the actual design of the game itself. Nothing annoys me more than design choices that are made for the sake of realism, only to find them as hindrances rather than being helpful. Take, for example, the inventory limits in Skyrim.

So you're telling m?e that I'm ??a magical being who can shoot fire out of my fingertips and slay dragons, but I can't carry one more wheel of cheese because it's too heavy? Yeah, I'm not buying it. Of course you want to keep some things realistic, but I'm a strong believer in making a game as fun to play as possible (if that is indeed the goal of the game), and I never think realism should get in the way of that.

After scouring Reddit, I found I'm not alone in t?his anno??yance. Breath of the Wild's rain is a classic example of a hated "realistic" mechanic -- if you're going to make the weather system a thing in ??a game that so heavily relies on climbing, at least let us get an item that can bypass that annoyance later on. Other players share their distaste for the health ?regen system that some shooters have, where your screen goes black and while or red and you just have to wait it out behind cover. Another big one is having the player character slowly open drawers and cabinets to loot in real time.

I don't take issue with games where the whole p?oint is to be ??as realistic as possible, like a racing sim or even a brutal survival game like Rust, but when the objective is to provide a fantastical escape for the pla?yer, why are we bothering ourselves with cherry-picking which details we want to be realistic? It's like how fast travel doesn't al?ways make sense i??n the universe of the game, but we're cool with suspending that part of our disbelief for the sake of convenience.

Because games are still so young as a medium, it feels like we're all still trying to figure out what makes for the most fun experience, which in some cases means making the player do tedious tasks for the sake of realism. I know some people out there completely disagree with me on all of thi??s, and to each their own, but man, I can't wait until we move past this and just get down to what feels fun to play.

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Survive a new platform

Rust has been a pretty popular entrant in the survival game genre, and in a few wee?ks, console players will be able to get in on the action.

Revealed during today's ID@Xbox showcase, survival game Rust Console Edition is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 21, 2021. In a press release, publisher/developer Double Eleven describes the console version of Rust a??s a "separate experience from its PC counterpart," specifically optimized for console players.

"Our Console Editions of Rust are certainly Rust as people know it, but under the hood - where we've spent the last few years - we've created an exceptional Rust experience designed for consoles and their players," said Double Elev?en COO Mark South.

Rust has players start out with nothing, waking up alone on an island, and leaves it to you to survive, possibly thrive, in the harsh and uncaring wild. Does ??this lead to a lot of running around naked and scared with a rock? Yeah, definitely, but there's some fun to be had in that as much as surviving.

Eventually you can craft objects, escalating from torches to actual assault rifles. The console edition has looked pretty good w??hen we?'ve seen it in the past, and in a few weeks' time, you'll be able to test your own mettle in the wilderness of Rust.

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Someone grab the WD-40

Earlier this week, Double Eleven put the word out to the wastelands that its survival epic Rust would be making its way to PS4 and Xbox One in the coming months. Following on from the port's first trailer, the publisher has released two "uncut" gameplay videos showcasing Rust: Console Edition in action on both platforms.

The first video runs a lengthy 17 minutes and spotlights Facepunch Studios' multiplayer adventure as it appears on PS4 Pro. The video features a raid on an isolated village, followed by a spot of scavenging and scrounging for food, weaponry, and other resources. After all, the local 7-11 is hard to come by in Rust's brutal wilderness. At this stage, gameplay looks relatively smooth, with the PS4 Pro handling Rust's action with comparative ease.

By comparison, the Rust Xbox One X gameplay video runs a far shorter six minutes and sees a party of survivors shore up at a seemingly abandoned power facility, before engaging in a lengthy and chaotic gun battle. This video seems a tad more staccato, with a little less smoothness and polish than the PlayStation preview. But it's worth bearing in mind that both editions are still currently in development and, as online games, will likely be tweaked for stabil?ity numerous times before, during, and after their respective la?unches.

Rust: Console Edition is expected to launch this spring ??on PS4 and Xbox One.

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There's a beta test right now but it's very limited

2020 was a quiet year for the still-happening PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Rust, but big plans are in motion this year. Double Eleven put out a new trailer for Rust: Console Edition today, thanked fans for their ongoing support, and sent out?? the first batch of closed beta keys. No release date, though.

[Update: Double Eleven is now aiming for a Spring 2021 release for Rust: Console Edition, and the studio shared a handful of new screenshots. The closed beta will stick around f??o??r "the next few weeks."]

If you put your name in the hat for the Rust console beta and haven't heard back, it's not a lost cause. The initial invitees will help "test out server stability," but the developer "can't invite eve??ryone just yet."

