Immersive sims are an odd and exceedingly specific niche that some players just don't feel like dealing with, but those who enjoy them play all of them. If you're a fan, too, then you'll be thrilled to hear that Gloomwood's next major update ?is coming very, very soon. Kind of!

More specifically, Gloomwood is an Early Access ImSim that's going through a slow and meticulous production process headed by the developer Dillon Rogers. The game's next major update, titled 'The Underport' had been slated for mid-2024 for some time at this point, but plans have now changed, and the chunk of content featured in it was so substantial that it had to be sliced in half. The Underport is now, therefore, two updates instead of one, and it??s first half, titled 'The Power Station' is coming later this ??month.

Gloomwood's Power Station level is coming this month, The Hive is on the horizon

Gloomwood first launched via Steam Early Access in August 2022, and the game has been iterating upon its immersive sim core ever since. While the fact that the Underport has bifurcated into two separate releases is a bit sad, the flip side of the equation is that we'll soon have a sizeable new chunk of Gloomwood goodness to tide us over. A fair trade, I'd say.

At this time, we don't know when the second half of the Underport, now known as 'The Hive' might be coming out. Presu??mably, it's still slated for 2024, but we'll need to wait and see what Rogers has to say on that front.

The bit that we do know for a fact, though, is that Gloomwood still has a fairly long and storied road ahead of it. As per the p??revious bit of news about the Und??erdark update, Rogers intends to focus on the aptly titled Research Update after all of its content comes out: "[Research] will allow the doctor to take body parts from enemies back to the lab at t??he lighthouse in order to study them and gain new abilities." Fun!

Afte?r the Research Update, Rogers explained his team will be working on the 'Bank' level, which is due to introduce a high-tech section of the city, which is a wholly different brand of excitement, all things considered.

So, it's slow going, but Gloomwood's been nothing short of great so far, and ImSim fans are used to waiting anyway. Especially now, with the studio behind the legendary Prey sadly about to close down. For those who'd like to play Gloomwood in its 1.0 form, all I can say is - stay tuned.

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Deep Field Games' indie "survival crafting experience" Abiotic Factor has been doing a bit of alright lately. It came out a couple of weeks ago, and is currently showing as "Overwhelmingly Positive" on Steam. It might not be setting the Top Sellers alight (it's?? currently at number 56), but it's been sell?ing pretty well, make no mistake.

In a recent post on X, the team behind Abiotic Factor were excited to announce that the game had sold more than 250,000 copies since launching on May 2. To go along with this, there's also a message posted to the Steam page that gives thanks for this 11-day achievement.

It's always a positive moment when an indie outfit gets to see the fruits of their labor reach lofty heights. It's a tough ol' world o??ut there in Video Game Land, so it's encouraging to see these bursts of non-AAA titles have their moment in the spotlight, even if it's sometimes short-lived.

Half-Life meets Rust

For those who haven't played it yet, Abiotic Factor is essentially a survival sim with crafting elements. It tasks 1-6 players with worki?ng together "against the universe's biggest threats." The story reads thus:

As a GATE em?ployee you extend the bounds of human knowledge, and ?seek to explain the unexplainable - including anomalies and paranormal entities: from gravity-distorting artifacts to supernatural creatures with an unbridled instinct for violence. Safety, security, and secrecy are of the utmost importance�usually.

Thematically and almost visually, it takes a lot of cues from Half-Life, Valve's maiden release from ??back in the day that went on to become one of the most influential first-person shoo??ters in gaming history. Who wouldn't want a piece of that action?

Developer Deep Field Games also released the "First Week" update a few days ago. There's also a roadmap showing what's being planned, which? includes a Crush Depth update coming this summer,? as well as a Halloween patch. Marvelous.

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Manor Lords is another one of those games that seemed to come out of nowhere to steal a piece of the limelight on Steam. Perhaps one of its most notable selling points is that the medieval-themed RTS is said to have been created by a solo dev. E?xcept,?? there's some contention about that.

On places like the official website for the game, the developer of Manor Lords - a small outfit called Slavic Magic - has received criticism for its claim that it was made by a "solo developer." Specifically, it was Farthest Frontier studio Crate Entertainment's CEO Arthur Bruno, speaking to PC Gamer, who seemed?? to strike out, arguing that Slavic's team size "is maybe ev?en larger than ours."

Indeed, credits for Manor Lords does list other people who were involved in the game's making, including additional programme??rs, artists, animators, writers, and more. As such, it's easy to see why it's quite baffling that it's been considered a solo project.

It's "fair criticism"

In response to this, Slavic Magic's own Greg Styczeń has responded. A recent post on X says the developer agrees about the criticism, though they do add "kind of" as a caveat. While Styczeń acknowledges the extra help gone into Manor Lords, they do argue that they "earned?? the solo thing."

An additional post says what Farthest Frontier (presumably that's what "FF" is referring to) says is "a fair criticism." However, a rebuttal is offered, in which Styczeń says: "if I quit, it's game over, no more ML. If [Bruno] q??uits his studio, nothing changes." Whether this will result in further comment from the likes of Bruno or the community remains to be seen at this stage.

Manor Lords sold over 1 million copies in one day, and is sitting on a pretty comfortable "Very Positive" on Steam at the time of writing.

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Things seem so to be going well for the tactical FPS Gray Zone Warfare. As well as managing to push the Steam Deck off its number one spot on the Steam Top Seller's list, the game is also registering tens of thousands of players who are seemingly eager for that Escape From Tarkov-esque realism.

Currently, the shooter is out in Early Access and is only on PC.?? However, there's bound to be more than one or two people who will be wondering whether it'll eventually make its way to current-gen consoles. Sadly, things are not looking too great on that front.

According to the FAQ section on the Gray Zone Warfare website, there don't appear to be any pla??ns to release the game on PS5, Xbox ??Series X|S, or even Nintendo Switch for the time being, at least. The quote says the team is keeping it on PC for now, with an aim to make it "as smooth and polished as possible." As such, don't hold your breath for a console version just yet. It's early days, after all.

What about playing it on Steam Deck?

It's a PC game, so the next obvious port of call is checking whether it runs on the Steam Deck. If you have a copy of Gray Zone Warfare, as wel?l as the handheld gaming PC at your disposal, there's no harm in seeing how w??ell (if at all) it will run on the mobile device.

However, if you take a quick look at the game's official Steam page, there doesn't appear to be any indication of whether it's compatible with the Deck or not. The lack of information suggests it probably isn't. Wi??thout a clear sign of whether it's "verified," "playable," or? "unsupported," there's no real way to check aside from people just trying it out for themselves.

As for the game itself, some will likely have noticed issues with lagging. As mentioned above, it's still very much in development, so you can expect to come across one or two errors. Fortunately, developer Madfinger Games has offered some advice on how to rectify lagging problems in Gary Zone Warfare. A hotfix has also been sent out recently, and the studio?? will no doubt be working on regular updat??es to iron out any major issues.

For those?? who aren't aware of what it's about, the description pins it down as "an intense tactical FPS fea?turing a realistic ballistic simulation," that also incorporates "real-world values and authentic ballistics models." Ballistic realism very much the key theme here, then.

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Yesterday, Moon Studios released No Rest for the Wicked, the developer's new action RPG game, to Early Access. The team behind Ori and the Blind Forest �and its sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps �h??as been thanking fans for quick feedback, but many will be wondering whether it's coming to other platforms.

While it's only available on Steam at the moment, there are plans to release No Rest for the Wicked on current-gen systems, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. There's no release date for these versions yet, but the stores for both PlayStation and Xbox do have pages for the ga??me, with options to wishlist it.

Sadly, for anyone hoping for a PS4 or Xbox One port, it doesn't appear as though t??he studio is looking to release the game ?on these platforms.

What about No Rest for the Wicked on other platforms?

As for other PC clients, there also doesn't seem to be a version of the game on GOG or Epic Games Store. However, if you have access to Nvidia's Ge?Force Now cloud service, you can play it there.

No Rest for the Wicked is so far getting some mixed reviews on Steam. It's worth remembering that it's ??still in Early Access, so there are almost certainly going to be teething troubles. However, Moon Studio is acknowledging some of these issues, and is looking to address some of the more egregious ones.

If you're not familia??r with the game, here's a quick overvie??w of the story:

The year is 841 �King Harol is dead. As word of his death echoes throughout the kingdom, the crown passes to his arrogant, yet untested son Magnu??s.

Even worse, the Pestilence, an unholy plague not seen for a thousand years, has returned. It sweeps across the land, corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Madrigal Seline, a ruthlessly ambitious figure in the church, sees the Pest??ilence as a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her god.

At the time of writing, it's sitting at the number two spot on Steam's Top Sellers list. But then again, this isn't anything too spectacular for anticipated releases, especially from an award-winning developer, so it's almost certainly going to drop. Still, gives us something different to look at than all the Fallout games that are currently in the charts.

So, just to recap: No Rest for the Wicked is currently a PC exclusive title for now (Steam and GeForce Now, specifically). PS5 and Xbox ports are being planned????????????????????????????, but we don't know when they're likely to drop.

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It seems we're spoiled for choice at the moment when it comes to Early Access survival games inspired by other franchises. Palworld has been making more money than God, but Keen Games' recently released Enshrouded has been doing pretty well, too.

A recent Twitter/X post from the developer is proud to announce that its title has "reached over one million players." This is after just four days. While that may pale in comparison to Palworld's six million sold in a similar timeframe, it's still a massive ?accomplishment.

In fact, Enshrouded is currently at the number three spot on Steam's Top Sellers list, just behind "Pokémon-with guns" �with Steam Deck still at number one, because of course it is. Whether either of these can be toppled by th?e newcomer remains to be seen at this stage.

What is Enshrouded?

If you haven't played it yet, Enshrouded is a survival and crafting game that's taking cues from the likes of Valheim. It's "set within a sp?rawling voxel-based continent" and tasks you with a journey "across the mountains and deserts of an open world."

It's currently only out on Steam at the moment, but Keen Games is "keen" (ha!) to release it on the PS??5 and Xbox Series X|S, hopefully later this year.

It definitely feels like this genre is getting quite full at the moment. There's just something about games that encapsulate survival released in alpha or beta states that's appealing to a lot of people. Last year it was Sons of the Forest, and now we've got Palworld and Enshrouded.

However, given that the latter has a current player peak of 160,405, according to SteamDB, it's probably not likely to take on ?the might ??of the former.

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It turns out that the idea of "Pokémon with guns" appears to be pretty popular. Pocket Pair, the developers behind Palworld, have announced that their fledgling title is already selling incredibly we??ll.

How well, you ask? Well,? the team revealed that sales for the newly released game have already crossed the million copies sold mark - and that w?as in just eight hours.

Described by the development team as a "monster-catching, survival and crafting game", Palworld just launched yesterday on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview. It's also available? for X??box Game Pass, though the subscription service isn't typically accounted for in sales figures.

Momentum was strong for Palworld leading up to its release. The night before launch, the game was ranked third on Steam's Wishlist page. On top of that, the hodgepodge project is currently trending on X at the time of this article being published.

I describe Palworld as a hodgepodge project because it seems to borrow lots of different ideas from other notable games. In his recent impressions of the Early Access build, Destructoid's Eric Van Allen noted that on top of there being similarities to the Pokémon series, there are also elements of Breath of the Wild, Rust, Valheim, and Monster Hunter incorporated throughout too.

Again, Palworld will remain in an Early Access/Game Preview build for at least a year according to its Steam page. There are plenty of additions and changes that Pocket Pair plans to implement in the coming months. Amongst them will be new monsters to catch, ?new areas and dungeons to explore, fresh buildings and items for survival, and more. The development team also noted that they "are also considering incorporating entirely new game systems based on player feedback and ideas."

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Are you a bad enough crab to flip over another crab? You'll be able to find out all over again in Fight Crab 2, which PLAYISM and developer Calappa Games are preparing to brin??g to Early Access on Steam on February 13, 2024.

Brace your carapace?? for combat in the Early Access trailer.

Fight like a crab in Fight Crab 2

If the novelty of the first game is still strong with you, o??r if this is your first crab rodeo, there are some new features to grab onto this time around. Chief among them is Career Mode, which has you raising your own crab and growing along with it as you get ready to throw it into battle.

Throughout the campaign, you can raise your crab's stats, get new skills ?and weapons, and climb up the ladder of r??anked matches. Once you've had your fill of fighting evil crabs or other crustacean warriors online, you can pass all the obtained skills to another aspiring crab fighter. 

There's also a new control scheme that hews closer to a traditional third-person action game, which is just one addition aiming to make Fight Crab 2 easier to play. Another is the ability for crabs to learn skills that let them automatically perform ?certain actions.

All the claw-crackin' confrontations feature live commentary, too, just in case you're not shouting over the action enough already yourself. You can see more of Fight Crab 2 on Steam while we wait for the Early Access period to begi??n.? 

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Dynamight Studios announced today that its open-world sandbox MMORPG Fractured Online will be returning to Steam Early Access. The official release date for the return is November 8 at 10 a.m. ET. It's been a rough?? road so far for the MMO. Originally Gamigo became the publisher for the game, but after a short period of time Dynamight pulled the MMO from steam and later parted ways ??with Gamigo. They are now self-publishing the MMO as it heads back into early access.

It seems to be the common thing now for MMORPG developers to part ways with their publisher and take on the role. A couple of years ago Pearl Abyss split ways with Kakao Games over publishing popular MMORPG Black Desert Online. Not-yet-released MMO Ashes of Creation also split ways with its publisher, My.Games, and will self-publis?h the MMO whenever it releases.

Regardless of the reason, it's good news for the players Gamigo has a history of killing MMOs, which they've done with Fiesta Online and most of Trion Worlds' lineup of MMOs including Archeage, Rift, and Trove.

As for Fractured Online, it looks like an entertaining twist on the sandbox MMO formula. Players will work together, and against one another, as they claim zones, gather resources, craft, tr?ade, a?nd build their own empire. The MMO features a player-driven economy as players can be farmers, hunters, scavengers, miners, crafters, and even merchants.

A??pparently there were some wipes previously, but moving forward there will be no wipes unless it is "strictly necessary".

Fractured Online hits Early Access on Steam on November 8.

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If the debut trailer is anything to go by, chaos is on the menu for Starnaut. Developer Crim announced the spacey adventure for PC, with Early Access to kick off in February 2024. The roguelike action game has you playing as an astronaut on a solo space expedition that lands them in the multiverse. From there you'll be blasting "endless incoming enemies" that can be deceptively c?ute and drop what seems to be an equally endless number of coins. 

Check out a sample of the ru?nning, blasting, and frequen?tly exploding gameplay in the debut trailer.

Blaster master

The straightforward story sets up a world in which people launched Omega Rockets containing their memories and history before doomsday struck. The rockets ended up landing in the multiverse, though, so it's up to Starnaut to find out if humanity can come back from t??he brink if all the rockets are returned. More importantly, doing so gives Starnaut an?? excuse to run around, fire off countless volleys, and collect coins for weapon and suit upgrades.

It all looks?????????????????????????? like utter m??adness. There are massive tentacles, floating panda bears, and a bunch of rockets ready to launch. Get all the Omega Rockets flying and launch along with the last one and you'll take home the win, it seems. "Those enemies are not only hungry for you but YOUR KNUCKLE SANDWICH!!!," the description reads. That's a powerful bullet point, right there. 