I appreciate that Facepunch Studios and Double Eleven didn't try to rush out the console ports (or drop them for PS5 and Xbox Series X). I mean, Rust is doing tremendously well for itself on PC with a bright future still ahead of it, and there's no real hurry so long as the wait is worth it. As short as this footage is, it looks in line with what I was expecting for "Rust ru??nning on a PS4 and ??Xbox One" – decent enough.

Let's just say console?? versions of PC-first survival games aren't always up to the task?.

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If you find Rust to be a little too unrelenting, give this a shot

If you're new to Rust or ?it's been too long, you might want to start slow with a Softcore server. It's an official new way to play that's more "casual"-oriented – but that doesn't mean it's completely chill.

As outlined by Facepunch Studios' Maurino Berry, there are four main differences in ??Softcore mode, at least to start. The team expects to ?"continue to iterate and improve on it moving forward."

• When you're killed, half of your inventory can be reclaimed by you at either the spot of your death, or at a reclaim terminal (found at Bandit Town and the Outpost) – items in the reclaim terminal will de-spawn after two hours.
• All players may now spawn at either the Bandit Town or Outpost safezones at any time (provided they are not flagged as hostile).
• You may only view the contents of a wounded player.
• Maximum team size is four (this includes the number of people who can authorize at a Tool Cupboard or on an Autoturret).

To be clear, this offshoot isn't taking away from the default hardcore Rust experience –  vanilla ??servers will still be in the "majority." Initially, at launch, there will be 10 servers running ??Softcore mode.

_{The new update also includes a marketplace with delivery drones to foster more trading. Eat it, Bezos!}

Rust was a bewildering and hostile survival experience when I first played it years ago, and I mostly mean that as a compliment. But as curious as I've been to revisit my deadly old stomping grounds as the game continues to grow, there's a mental barrier – I'm not always in the mood to face the odds.

I can't say this new mode sounds pleasant, exactly, but I'm intrigued. I'll see how it adapts. With over 200,000 concurrent Rust players, there's no shortage of people to put Softcore through?? its paces.

"Softcore is something we've wanted to do for years," said producer Alistair McFarlane. "We'll be tweaking and updating based on player feedback. We know this isn't for everyone, it's an experiment! – let's see where this goes and pro?gresses over the next few months. EVERYTHING is subject to change."

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Double Eleven cites remote work 'challenges'

Garry Newman meant it when he said the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Rust weren't "something we wanted to rush out." A year after the ports were announced, they've been delayed beyond 2020.

In a blog post, Double Eleven said Rust was coming to consoles "just a little later than planned," but stopped short of announcing a ne?w release date. The studio als??o explained why it's been so quiet.

"The world of games dev is a fickle beast; you never have the full picture up front and the ??development process often becomes more of a journey of discovery when bringing a PC title to console. As much as engaging with players is extremely important, we believe it also has to be meaningful and as we've been working away behind the scenes, we haven't felt ready to share anything with you yet."

"We'v??e always had some remote workers," Double Eleven said, "but moving the entire company home to ke?ep everyone safe has presented challenges as we've found new ways to work with each other in the new normal that this year had in store for us."

As much as some of us have moved on from Rust, it's still very ?active on PC – it took the #10 spot today on Steam for m??ost concurrent players – and it has such huge potential with the console audience.

Rust Console Edition Update [Double Eleven]

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The survival game that lets you worry about potato genes

Rust is such a ridiculous game, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's fascinating to watch it grow from the sidelines. The latest update, Farming 2.0, encapsulat??es that sentiment well.

In a game about surviving on a harsh island with less-than-trustworthy players looking to keep themselves entertained in bizarre and sometimes cruel ways, you can also obsess over your plants' light intake, water saturation, temperature, and genetic makeup. You can crossbreed plants if you want.

The Farming 2.0 update represents "a major overhaul of how farming and plants work" in Rust. Aside from monitoring plant wellness factors in real-time, there are also new toys to play around wi?th: a hose, composter, sprinkler, fluid splitte?r, fluid switch, water catchers, barrels, and horse dung.

Yes, dung is important. As explained in the patch notes, "Horses no??w poo. Collect it, put it? in the composter, get a nice amount of fertilizer. They poo every 20-25 minutes."

As for crossbreeding crop?s to improve their growth rate, yield, and hardiness, the system ?is limited to planter boxes for now. "When a plant enters the crossbreeding stage, it checks its genes against any surrounding plants, on a per-slot basis. If enough neighboring plants all have a matching gene type in the same slot, this will overwrite the plant's existing gene in this slot with the neighboring one."