If the name Crim sounds familiar, that's because it's Sawaki Takeyasu's company. The director behind 2011's El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron previously bought that game's rights in 2013, and an HD remaster launched in 2021. Takeyasu is now enthusiastically tweeting about Starnaut, so we'll have to see how it shapes up as we get closer to ????Early Access. 

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Create your own celestial colony

Freedom Games announced today that their upcoming space farming simulator One Lonely Outpost will be heading to Steam Early Access on June 26. As intrepid pioneers, players will land on a curiously empty alien world with the goal of ?introducing some much-needed life to the barren planet.

As you introduce new flora and fauna to the ecosystem you will terraform ??the planet into a thriving space colony on a new galactic frontier. Similar to other farming sims, you will forge friendships and perhaps even find love while trying to perfect your farm.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDqmEPYyA9o

Farm your own final frontier

Building an efficient space colony from? the ground up isn't easy. Alongside ??your trusty robotic pet, you will build up your outpost via exploration, crafting, farming, fishing, and more. It is your job to create a community to carry on humanity's legacy.

It seems as though terraforming the planet won't be easy, though. Players will have to overcome a variety of challenges along the way. Unbreathable air, inedible food, unfertilized ground, and inaccessible water sources are a few examples w?e have to look forward to.

[caption id="attachment_384921" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Freedom Games[/caption]

Space meets farming sim

One Lonely Outpost gives off Stardew Valley vibes of course. The cozy graphics look bright and vibrant. Like Stardew Valley, it looks as though the many ways of farming the lands available to you will be simple to learn but difficult to master. Furthermore, the ability to forge meaningful relationships is reminiscent of the classic Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons games. Nevertheless, I'm excited to see what crazy sci-fi creatu?res t??here are for me to domesticate and build my farm around.

Even though the game will be launching into early access exclusively on PC via Steam, the 1.0 version of the game wi?ll release on PC,? Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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The daughters aren’t worth mentioning

The Forest was a terrific “get off my lawn�simulator. You built up your cabin in the?? woods, then spent most of the trying to keep cannibals from waking you up at night. This must be how all those gated community suburbanites see the world.

Released in 2018 (as long as you don’t count all those years in Early Access), it was and remains an indie darling. It was one of the big success stories in the post-Minecraft open-world survival boom.

I got into it a bit too late, I think. By that, I mean after it finished its run in early access. Having already experienced a lot from that trend, a lot of what made The Forest special, I had already seen enough of the sub-genre. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, it just would have likely made a larger impact if I tried it much earlier. However, I earmarked the sequel because I wanted to see what an update could do. Sons of the Forest is that sequel, and it definitely has trees.

[caption id="attachment_365985" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Sons of the Forest (PC)
Developer: Endnight Games
Publisher: Newnight
Released: February 23, 2023
MSRP: $39.99

While The Forest started with a plane crash, Sons of the Forest opens with a helicopter crash. A helicopter full of very? quiet people, including you! And Kelvin!

Kelvin is amazing. Something got rattled around upstairs in the crash, and he’s left dazed with impaired hearing. Despite the two of y??ou being stranded on an island covered in mutant cannibal nudists, the dude is just a ray of sunshine. You write directions on a notepad to get him to do stuff, and he just smiles, nods, and goes to work. He doesn’t necessarily stay with you, instead just wandering in your general direction. But if anyone hurts him, they will pay.

You and Kelvin are on the island to try and locate three missing rich people. You survive the crash with ??your fancy GPS that somehow isn’t fancy enough to have an emergency ping signal. Or maybe you’re just very single-mindedly dedicated to finding these billionaires. I feel like your priorities would change drastically after the helicopter crash �they certainly have for Kelvin �but escape isn’t? really your priority next to saving the one-percent from filthy savages.

[embed]//youtu.be/7xzLA_QyLtk[/embed]

Butt tuxedo

Maybe. Actually, you could focus more on surviving, but rich people have the best loot. I just found survival wasn’t much of a priority for me. In the first title, I was working to create the most efficient fortress when it came to keeping people off my lawn, but in Sons of the Forest, the cannibals should have probably been more concerned with keeping me off their property. I eventually set up a primary base of operations, but that was mostly so I’d know where I had stored all my heaps o??f excess food.

Ordinarily, I kept traveling, setting up temporary camps to save and pass the night. In transit, I was a wrecking ball. If I came across a cannibal camp, I would kill everyone, chop their heads off, and stake them up as a warning for anyone who thought it was a good idea to build in my path. My husband would occasionally lean over to watch my exploits, and he thought I was the bad guy here. Pfft. As if. I’m not like these peop??le. I’m wearing clothes!

Speaking of which, the armor system sucks ?here. However, when you’re in a cave, and you’re fighting slimy, subterranean nudists, you can skin them. Not, like, entirely. You just shave a slice of their butt off (I assume). You can then just glue them to yourself. It’s called creepy armor, and, at first, I had some hesitation about just gluing butts to myself, but the caves can be pretty harrowing. Wearing a tuxedo made of butts is a much better alternative than being savaged to death by blind nudists. Sometimes.

[caption id="attachment_365982" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The foundation

I actually played through the entire main narrative of Sons of the Forest and it was�there. This is in Early Access, so it makes sense that it would be barebones, but in its current state, it’s ?kind of weird. It does a lot of great stuff with environmental storytelling without literally scrawling it across the walls in graffiti (mostly), but there are some gaps to fill. For example, a guy pun?ches you in the face at the beginning, and I’m not entirely sure what that’s about. He shows up again, but I don't really know what his deal is.

The island feels somewhat unfinished. A lot of the cool stuff is around the places you start off, and the further East you go, it’s noticeably emptier. For ex??ample, there’s an entire abandoned golf course and almost no reason to go there right now. Unless you actually want to play golf?.

There’s also content that was in The Forest and hasn’t made it over to its sequel yet. That’s not surprising,? but it’s something to keep in mind at this point of Ea??rly Access.

That said, what’s currently available is pretty solid. It’s a great foundation to build the rest of the game on, and the developers seem to have a consistent upgrade schedule in mind. I’d say it’s pretty safe to dive in right now, but for what it’s worth, Sons of the Forest is planning for around eight months dee??p in Early Access.

[caption id="attachment_365986" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The best forests

I also want to note the forests. The forests look great. I love a good video game forest, and, to date, these are some of the best forests I’ve seen. The lush undergrowth and towering trees. The subtle variations of different places and the running streams. I remember too well when I first saw The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and thought those were the best forests could possibly look, so I know that in, like, five years, this will probably be really unim?pressive. However, right now; these are the best forests.

Also, there are changing seasons. You just wake up one morning, and there’s suddenly snow, but that’s really cool. It’s an awesome touch. It’s something that video games rarely seem to attempt, so to see Sons of the Forest go t??he extra mile to implement them is just delicious. I just feel sorry for the nudists since that has to be chilly.

If you played The Forest, you generally know what you’re in for. Sons of the Forest is largely that, but upgraded. There’s still some work to do, and I have a laundry list of things I want to see, but I have zero regrets about binging the whole thing over a single weekend. It’s maybe not a transcendental title that reinvents open-world survival, but it’s a nice addition otherwise. It might be a lot of fun in multiplayer, but there’s no chance I would ever bring someone along with me to a secluded island. Except for Kelvin. And that?? three-legged woman. They’re cool.

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

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Finding Nemo�Delicious

Sushi’s delicious, it’s just too bad we love it so much that it’s driving the depletion of ocean habitats. However, that’s largely because the industry relies on non-selective fishing. Spearfishing might not get us the quantity we crave, but it’s much more sustainable. So good on Dave the Diver for being environmentally conscious.

The marriage of spea??rfishing and restaurant management is a tantalizing mix I didn’t know I wanted. Now I just have to deal with the constant cravings.

Dave the Diver (Steam Early Access)
Developer: MINTROCKET
Publisher: MINTROCKET
Released: October 27, 2022
MSRP:

Dave the Diver stars the titular Dave, who is literally peer-pressu??red into managing a sushi restaurant. A friend of his found a lake that mysteriously contains fish from all over the world and has?? decided that people want to eat everything. So forget tuna and salmon; we’re talking about cuttlefish and anglers. Who knows what lies even deeper? Blobfish? We might have some blobfish nigiri.

Along the way, other people become interested in Dave’s excursions into the Giant Blue Hole and ask him to do them favors. Most of these are optional objectives that can get you gear and extra spending cash. There are also some non-optional quests that?? advance the story, which involves finding out about an ancient civilization that lived in the hole.

The day is broken up into three parts. You have time for two journeys into the depths during the day, but at night, you help run the restaurant. While all the managerial tas?ks are up to you, Dave also is pressured into assisting ??with the service. This involves delivering dishes and pouring tea. You can eventually hire people to help out �which is necessary because you’ll quickly find yourself swamped �but you’ll always want to lend a hand. No one pours tea like you do. I assume. It’s actually a cute minigame, and I suppose you could just keep screwing it up, but I have faith.

[embed]//youtu.be/UrNTzqJ1lpw[/embed]

Source of endless cravings

Fishing is a dangerous business, as you have to monitor the weight you carry, your oxygen su??pply, and your depth. Going too deep with the wrong suit will deplete your oxygen. While some fish you can hook without any effort, some require you to wear them down first or actually do battle. Beyond your spear, there are also guns that you get your hands on. Killing a fish is less efficient than speering them, but sometimes that’s just not an option.

If you die, y??ou’re returned to the surface, and you can only choose one prize to take back. It’s very easy to get overconfident and return to the surface belly-up. To prevent this, you can spend your hard-earned tips on better gear that help you dive further, longer, and safer. You ?also find blueprints for additional weapons to power yourself up.

Giant Blue Hole

I’ve played quite a few of these open-and-upgrade business sims this year, and I’ve found many of them to be quite shaky. Even though Dave the Diver is starting its life in Early Access, I didn’t have that problem, whatsoever. It actua??lly struck me as an incredibly solid title. I came across a few bugs, and the balance needs to be tweaked, but the only real giveaway that it’s not finished is that it cuts shor?t.

It also nails a great gameplay loop. The obvious draw to the game is the fishing, and it gives due attention there. A night at the sushi restaurant is rather brief; it’s almost just the payoff for a hard day fishing. The goal may be to build up the business, but Dave the Diver seems to rec?ognize that work is work. You get to see growth rather quickly. You get a ?sense of what you need to build towards without having to see everything play out in slow motion. I’m honestly impressed by how much thought went into creating an entertaining balance.

Bring the soy sauce

Beyond that, I’m just excited to see where the game goes. It frequently hints at some spooky stuff below, and I can’t wait to see what horrors get thrown across some rice. The narrative doesn’t show much si?gn of getting very suspenseful, but a lot of surprises could still be in store.

The developer’s goal is to launch Dave the Diver fully sometime in early 2023. Judging by what’s currently on offer, that seems like a realistic possibility. Rarely have I seen an Early Access title that has everything so neatly in place already. The planning for t?he game must be ridiculously solid because, even at this time, there’s a bright, glossy polish on everything. I think only catastrophe could really derail this project, so for now, I can’t wait to dive in deeper.

_{[This scoreless review is based on an Early Access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Early Access Review: Dave the Diver appeared first on Destructoid.

Forgive me, father

You’re rolling the dice whenever you pick up a game with “Simulator�in the title. Is this going to be an attempt at accurately translating something into a video game, or is it going to abandon all reason and present some sort of unhinged parody? Priest Simulator is definitely in the latter category, but rather than just having some wacky controls that make the whole performance absurd, it goes a few steps further, into a storm drain, and gets washed ou??t to sea.

You technically get up to some priest business in Priest Simulator. One could also argue that you even play as a priest. Maybe my knowledge of priestly happenings is skewed in some ??way, but if you asked me what a priest does, my answer would be: not this.

Priest Simulator (Steam Early Access)
Developer: Asmodev
Publisher: Ultimate Games
Released: October 6, 2022
MSRP: $19.99

You play the game as a wooden vampire demon named Orlok, who is hell-bent on internet fame. During an attempt at collecting footage, he and his girlfriend are shot from the depths of Hell into Poland, where a Muppet-like parso?n immediately performs ?an exorcism on him to try and please his own parishioners. Orlok, too humiliated to return to Hell without his vampire powers, decides to do absolutely anything anyone says in the hopes that he’ll eventually have his power restored. He begins posing as a priest, as that seems to get him the respect he so thirstily desires.

Priest Simulator may sound absolutely ridiculous, and that’s because it is. However, while the narrative seems almost like a stream-of-consciousness trainwreck, it manages to be surprisingly insightful. You may expect it to be a heavy satire of organized religion, and it very much is, but it goes beyond that. Despite the wooden appearance of most of ??the game’s charact??ers, its sense of humor leans into the “are we not all wretched?�sort of observation.

The antagonists, the Shatonists, are a bunch of jerks who are up to no good, but the parish are hardly paragons themselves. Really, the opposing groups seem to be two sides of the same coin. They seem to be competing more for popularity than any sort of morality. If anything, the Shatonists are more?? overtly aggressive, while the Christians are underhanded.

[embed]//youtu.be/qO3UPw2SGvk[/embed]

Father Nosferatu

Meanwhile, Orlok is only helping the Christians because they give him more adulation, and the Shatonists are lead by his girlfriend’s ex, Diabolina. It’s even pointed out to Orlok that people are taking advantage of his naivety, which he’s unable to see due to his own hubris. That’s not to say that every character demonstrates these human flaws, but I’m no??t sure that’s really the focus.

You also should not take from this that the narrative is confidently done. Priest Simulator is in early access, and while it’s a more rounded experience than I anticipated going in,? one of the rough spots is in its storytelling. The dialogue is often extremely choppy, and some of it ??even seems missing. At times, it feels like a joke is only half developed because the game is in such a rush to get through. In short, the cutscenes feel like they need to be touched up, and hopefully, they will be.

Speaking of cutscenes, you can enjoy them subbed or dubbed. You can have Polish voices with English subtitles or there is full English audio (mostly, there’s some spottiness with the translation in Early Access.) Either way is kind of hilarious and seems to be done by the same voice actors. The actor who does Orlok is particularly consistent with both languages, though it does sound like they’re going to ruin their voice??. It sounds like they have an entire cat stuck in their throat.

Are you there, God? It’s me, Orlok

On the other hand, a lot of the systems in the game are in a surprisingly developed state. Priest Simulator is something of an open-world game, presenting a small playground to explore. You level up your character by spreading Christianism across the town. Play for long enough, and you’ll go to various houses to perform exorcisms, take confessions, and possibly give sermons. You can also upgrade both ?the church itself and your own weapons.

There’s actually a decent amount of content in the Early Access. The game can be completed from beginning to end, but much of it still seems to be in a placeholder state. Almost everything intended is there in some way or another, but the further you go into the experience, the mor??e things feel sketched out. Some mechanics aren’t well explained, others just don’t fit together quite right.

If anything, I feel like some of the activities need to be fleshed out more. It’s a bit too easy to grind your way to a better church, and the ch??aracter-building system doesn’t seem to be anywhere near its final state. Some of it feel?s like the fluff you’d find in many open-world games, which doesn’t jive all that well well with the bizarre premise. Much of this could just be stand-ins for where more creative gameplay will eventually be placed, but more meat will be needed for all the skeletons lying around.