No exaggeration, it's this kind of stuff that makes me love Rust. It's high- and low-brow all at once.

The post Rust isn’t playing around with its Farming 2.0 update appeared first on Destructoid.

You'll never look at rocks the same again

Never forget that for all its player-driven madness and brutality, Rust is pretty as hell.

It's a point worth making again today in light of the news that it's coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The console edition of Rust is underway at ?Doub??le Eleven and Facepunch for a 2020 release.

Over on the PlayStation Blog, Facepunch founder Garry Newman said the priority is "making Rust the best survival game on console." To that end, t??hey're trying to "avoid tripping over ourselves in terms of controls and performance" since it's "particularly important to get those things perfect in a PVP game."

He also added that players will be able to rent personal Rust servers, even on consoles.

I'm at a point where I enjoy Rust through the eyes of others – I've had my fill since the initial 2013 Early Access release – bu??t I'm excited for a new generation to wake up on an island, nude, with a rock in hand.

The post Floppy su?rvival game Rust headed to PS4 and Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

Why can't we be friends?

Rust can be a savage, unforgiving place, but with this week's update, players will have just a little more breathing room. Facepunch has added the Compound, a scientist-run area that acts as a safe zone. There's absolutely no weapons, killing, looting, or sleeping within its walls, and anyone caught breaking the rules will be designated as a hostile and gunned down in a scene straight out of RoboCop.

Okay, maybe it's not quite so dramatic. But ne'er-do-wells will be blown apa??rt by turret??s!

"It's probably going to be gamed pretty hard, so we'll have to just keep iterating, but this will bring a new dimension to the game that we're very excited to see play out," wrote the developers. "We originally intended for people to set up thes?e kind of zones with peacekeeper turrets, but after a year and no-one bothering we took matters into our own hands. We really hope you guys have fun with this and we'll be listening for feedback and fixing problematic areas as the month goes on."

With that all said, rule-breakers' hostile status w?ill per??sist across death to "prevent griefing."

Aside from just being a place to peacefully coexist, the Compound offers basic clothing, traps and weapons, resource exchange?, tools, components, and building s??upplies.

Elsewhere in the update, Rust has gotten scuba gear and underwater rock formations to expl?ore, some new server-??side anti-hack measures, first-person clothing models, and a few other enhancements.

The Compound Update [Rust]

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Vehicles at last

For me, Rust tends to bounce between two very different experiences. Sometimes, it's a nerve-wracking game about establishing a safe haven where you won't be found and promptl??y murdered in the night. Other times, it's a reckless game about getting into trouble just for the thrill of it all.

Today's update speaks to the latter experience -- it introduces player-controlled boats. The motorized rowboats appear on shores across the map and are big enough to fi?t a driver?? and three passengers. Beyond just screwing around, they'll also prove useful for reaching newly-added flotsam junkpiles.

The update also revamps forests with "much greater visual variety" and denser foliage better suited to hiding small bases, along with many other additions like hairstyles and floating corpses.

The other big upgrade: the CH-47 Chinook event. It's in. "This transport helicopter is a periodic server event which will appear offshore and make its way to a designated drop zone to resupply. Drop zones are located at most of the Tier 1 and above monuments, and the helicopter will orbit the area in an attempt to neutralize any threats (read: players). After this, it will approach the drop zone and release its payload." Everyone on the server will be able to see where this precious cargo has dropped on the map, and players can only loot it once it's been properly disarmed. That process takes time. Good luck!

Vehicle Update [Rust]

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This is the way the world ends

There's a fatalistic cycle at the heart of Rust.

Every life begins the same. Players spawn on the shores of an uncaring island, naked and ill-equipped to make it through the day. Every life ends the same, too: with the clinical inevitability of a server wipe. The world-ending reset might come after a week. On another server, it might take longer, but there's no avoiding it. The entirety of Rust is bookended by the chaos of a fresh spawn and an inescapable death-by-reset. They're the only two universal truths in a hostile world. You're bo??rn. You try to stay alive. The server wipes itself clean. And then, everythi??ng starts over.

It's what happens in betw??een t?hose moments that matter.

Rust (PC)
Developer: Facepunch Studios
Publisher: Facepunch Studios
Released: February 8, 2018
MSRP: $34.99

Rust is a great survival game in the sense that almost every part of it is openly hostile toward players. From those first tentative, dong-flashing moments after spawning, right through the player-driven arms race of base building and nighttime raids, Rust rarely allows players to let their guard down. It can be unwelcoming -- discouraging even -- to spend time on one of Rust's randomly generated islands. But with either patience, grit, or some combi??nation of both, those who persevere will find a beautiful playground where unpredictability reigns.