No one’s running this whole thing

I eventually decided to put Priest Simulator aside, as I felt like I got the gist of what the developer is going for, but felt that it would be better experienced when it got closer to their vision. There’s a lot here, and I’d rather see the final portrait than just the sketch. The most important takeaway, however, is that I’m definitely interested in circling back to it after its full release. What’s?? present already is bordering on brilliant, and if it gets the touchup it needs in some areas, it’ll be fantastic.

According to the developer, they plan on having Priest Simulator in an Early Access state for about four to eight months, which seems like a reasonable amount of time to buff it to perfection. Whether you decide to look into it now or wait for its full release, the unique ??vision and sharp humor are good reasons to keep it on your radar.

_{[This scoreless review is based on an Early Access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Early Access Review: Priest Simulator appeared first on Destructoid.

You've got until September 21

As we inch closer and closer to the looming 1.0 launch of Vampire Survivors, fans are getting antsy, myself included. Today's morsel is just a "minor patch," but there's important news for folks?? o??n the sidelines: a price increase is coming soon.

At just three dollars, Vampire Survivors is some of the best bang-for-your-buck gaming I've ever experienced. And while typically Early Access titles wait until their full launch to raise prices, in this case, the game will cost $4.99 starting on September 21. The 1.0 launch is coming ?later �we'll learn the full release ?date in two weeks, on September 29.

The creator, poncle, explained this choice. "To be frank, it's because otherwise I'd mess up the sales calendar for the ??rest of the year. I want to keep the option open to eventually enter some of the usual seasonal sales, and increasing the price on v1.0 launch day would mess up the timings, as price changes also comes with a temporary price freeze."

Players have become so absorbed with the game's monster-exploding grind and fun unlockables that they've actually asked �sometimes jokingly, but often for real �for Vampire Survivors to charge more. I got my mone??y's worth early on, and the updates just kept coming. I'm now at 55 hours on the cl??ock. It's baffling when I stop and think about it.

Today's patch is a minor one

So, what's new in patch 0.11.3? Most notably, I'd point to Blood Astronomia (Arcana XXI), which emits "special damaging zones affected by Amount and Magnet" for weapons like Garlic and Song of Mana. There's also the MissingNo character, who has randomized stats and can now be "unlocked officially" �find the full instructions here on Reddit.

If you've thought about getting into Vampire Survivors, consider this your call to d?o so bef?ore the price jumps. It's so worth it.

The post It’s time to get Vampire Survivors before its price increases appeared first on Destructoid.

That's quite a jam to get out of

Keeping a band of survivors alive on earth can be a tall enough order, but what about a game set on an alien world? That's the premise of Stranded: Alien Dawn, a simulation-minded survival strategy game from Haemimont Games, the developer of Surviving Mars.

We ?got our first look at Gamescom Opening Night Live.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZI8Bx5yQzg

As much as the art direction isn't blowing me away, it's a solid conc??ept.

Players will need to face random story events, alien attacks, and adverse weather in Stranded: Alien Dawn, according to the team. "However, actions have consequences and as you strive to plan ahead, ?you must make difficult choices to shape the story of your survivors, balancing short and long-term outcomes with risk and reward."

If you keep your marooned survivors around long enough, you'll be able to upgrade a "simple shelter" into a "high-tech outpost," complete with automated defenses and a space pad. They might not make it easy, though �your people have positive and negative traits. "Only by improving their skills and maximizing their potential will you survi??ve."

Stranded: Alien Dawn will launch on PC with a St?eam Early ?Access version in October 2022.

Haemimont plans to take "at ??least six months" to finish building out the game before its f??inalized PC release, with a price increase expected when that day comes.

The post Stranded: Alien D??awn is a marooned sim game from?? the Surviving Mars team appeared first on Destructoid.

Shuffle resources with arcane lasers

There's nothing quite like that first marathon session with a new city builder when everything's fresh and you haven't backed yourself into a corner yet. In the upcoming hex-grid-based colony sim game Scorchlands, you'll terraform a volcanic moon with a blend of science and magic, weaving an "?industrial web" of lasers to tra??nsport resources.

Instead of a far-off overseer, you'll play as a bird-like Giwi on the ground. Having a colorful palette and a few wrinkles to shake up the usual?????????????????????????? city-builder format goes a long way.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjYEg5katr4

From the trailer, I can already tell that ??reshaping the hostile landscape and semi-strategically plopping down a bunch of structures will feel like a nice little brain massage.

There will be combat in Scorchlands, although the developer, Ringlab, describes it as a "minimalistic" system in which "positioning will be the key." Ideally, the wildlife on Helia will keep the pressure up from time to time without being annoying. I'm not outright against combat in building sims like this, but I tend to prefer the Terra Nil approach.

Look out for a demo

Scorchlands will have a demo "in just a few days." And when it's ready, the game will launch in Early Access �??Ringlab expects a year-and-a-half run before t?he full release.

The team hasn't announced an Early Access start date yet, bu?t the content slate is "four biomes, 20+ buildings, 50+ techn??ologies, 30+ resources, and four combat units."

[caption id="attachment_340950" align="alignnone" width="1595"] _{Reshaping the land and praying that your layout won't age poorly.}[/caption]

"While the game is c??urrently in a good state content-wise, we still wish to expand it by adding things that will make the gam?e worth returning to, repeatedly," said Ringlab.

"We also want to improve the already existing mechanics and make them as intuitive as possible, especially?? at the later stages of the ?game."

During Early Access development, the (currently "lighthearted") ??story will be fleshed out.

Scorchlands is up on Steam and GOG for wishlisting.

The post Scorchlands is a magical colony builder on a ??volcanic moon appeared first on Destructoid.

Curse of the Dead Gods didn't quite grab me, but I'm down to try again

The creators of Curse of the Dead Gods are back with another action roguelite game called Ravenswatch, and this time, you aren't alone �there's four-player co-op ??support.

Announced this week at Nacon Connect 2022, Ravenswatch will star playable h??er??oes with abilities "inspired by characters from folktales and legends." Right off the bat, we've got the Red Hood, the Pied Piper, Beowulf, and the Snow Queen, with "more to come."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQBlSgRtCyc

On the gameplay front, expect randomly g???enerated maps and character builds to be at the forefront, with iconography and themes plucked from "The Three Little Pigs to Norse mythology to One Thousand and One Nights," among other stories.

Solo or up to four players

Though solo play is an option, Ravenswatch will likely be at its best in co-op. "To defeat the Nightmare and reach the final chapter, you will need a strong build, focus, and excellent teamwork," accordi?ng to Passtech Games. "Increase your fighting power in battles then face the level boss when you feel ready�or when you no longer have a choice."

From the trailer, we can see ?the Red Hood transform into a wolf, the Pied Piper command a horde of rats, and the Snow Queen skate around foes on ice. Dibs on the former.

[caption id="attachment_333978" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The four heroes revealed so far.}[/caption]

Admittedly, I barely made a dent in Curse of the Dead Gods �it's a tough game right from the get-go �but I enjoyed what I played, and there's a world in which I got really into i?t for a few months. I feel like Passtech must've learned a lot while making that gam??e, so having a similar but still distinct follow-up in the same genre sounds ideal. The action looks familiar, but the environments seem much less cramped and intimidating.

(Did any of you try Curse with PlayStation Plus? That's w?here I got my copy.)

Ravenswatch will debut on Steam Early Access in 2023, with console versions �Nintendo???????????????????????????? Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S �coming later.

The post Ravenswatch, a folkt??ale action roguelite g??????????????????????????ame from the Curse of the Dead Gods team, has co-op appeared first on Destructoid.