It's difficult to boil a game like Rust down to its most basic elements without it sounding dry. Like other survival games, the only real goal is staying alive. Mostly, this means investing a considerable amount of time into chopping down trees and smashing rocks for stones and ores. Collecting resources isn't exactly the most thrilling activity, but Rust does feature subtle systems that make the process snappier than one might think. For example, upon striking a tree, a red spraypainted "X" appears nearby on the trunk. Hitting the X grants an incremental bonus to the wood resou??rces on each subsequent chop, both breaking up the monotony ??of repetitive actions and rewarding players for paying attention. Mining rock nodes has a similar effect, with sparkling points indicating the sweet spot. While you'll still spend plenty of time grinding for much-needed materials, earning small bonuses makes it a bit more palatable. 

But farming resources like wood and stone are only useful if you plan to use them for something. And in Rust, it's imperative to build a shelter for protection from both the elements and other players. With a few hundred pieces of wood tucked away, players can craft a building plan and begin constructing a small home of their own. Rust's modular building system makes slapping a small base together easy enough, as walls snap to foundation tiles without much fuss. With practice (and enough resources), players can either?? reinforce their structure with sturdier defenses or focus on building a massive o??utpost with loot rooms, furnaces, and dozens of interior design flourishes. 

Though establishing a base of operations is vital to staying alive, experiencing Rust's chaotic social dynamics are where the meat of the game is. Servers can host anywhere from 25 to 200-plus players at any given time, each of whom is running around the map searching for crafting components, building bases, or looking for a fight. Rust maps tend to be large enough that encountering a solo player in the wild feels inherently dangerous and unpredictable, but the community's penchant for volatility means that griefing and hateful language are prevalent. Of course, every player's experience will vary depending on server selection, but it's not uncommon to be assaulted by another player the second you cross paths. For those who tend to err on the side of non-confrontation, encountering other players will undoubtedly be exhausting and frustrating. But if you can look past a community that tends to be toxic or find a more welcoming server, Rust's sprawling plains and toppled landmarks are an?? excellent backdrop for player-driven storytelling and pitched, dramatic moments.

Rust is at its best when players strike a balance between creativity and role-playing. There aren't many games capable of generating the kinds of self-contained experiences like those found in Rust. The lifespan of a server is marked by daring raids and gunfights that cut through the otherwise still air. Random encounters with players can lead to uneasy alliances just as quickly as they can devolve into tense standoffs over resource nodes. There's almost always something happening on a modestly-populated Rust map; it's just on players to either seek out interaction? or drum up some chaos themselves. 

So much can happen in Rust over the course of a week. Overcoming the elements is no small task in and of itself, and the game's punishing survival systems make it hard to recommend to everyone. But for those who are willing to put the time in and stick with it, Rust provides both a social sandbox and a deep, functioning crafting system. At times, it feels like anything is possible in Rust; like witnessing players doubl?e-crossing one another or stumbling upon a small sheet metal city in ?the desert. You just have to accept that nothing is permanent on the player-driven island. And sooner or later, you have to build everything back up again.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Rust appeared first on Destructoid.

That's not to say it's 'done,' though

Rust's four-year run on Steam Early Access will soon wrap up. The multiplayer sandbox survival title will appear on Steam proper as of February 8, 2018. That said, its development is far from over.

Announcing the decision in a blog post, Facepunch founder Garry Newman said the launch will happen "without much fuss" and it will essentially be "business as usual" -- aside from a price increase. Rust is $20 right now and it'll cost $35 once it's out of Earl?y Acce??ss. 

"Don't think of this as us claiming that the game is done," said Newman. "Think of this as us saying that if Early Access didn't exist we'd have released the game on Steam by? now."

"Please try not to compare the game to some other finished game or some idealised version you have in your head," he added. "Compare the game now to how it was when we entered Early Access. That's the delta that we feel qualifies us to leave Early Access. Think of it more like we're leaving Prototyping and entering Al??pha."

The stu?dio plans to shift toward a monthly update cadence for the sake of stability. "That means that not rus?hing in features and fixes that end up breaking something else," according to Newman.

Rust will have a main branch (monthly updates and hotfixes??) and a staging branch ("bleeding edge, daily updates"). It?'s an approach other big Steam games have used to good success.

As ever, I'm curious what Rust will look and feel like when it's? considered complete. This transition out of Early Access might not coincide with any "big reveals," but it's the end of an era.

Leaving Early Access [Rust]

The post Rust is finally l??eaving Steam Early Access next month appeared first on Destructoid.

But the updates won't stop anytime soon

The last time I played Rust was back in October 2014. To recap: I smashed a warthog to pieces and then got my own head bashed in by another player, like you do. I haven't been back since. It's not even that I'm bored of the humans-are-the-real-monsters survival sandbox (though, admittedly, t?he concept is less novel nowadays). I've simply been holding out for the final release, whenever that might be.

In a blog post about the curse of Early Access, creator Garry Newman touched on when Rust wi?ll finally launch on Steam proper. It's happening sooner than I was thinking. Here's the crucial excerpt:

"To me it comes down to a single question:

'If early access didn’t exist – would we release this game?'

Once you put it in these simple ter?ms, it's easy to answer. We defini??tely would have released it by now. We obviously wouldn't have stopped updating it yet (and we don't plan to stop updating it after we leave EA), but it would have been on Steam by now.

So our plan is to add a bit more help to the game (so first time play?ers can actually open the inventory menu without reading guides on the internet), and then quietly slip out ??of Early Access."

It's been long enough for me that I'll essentia?ll?y be coming in fresh, so, good to hear.

The curse of Early Access [garry's blofg]

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Get. Told.

Garry Newman, the developer behind Garry's Mod and popular Early Access survival game Rust, took to reddit to directly address players with a chart included as seen below:&nb??sp;

Additionally, Garry offered up an extended comment addressing the chart of the community's love it, get bored?, complain cycle. 

I'm noticin??g a pattern, and we need to address it. It's something we need to get past as a community, not only because it's getting bor?ing but because it has wider implications.

We're stuck in ping ??pong loop. We release an update, you love it for a month, you get bored, blame the system, bitch for a few months, then we release another update - and the same thing happens.

My worry is that this is going to be a constant thing. We're not going to hit a point where you go - yep - don't change anything - keep it like it is. Because it's not that one particular sy?stem is much better than t??he other, it's just that one is fresher than the other.

So I'm going to make a suggestion.

If you're bored of the game then just stop playing it?. But before you get angry about?? it consider whether we have given you enough entertainment over the last 3 years to justify pocketing your $20.

I know this probably sou??nds pretty dismissive, but that's not how I want it to be. I'm trying to be pragmatic. If you're interested in the game, if you play regularly and still get enjoyment when you play - we're definitely interested to hear what you think. We especially love hearing your stories, watching your videos, seeing your screenshots and paintings - all things that this subreddit has been very low on.

If we want to leave Early Access then breaking this loop has to be part of that plan. We have a pretty good idea on how to push forward with Rust, but none of it is going to make the game more appealing to people that have?? s?pent their last 1,000 hours hating it.

After skimming responses to the thread it seems like many players seem to disagree with recent changes that makes the game too much of a grind. "You guys have taken this crazy home invasion simulator that rewarded creativity and ingenuity and turned it into a gathering simulator with guns. Creativity and ingenuity are being snuffed out, grind is being increased, rewards are being reduced," said one redditor in response to Newman's comment. For those that a?ren't familiar with these survival games, grinding for resources?? is pretty much the majority of the gameplay, so if the player base is upset about something so core to the game, seems like something is probably off. 

It is refreshing to see a developer be so blunt and forward with the community, versus those who sit back and take a lashing online while being silent. I have to say a lot of gamers could certainly learn from this. I've seen this mentality across many game-specific subreddits including the likes of Destiny, Super Smash Bros., and many times Hearthstone. It is hard to say if these communities are just vocal minorities unrepresentative of the overall player base or not, but I'm pretty sure the Destiny subreddit believes it dire??ctly controls Bungie at times (I'm joking, mostly).

We need to talk about this situation [reddit]

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Modder and developer profit split

Valve caught mad flak early this year trying to introduce paid mods (modders could charge for their work on the Steam Workshop) to an existing Skyrim communities whose modders often shared content freely. Suddenly someone else who used your character models, for instance, to bring something new to the game for everyone to enjoy could be charging money for what is partially your work. So ?Valve rolled back that program

But now there's the developer Item Store. Open world survival simulator Rust is the first to get a store page up, though the feature's open for anyone to use. There you can buy cosmetic items, like a festive $2.50 Christmas sweater, you might ot??herwise find randomly in the game, or buy in the Community Market. The Christmas sweater page -- and all item pages -- even has the current market price (starting at $7.21, in this instance) and how many were sold in the last 24 hours.

So, microtransactions, then?