Yet another cozy game to look forward to

The games industry is flooding with cozy, impossibly cute life simulators right now, and as a massive fan of the genre, I personally could not be happier. Titles like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing have left an obvious mark on the market, proving time and time again that gamers are craving a simpler, sweeter life. Next up in the long list of simulators is Little Witch in the Woods, and it's looking like a real contender to stand ou??t among the compet??ition and be one of my favorite games of recent memory.

Little Witch in the Woods may have just entered early access, but it's already been garnering a lot of attention on Steam and Xbox (it's also playable with Game Pass).

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS9QHk2A6yg

Players take on the role of Ellie, a young witch who takes it upon herself to collect items in the forest and help out her neighbors. Ellie also teams up with a sentient witch hat named Virgil, and works to hone her craft as an apprentice witch, an element reminiscent of Kiki's Delivery Service (which ??is unsurprisingly one of my favorite movies, go figure).

Early reviews say it's very similar to Stardew by way of gameplay, just with a w??itchy theme about it?, and there's not much else you could say that would make me want to play this game more.

The developer of Little Witch in the Woods, Sunny Side Up, is reportedly ve??ry pleased with the response to the game so far, and are continued to update players. They say that the plan is for the game to get a full launch in 2023, and to add two more story chapters and an ending in addition to the prologue and first chapter that are currently avail?able to play.

It sounds like they have a lot more game to make, but knowing that fans are alre??ady falling in love with the project so far has to be an amazing motivator. Godspeed, Sunny Side Up �we can't wait to see what else you have in store for us.

The post Adorably arcane lif?e sim Little Witch in the Woods is in early? access appeared first on Destructoid.

A toggle to help with motion sickness

Has it really been a year since PowerWash Simulator launched on Steam? It has! It turns out that time flies when you're meticulously blasting away gunk with a pressure washer. If you like the idea of this surprisingly resonant sim but are waiting until it hits version 1.0, it's still in Early Access �but it's getting closer, as evidenced by this week's Birthday update. There's a new Aim Mode in PowerWash Simulator to help reduce motion sickness.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW-u1WCtPAI

The developers hope that Aim Mode will chip away at "one of the biggest barriers to a minority but significant group of players." Basically, it's a toggle (using "C" or pressing up on the D-pad) ??that lets you aim your ?washer independently, so the camera will stay still.

"We think most players will play with this mode to some degree, as many of us at FuturLab have opted to wash in this mode," said the PowerWash Simulator team.

Many of PowerWash Simulator's updates have added new levels �known in-game as "jobs" �and the Birthday update is no exception. There's a Steam Locomotive job (pictured above), as well as a Gnome Fountain (don't make eye contact with the little guys) and a Mini-Golf Course. You'll find all thr??ee jobs listed under the "special" section.

Old jobs got a bit more "love"

Aside from the three new jobs, following a bunc?h ?of player feedback, FuturLab has also gone back through to shore up many of the game's existing jobs.

"Several jobs have had a visual and design redux, including?? the Back Garden, Storybook Cottage, and Shoe House," according to the developers. "Many jobs have had their details renamed to be more straightforward. Large areas like the Playground floor have been cut down into smaller chunks for more dings. Thresholds have been made tighter or slightly easier depending on feedback (the Skatepark floor no longer completes with a massive piece of dirt left). Plus, many more small tweaks."

[caption id="attachment_323011" align="alignnone" width="1200"] _{Cleaning up the Mini-Golf Course.}[/caption]

A few more PowerWash Simulator Birthday update bullet points:

• Tutorial prompts â€?"Maybe some content creators won't be stuck realizing they can rotate their nozzles over multiple episodes..."
• Controller haptics â€?"Haptics are here for more controller-led washing immersion."
• More money sources â€?"Co-op partners and replaying levels will earn 25% of the total amount of the cleaning job. Player 1 in co-op will get the total amount if they are in career mode. We hope this will help without ruining the economy."

I haven't played PowerWash Simulator in, well, too long �but it's been staring back at me in my Steam library for months, just waiting to be picked over Vampire Survivors. In all that time, I've kept it up-to-date. It's one?? of those games I know I'll eventually return to, and I don't mind keeping it installed, just in case I want to get some Big Dad energy out.

Conceptually, I love that this?? game exists �and that it's so popul??ar.

The post Pow?erWa??sh Simulator has a helpful new Aim Mode in its Birthday update appeared first on Destructoid.

The first big content update is coming in June

Core Keeper, a subterranean survival game with solo and co-op play, could use more content �a lot more. I say that as someone who was hooked on this cave-carving, base-building, exploration-minded setup for a dozen hours, right up until I hit the point at which I felt truly tapped out. I've been wanting a reason to play more, and developer Pugstorm will have one in June �that's when Core Keeper gets its Sunken Sea biome update.

A big part of the game's early appeal is finding your place in this underground world, so having a distinct new zone with "large bodies of water and islands" sounds appealing. To make these treks a little smoother, there will be, well, boats. Players won't need to lay down winding bridges to go island hopping. (Though you can st??ill build them in a pinch.)

Beyond the biome itself, Core Keeper's Sunken Sea ?update also has "more of everything," in that classic Ste??am Early Access game sense. Pugstorm posted an overview image.

What's new with the Sunken Sea update

[caption id="attachment_321517" align="alignnone" width="1080"] _{The Sunken Sea update has a little bit of everything.}[/caption]

The lack of enemy types stood out during my time with Core Keeper, and it'll be fun to track down �and try and kill �another intimidating Titan boss. Having more plants and recipes will?? help incentivize the game's farming aspect, especially wi??th sprinklers in the mix. As is, my food supply is kind of on autopilot, and any sort of shakeup would help.

In the quality-of-life category, I'm mos?t excited about teleporters and map markers.

Even with an extensive railway network, far-out trips, like to Azeos' Wilderness, can really add up. I also think pretty much every game with a map could benefit from some form of markers, particularly a survival crafting game like Core Keeper, which is all about filling in the map �figuring out where every biome generally lives �through exploration.

All in all, this update is what I had in mind for the future of Core Keeper. It's a cool game; it just needs more. If Pugstorm keeps at it??, I'm hopeful f?or the full 1.0 launch.

[caption id="attachment_313184" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Multiplayer is one of the main draws right now.}[/caption]

Dedicated servers are now an option

The Sunken Sea update is primed ??for June, but first, a note on dedicated servers.

"From this moment onwards, players will have the option to operate their own dedicated servers for multiplayer worlds that can be accessed at any time without requiring a host to be in the game. If dedicated servers aren’t your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that in-game player-hosted multiplayer is still available at any time, and this now uses Steam’s networking back end when connecting players �solving many of the networking issues users have been reporting. We’ve also added a new admin functionality that will give players the option to kick people? from their worlds across both dedicated servers and player-hosted games.

If you’d like to host your own dedicated server you can do so using Core Keeper’s own dedicated server hosting application, which will be available to run from the Tools menu in your Steam L?ibrary."

I haven't dabbled in Core Keeper co-op yet, but multiplayer is one of the main selling points for this so-called "top-down Terraria" experience. Options are appreciated.

The post Core Keeper’s Sunken Sea biome update adds boats and teleporters appeared first on Destructoid.

Slimes keep on slippin', slippin', slippin'

While it's walking on well-worn ground in the mining/crafting-adventure space, Core Keeper is a wonderful way to spend some time. Okay, honestly, a lot of time.

I recently saw it climb up the Steam charts, with the latest figure topping 500K copies sold. That caught my eye. But more than raw popularity, I was intrigued by the idea of a game with a bit of Terraria, Stardew Valley, and Valheim in its DNA. Those are three beloved titans, and Core Keeper definitely isn't on that level, but the comparison kind of fits, albeit with an Early Access caveat to contend with. ?It's not finished �??but it's really polished.