Well, no. Also paid mods, a bit. Valve's Doug Lombardi explained its exactly like existing microtransactions, "except that this new system uses Steam for a bunch of things that developers have traditionally had to build themselves." Developers will be able to work with modders and sell user-made items in their stores, too, and the modder will split the proceeds with the developer. So people can get...paid for their mods. Rust's Gary Newman told PC Gamer that Rust's store is curren??tly filled with developer-made items, "as a test for the system," and that it will primarily be used for user-created ??items.

Valve explains, "This new Item Store is designed to make it easy for developers to establish an in-game economy or to just sell individual cosmetic items, keys, or consumables. And, it's designed to easily integrate with a curated Workshop (similar to Team Fortress 2) so you can accept user-made items, use that data to create item definitions and prices in the Steam Inventory Service, and set those items for sale via the Item Store. Steam takes care of the checkout process, splitting payments to Workshop authors as appropriate, and adding the items to users' inventories. Your game then just needs to be able to call the Workshop to download item content in the right circumstances for your game."

Steam launches official developer-run Item Stores [Eurogamer]
Steam 'Item Stores' roll out with new ??update,?? debut in Rust [PC Gamer]

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Admins first, then organic dispersal

Back when I was telling you about how Rust automatically generates penis size based on Steam ID, a footnote to that article was that female player models were on their way to the survival sa?nd?box, too.

Well, this momentous addition was announced on the 69th -- 69!!! -- Rust devblog. Let me take a moment ?to appreciate how blessed I am. Ok, well, it's not in yet (hah, sex! coed survival! 69!). "We still have some stuff to work out, like making alternate clothing models for her, but if you're an admin on a server you'll be the female model."

This is for a short testing period. Rust's Garry Newman wants to reiterate, "when we [sic] it does go live you won't get a choice of whether you’re female or male. We're not 'taking the? choice away' from you. You never had a choice. A man’s voice coming out of a woman’s body is no more weird than an 8 year-old boy’s voice com??ing out of a man’s body."

Like skin color and cock size, your unique avatar's gender in Rust, too, is determined by your Steam ID. The new update also brings with it S??team Wo?rkshop talk, hilarious new bones and wood armors, and a head freelook (as opposed to a "head-free look," this fall's hottest fashion).

The post Rust soft launches female avatars, ‘you never had a choice’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Rustic

Haha, rustic. I think it's time for Jordan to take another Rust adventure.

The open world survival sim is fascinating. It recently made headlines when players flipped out after it randomly assigned face and skin tone to users' Steam IDs. And that's not all. It also generates cock size! There are no pumps or enhancement pills in this land. As Destructoid's resident Dick Editor, I'm taking all comers far as dick stories go.

Rust's Garry Newman explained to Kotaku, "It’s hard to predict what Steam ID would do what. It takes the 64bit int Steam ID and uses it as a random seed which is then used to randomise a bunch of stuff about the player—dick length being one of those. We do this so players w??ill be? kind of recognisable in game and that their identity could be something that will follow them around."

Other Steam ID characteristics are being added -- height, face size, etc -- and the team just unveiled the early stages of the female character model. Gender, too, w??ill be randomly assigned to your Steam ID, eventually, adding even more diversity. There's some cool?? farming and wolf headdress there, too.

Everything about Rust is pretty damn cool, from ?generating player identitie??s to developing water catchers to cold player animations to naked acoustic guitar.

Rust Randomizes ??Penis Length, P?layers Compare Sizes [Kotaku]

The post Rustic: Rust generates avatar cock size by?? Steam ID appeared first on Destructoid.

Well, almost everyone

A lot has changed in the months since I last checked in with Rust, Facepunch's m??ultiplayer survival sandbox on Steam Early Acce?ss, but much of the brutal experience remains the same.

The so-called reboot has become the default choice when launching the game on Steam, while the original version -- which rem?ains playable, I should add -- is now marked as "legacy."

There's still plenty of humorous unfinished technic??al stuff, to be sure, but it's coming alo?ng.

(Warning: ??tons of pictures ahead and some of them show butts!)

Different start-menu screen! It may seem like such a small thi??ng to comment on, but it's nice to see elements li?ke these come together over time.

Last time I checked in, there was?? only a single server available. Tons of options now. Let's go.

Huh. I clicked on the wake-up button but my cha??racter did not wake up. Frantically clicking all over the screen didn't seem to help, either. ??No big deal. I'll restart the game.

Thing is, the problem persisted in this new starting locatio?n.

And this one, too. That ass, tho.

Pressing Esc makes the screen go blurry, which is good to know but doesn't exactly solve my probl?em. I caved and turned to Google for a solution: press F1 and type "respawn." Hit enter.

We're in business. Within two seconds of entering the game world, I heard deafening gunshots and feared for my life. That's the Rust I remember. Feels good to be home.

Walk??ed around for a bit and stumbled upon a rudimentary house.

Similar to my l??ast playthrough, motion blur once again proved to be incredibly jarring and overdone. Pressing ??F2 will get you to the graphics menu, by the way.

You can play with the draw-distance slider in real tim??e and watch? as mountains start to vanish.

See?

I'm easily entertained. I can't stress how important that is for an open-ended, emergent game like Rust where you're largely ?supposed to make your own fun.

It was at this point I remembered that I?? never disabled motion blur, so I went to turn that off.

...and while ?doing so, some n??aked maniac murdered me.

Next spawn. This snow-covered environment is brand new to me. I'm noticing significantly more variation in t??erms of biomes with this latest build.

The user interface has been overhauled. I gathered some wood and made one of the few items I could with min??imal supplies -- a Salvaged Hamme??r.

Intricate design, considering I fashioned it out of wood obt??ained by bashing trees with a rock.

Went for a stroll and found whatever this?? thing?? is.

I don't think that kind of design was possible in Rust since I last played.

I climbed to the top but fell?? ?trying to capture a good screenshot. There wasn't anything up there.

Wate??r now affects you ??in the ways you'd expect. As in, you can't just live down there permanently.

Another spawn.

That structure far off in the ??distance caught my eye.

I had to do the old Elder Scrolls shimmy to scale this mountain.

Worked like a charm.

Score! I found a rock -- the good k?ind -- on the?? way up! Great for metal and sulfur ore.

Back to that mysterious structure.

Yeah, pretty cool. Unfortunately, the owner, who was wearing pants -- a sure sign that he belonged to Rust's ?upper class -- found me snooping. He politely asked what I was doin?g.

I said nothing, but slowly backed away and started walking. "Don't engage and he'll leave you alone," I thought to myself. But he didn't. He followed me! Min?utes went by.

Still following me. In the game's unfinished state, footsteps are extremely loud, so I knew he was trailing me. I knew. I tried to play it cool -- t?o calmly walk, not run -- but I was terrified.

Finally, I made it to these trees and turned around -- the random player was gone. He didn't brutally murder me! However, I did so?mehow lose my rock during the ordeal. Crap.

I thought I'd have to restart, but I discovered this guy sleeping peacefully. Do I feel goo??d about robbing his only possession? No. But it's a cruel world out there.

I put his rock to good use.

And continued? harvesting resources late into ??the night.

Then I found a bag. Sure enough, there was a wolf skul??l in it. I don't know what I was expecting.

Time to set up camp. It ?took me forever to figure out how to actually build, as the process has changed. Hint: put down your foundation ??and then hammer at it until stuff materializes.

Not?? too shabby, if I do say so myself. Got?ta start small.

The building process is a llllitt??le janky?? right now.

Home sweet home. After setting the door in place, I went into my inventory to organize what remaining resources I had and, what the fuck? Some rando came in and killed me. Dude.

That's Rust. Y??ou build something -- it doesn't even have to be good; in fact, i??t almost certainly won't be -- and someone will take it away. Just because they can.

With this new starting location, I did happen upon a warthog, finally. This was my first ?encounter with an animal and they're a crucial part of making progress in the game.

Warthogs are known the world over for their coolness in the face of danger. Also, their mist-like blood. This majestic beast stood still while I repea??tedly whacked him with a rock.

That is, until s??ome rando unceremoniously bashed my head in. U??gh! Respawning...

Yeah, think I'm going to call it a night too.

The post I went on another adventu??re in Rust and everyone just kept killing me appeared first on Destructoid.

And had a pretty good time, all things considered

I first played Rust back in January. It was at times scary, confusing, and frustrating, which is to be expected in an anything-goes online multiplayer game about naked men try??ing to survive with rocks and crudely-fashioned hatchets while others possess pistols, assault rifles, and explosives.

Thanks to its players and their chaos, Rust was entertaining in a way that a scripted game could never be -- ??up until the point at which it wasn't. It eventually got old. I stopped playing.

More than that, I quit paying attention to?? all of the updates in the pipeline for this Steam Early Access game. At about 16 hours of play time, I had gotten my fill, thanks. So I left, impatient and somewhat unsatisfied, unsure if I'd ever truly return to the game.

But I have, now that Facepunch Studios is rebooting Rust. Work has ceased on the original version most players know while the team rebuilds the game from scratch in what it is calling an experimental branch. It's playabl?e now and as jank?y as things are, it's promising.