Core Keeper (PC)
Developer: Pugstorm
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Released: March 8, 2022 (Steam Early Access)
MSRP: $12.99

Even if we've seen these ideas before? in other games, this is still the kind of meandering sandbox that I can enjoy losing myself in. You'll hav?e goals in mind, sure �maybe you want to find a certain ore to craft a certain helmet with a certain perk before facing a boss �but it can be just as easy to pick a direction, any direction, and start tunneling.

It's pitch dark, so you'll need to plop down some torches, keep an eye out for glimmering deposits to crack open, and consult your slowly materializing map from tim?e to time.

Early on, I adored this simplicity, even as a solo player. It was ideal f??or a two-screen PC setup with YouTube or Netflix playing on the side. Toward the end �and admittedly, in Early Access, there isn't really an "end" �I started to feel tapped out. My character's level-ups were too few and far between, the enemies and biomes became overly familiar, and the trips ba?ck out to the edge of the world took too long even with a minecart.

But you know, I enjoyed those first 12 hours. I don't regret playing Core Keeper obsessively.

Like other unfinished or content-strained adventures, the early- to mid-game portions are the highlight. It's best when you do?n't fully know what y?ou might find in far-out caverns and the XP-based progression system still has that satisfying pace to keep you glued.

Core Keeper awards e?xperience points whenever you do a relevant action (which I love), so running around will eventually increase your movement speed, and slashing slimes and creepy crawlers will help bolster your melee might. There are skill trees to invest points in, and that goes for categories like smithing, crafting, gardening, and fishing,?? too.

You'll start by creating a character with one of several class specialties, though things will even out the more you play, so the choice doesn't c?arry as much weight as it initially seems to. For instance, I was a Gardener, which gave me a copper hoe and a watering can right off the bat. If I had known better, I probably would've preferred a wearable light source to complement my hand-held torch, but it is what it is. It all worked ?out.

A short intro sequence vaguely (but enticingly) introduces your ancient underground surroundings, and it's immediately clear that you'll need to grow some crops to fend off your appetite, build a base to craft battle-ready gear, and search for three boss creatures. The world has a semi-randomized layout, which lends itself well to Core Keeper's tunnel-carving ways. Somehow, punching out holes in the wall is my favorite part. Even though I should be over this game??play loop by now, it's oddly satisfying here. And it's relaxing.

For me, it all works as well as it does because of the nice audio-visual feedback with each swing, and the moody lighting. Again, Core Keeper is really dark when it wants to be, which is most of the time. But you'll also come across clearings �like a glowing flower-lit river, or a massive chewed-out tunnel that conveni??ently forms a perfect circle around the game's starting area �and the ligh?ting-fueled atmosphere hits that much harder.

Snaking my way from one clearing to the next was super fun, even if the actual controls (I mainly played on a ga?mepad) are so simple. If you're the type of player who revels in simplicity, this could be your crafting game. It doesn't get too bogged down with resources or recipes, and the farming/food situation is easy to handle. You also don't have to worry about nagging in-game days or schedules. And there are no NPCs to fret over yet (just a couple of merchants). The main draw is explorat?ion �that's the strongest aspect so far.

The melee (and ranged) combat system is fast and hard-hitting, and it gets the job done; I don't really have any complaints. It's more enjoyable than swatting down bats and mummies in Stardew Valley, for sure. And the bosses, which you'll nee??d to physically find (or locate using a scanner), are an adequate challenge. If you die �and you probably will, unless you play super cautiously and are buffed up with cooked meals �then it's just a matter of running back to grab your items off of your headstone. Depending on the circumstances, though, these treks can be long and arduous. So it pays to come prepared.

The main issue right now in the Early Access build, and this goes for combat, base building, farming, and a few other facets, is that there isn't enough variety to sustain a complete-feeling experience. It's a great value at $13, but don't let? it overstay, either. Just because you can automate rare scarlet ore mining with a drill, conveyor belt, and a robot arm, that doesn't mean you strictly "need to." It can feel like progress for progress' sake.

Most of what's included feels pretty good �we just need Pugstorm to iterate a bit, balance here and there, and mainly focus on fleshing out the world more. I ended up clearing the three main bosses and then spending a lot of time tracking down the fourth. If you're in that position, honestly, don't push yourself too far. It started to become a slog. There are? boss re-summoning mechanics (for grinding), but the endgame isn't here yet.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIYcsYVxzPg

While I have exclusively played Core Keeper alone, one of its biggest selling points is co-op. There can be up to eight players in the online multiplayer mix, which I'd probably save for a later date. I don't necessarily think it's time to go all-in on Core Keeper yet. But if you've got a base-building group who's down to divide and conquer, try it out. Just kno??w that the fun will peter out, and it's best not to try and exhaust every crumb of co?ntent before 1.0.

I'm not convinced Core Keeper can match the quality and scope of its best-in-class inspirations, but it's already worth a look i?n Early Access, and if the rest of the pieces fall into place leading up to the full launch, it??'ll be fondly remembered. I'm stoked.

_{[This scoreless review is based on an Early Access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Early Access Review: Core Keeper appeared first on Destructoid.

Gotta slash fast

The next time you have room in your life for a fluid roguelike action game, Have a Nice Death will be here waiting. I mean, it already is �but I know that not everyone likes to jump in during the Steam Early Access phase for these sorts of games. (Plenty of you are holding out on Rogue Legacy 2 until it hits 1.0.) But yeah?, this already looks great.

It's a gorgeously animated game about a stressed-out reaper "whose employees hav??e run rampant, completely throwing off the balance of souls �and his vacation plans." You've got a scythe, naturally, and you've also got spells to whip out. It's fast and cool in motion.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kbbmKov9Wc

Have a Nice Death launched today on PC, and it's a top seller on Steam. My ?first impression came from this trailer, and it really set the tone well. Whether you're open to play?ing now or in the near future, or you'd rather wait for Magic Design Studios to fill in "more variation and content in the worlds and their bosses" between each run, it's worth a look.

The studio was previously known for Unruly Heroes, and it sounds like this project will spend a year in Early Acces??s, with further sup??port coming "after the game fully launches."

More specifically, "version 1.0 of Have a Nice Death will be feature and content complete, with a con?cluding narrative, the full measure of gameplay elements, and addit??ional components: Difficulty mode, accessibility options, new specific curse tree, new curses, new worlds, new enemies (bosses and mini-bosses), and new weapons."

[caption id="attachment_311501" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Slick combat aside, the twisted corporate world premise is also pretty enticing.}[/caption]

A lot goes into keeping me hooked run after run in any given roguelike. For now, the setting is amusing, and the boss patterns seem fun to figure out. Even if the sense of momentum fades as all of the current content becomes really familiar, that can go a long way. I do have high expectations for progression these days,? though. Tough competition.

I've seen some Early Access user reviews call the game a good fit for the Steam Deck �which, oh right, that's?? out and/or imminent for some people. As a (for now at least) PC-only experience, that'll have to do. I'd love to see this in a future Switch indie round-up.

If you've enjoyed the action in Dead Cells and Hollow Knight, well... there are no guarantees in life, and I'm just name-checking. But Have a Nice Death could click with you too!

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The ship-salvaging simulation game will cost more in 1.0 form, and it's coming to consoles later

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a simulation game about, well, working a job �a really cathartic salvage job that happens to be in space. It's a game about tearing the prized tech out of spaceships in order to (eventually...) pay off an astronomical debt. If that concept speaks to you, you'll want to keep an eye out: Hardspace: Shipbreaker is nearing its 1.0 release.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx18jdFQtVo

The end of the Early Access road is in sight, as explained in a blog post by developer Blackbird Interactive. The team's current estimate places the 1.0 version of Hardspace: Shipbreaker in the spring 2022 window, and the docket includes a feature that players have craved for a long time?? �the ability to save a ship that's in progress and just walk away for the night. There's also an end to the?? campaign with Act III, though you can keep breaking ships "once the story has finished." It's a beefy 15-hour-plus game as is.