Let's take a look! (Warnin??g: there?? will be some butts.)

Upon launching the experimental branch of Rust, you're greeted with a nice new scene. (Actually, the first time I tried it, none of the text appeared... so I just sat there like a?n idiot for a minute, waiting for something, anything to happen. The bear just kept sniffing the ground.)

There we go. I'm on the one and only server availa??ble. Not too crowded. Digging the new graphics. As you'll already notice, though, not everything is properly implemented. No big deal.

The new user interface looks slick.

I'm not really sure what these floors are. Must be placeholders. Also, turn off motion blur if you can't run Rust smoothly, according to chat. It is a bit too motion blurr??y by default, I'll admit.

Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt.

Another person, already. How lucky. Contrary to what this image woul??d suggest, no, I didn't immediately proceed t?o kill and eat this sleeping man. Not this time.

One of the main components of Rust is harvesting, so here's my?? attempt to gather some wood. It did not work. Clipped right through that sucker. "Experimental."

Much like in Far Cry, the bow is my favorite. After firing an arrow, you can physically pick it up and reuse it. All is righ??t with the world.

De??cided to craft a pick axe, just to try out the crafting system. As it is now, you click on the item name on the left-hand side of the menu and it just starts going.

Harvesting attempt number two. It works! Those temporary particle effects are quite some??thing.

Getting late. Darkness is normally creepy in Rust but since I'm not at all invested in this character, it's pleasant, for once. Also, DayZ -- people in chat can't not bring that up.

No sleeping bags yet. If "fully nude, legs spread on a grassy hill" is good enough for this player, it's goo??d enough for me.

I learned in chat? that you can press F3 to go into a third-person view. Heh??.

My only real goal thus far has been ?to find a wolf. Could that -- could that be one? Enhance!

It might just be.

It sure is.

Not exa??ctly what y??ou would call "perceptive." Maybe if I shoot at it...

Still not moving. Now I just feel bad.

Better put it out of its misery.

That seemed to do the trick. But I shot at i??t a few times just to make sure.

Now, to harvest. I got bones and meat. Not too sure I can even use those in Rust's current state.

Explor?ed some more and came across this wall. No one in sight, though.

And another.

I felt strangely obligated ?to finish what was started.

One swing of the hammer is all it takes.

This guy.

My other goal? To go for a late-night swim.

Nearly there.

I totally saw a guy on the beach, but he didn't?? see me. (I? hope.)

I'm?? in! Yes, that's what swimming looks like ??right now.

Better switch the camera to show off the goods.

It's peaceful down here.

It should be n??oted that at no point have I resurfaced for air.

Think I'll start a new life down here.

Home sweet home.

No pants, just like in real life.

--

This build of Rust is obviously still rough, but even ?in a bare-bones state it feels like Facepunch is on the right track. I'll have to keep an eye?? on this. Guess they got me back on board.

The post I messed around in the bi??zarre, experimental reboot of Rust appeared first on Destructoid.

Players won't have to pay again

The last time I played Rust was back in late January -- I've been waiting for it to substantially change. As it turns out, Facepunch Studios is in the process of rebuilding the ??game a?nd "pretty much everything" is being changed or updated as it's re-implemented.

Why start over? The original codebase is tied up in "a lot of decisions made when we didn't know what game we were making," Garry Newman tells PCGamesN. "There's a lot of systems that are integral to Rust, that are? 3,000 lines long, that could be 100 lines long."

In other words, overhauling is the right move in the long term. For the time being, the old-code Rust is still ??the default option when players start up the game; all of the new work is going into an optional "Experimental" branc?h that's selectable at launch.

If I had known all of this beforehand, I wouldn't have gotten into Rust when I did. It was interesting for a w?hile, ??but it was also messy. And it sounds like the game is only now starting to truly come together, all these months later. Guess that's Steam Early Access for you.

Rust is rebooting: here's why [PCGamesN]

The post Facepunch is rebooting Rust and that’s for the best appeared first on Destructoid.

Lots of nakedness

If you haven't played Rust y??et, you can probably?? get the gist with just two words -- naked, and brutal. That's basically what you're going to get with this new fan video from AndrewMFilms, which is a real life reenactment of the game. 

The video itself is pretty great as it applies a number of special effects that approximate what it's like to "pl?ace" items in the game or craft. Although the naked bits are blurred out, it's probably not safe to watch at work -- just?? in case!

The post This video shows what Rust would l??ook lik?e in real life appeared first on Destructoid.