Along with Steam ??Achievements, 1.0 will also have "tons of bug fixes, optimization??s, and stability improvements." If you're already playing, heads-up: resets are still a concern.

"We know that [player progression resets] can be frustrating to existing players, but it's an unfortunate necessity when introducing new campaign?? content," said the studio. "As the full release adds Act III and revises some portions of Act I and II, as well as rebalancing progression, we needed to re??set progress one final time."

As tends to be the case with Early Access, Hardspace: Shipbreaker will cost more as a 1.0 release. It's $24.99 today, but it'll be? $34.99 once i??t sheds the Early Access banner.

There are few Early Access games I genuinely care enough about to keep tabs on them month-to-month. For everything else, it's nice to check back in right before the 1.0 version lands knowing th?at so mu?ch stuff has been brewing behind the scenes.

While Hardspace: Shipbreaker is? a PC-ass PC game, Blackbird is planning a console version, too. That'll be coming down the road �the porting "work has already started" �so it's just a matter of time. And more improvements will be made to the PC version p??ost-1.0.

"We originally planned for a single year. In the end, the ability to test features and gain player feedback and data in real time proved so valuable to development, and so rewarding as developers, that we decided to extend our time in Early Access to just under two years," said the developers. "We can't wait to share what’s next with all of you, whether it’s more Shipbreaker or another brand-new world!"

_{[Image Credit: IcyGlare]}

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A rare update from the game's creator

There's hope yet for World of Horror fans who have been craving more content �or really just any communication about the Early Access game at all �since its release on Steam last year. Coming up on the horror adventure game's second Halloween, the creator, panstasz, has teased "good news soon" after what's been "a truly miserable year."

I mean, that's it �that's the tweet! �but it's a very welcome sign.

//twitter.com/panstasz/status/1448704788808470528

In retrospect, today's tweet is the firs?t from panstasz since December.

In the back of my head, I knew that things had been strangely quiet since I reviewed World of Horror, yet it never fully dawned on me just how up in the air this work-in-progress game's continued developmen?t felt to its tapped-in fans. Personally, I had been waiting for a 1.0 release to revisit it, and just stopped keeping tabs; "when it's done, it's done."

While there were several post-launch updates �from the Hunter's Daughter content last March, to the Occult Capital of Japan in? October 2020 �it's only been whispers since then, and that void has led fans to speculate about the future of ??the game as well as its sole creator. Hopefully, we'll find out more soon. It's the season, after all.

The original intention for Early Access was "at least six months, with a roadmap to aim for a full release in the last quarter of 2020," albeit with the usual subject-to-change and player-feedback caveats. Clearly, that's not how things have panned out for World of Horror. At the same time, even in an unfinished state, it's a great game for folks who line their shelve??s with Junji Ito stories. (I was longingly staring at my hardcovers last night.)

Despite grievances over the lack of communication, World of Horror is still sitting at over 4,000 Very Positive user reviews on Steam, and the majority of owners are �or at least were �very happy with it. This seems like one of those cases where the audience is passionate about the game and its creator, and g??enuinely wants the best for both.

"I care about the game, but I'm just so, so, so glad to hear that you're alive, honestly," one fan said in response to today's tweet. "Playing the game right now always felt sad because I was so worried about if you were alri??ght. Hope things get better soon."

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I didn't expect to like the potion-crafting mechanic this much, but it's fun to plot out

After seeing it on the Steam top-sellers list today, I only intended to dabble in Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, a newly-released game about creating potions for fun and profit from niceplay games and TinyBuild. Welp, 90 minutes later, that sure was naive.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5LXRZqQ9g

I'm not sure about your history with browser-based games in the Flash era, but it was a time when I'd take a chance on unassuming games and wind up playing obsessively until I'd seen and done everything. Potion Craft?? hit me in a similar way �it has a simple but very effective illustrated style and a laid-??back "friendly shopkeep" vibe that sucked me right in. And, I'm surprised to say, the potion-crafting mechanic is pretty fun to figure out.

With an up-and-coming shop, every day you'll pluck plants from your garden, combine them in a ton of potential different ways to concoct potions as efficiently as possible, and sell them to meet customers' requests, some of which are?? hazy at best. There's some light XP-based progression unlocks (e.g., to improve your haggling or trading prowess), and some ?bigger goals like an Alchemy Machine to work toward, but that's the gist.

The mechanics of Potion Craft are easy enough to grasp �this is a mouse-based game where you physically drag ingredients, mash 'em up, plop them into a cauld??ron, and heat up the mix, rinse and repeat. The trickier part is making the most of your harvested (and purchased) ingredients each day; figuring out the optimal use of what you've got and what you ideally need to deliver. If you can keep every would-be customer happy, you'll have a great reputation. But if you try and hand them the wrong type of potion, or you just don't have the ingredients you need that day and you have to refuse them, they'll be grouchy.

_{The haggling mini-game is the most "active" part of Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator.}

About those potions: instead of mindlessly grabbing a bit of this and a bit of that to make a particular blend the same way every single time, Potion Craft allows for �?and eventually demands �more creativity. When you're brewing, you'll see a map with some good icons (like XP-granting books) a??nd some bad icons (like piles of skulls and bones).

Each ingredient has its own pre-determined "path" it will form on the alchemic map, and by strategically combining ingredients, one after the other, you'll be able to "build" a route that lets you snake your way around to avoid the potion-ruining spots and ultimately land on a final marker that corresponds to a potion type. While that's a pretty wordy way of breaking it down (honestly, consult the trailer), in p??ractice, it's easy. There'??s depth, though.

_{X marks the spot. In this example, if I get to the heart marker, I'll end up with an oft-requested healing potion.}

What's interesting is that you have a lot of control over how these "routes" are built on the map �you can brute force it with a bunch of repetitive ingredients that cover little ground but aren't zany and hard to plot out, you can use th?e raw ingredient or crush it to alter the length of the trail, and you ??can add a bit of water to your cauldron to nudge your position on the map back toward the starting point. It's a pretty novel mechanic for a crafting game, and combined with the wider shopkeeper sim progression, it's a fun blend.

Once you've created a potion, you can save the recipe, at which point you no longer need to ma??nually assemble it again (assuming you have the exact same ingredients).

_{If you line up your potion exactly right, you'll end up with a higher-tier result.}

After my 90-minute session, I ranked up a few times by consistently selling the right potions without turning too many folks away, and I checked off all of the goals in the first two chapters of the Alchemist's Path book, so I made a good dent. At the same time, the rate at which I'm progres??sing has slowed significantly. The long game �?the big-picture strategy �is still eluding me. Operating my shop in a sustainable way, without playing so fast and loose that I run the risk of eroding my alchemist's reputation, will be tough.

Now I ??know what you're thinking: "Early Access? Let's just save this for a rainy day."

I get that, and I feel the same way about the majority of ??work-in-progress games, but everything here is polished up, and I think there's enough content already to warrant not waiting. It's a satisfying loop, even if there are some missing features (certain buttons have a "still in early access" caveat) and the options (including controls) are sparse.

Speak?ing of which, I really dig this visual breakdown of what's next for the game:

_{Some of the longer-term hooks aren't finalized yet. I'm most interested in the new planting elements.}

And more context about?? future updates from the deve?loper:

"In the current version, the player is already able to interact with the Alchemy Machine, which will be the main tool to progress towards creating a Philosopher's Stone. We are going to introduce more potion effects, recipes, ingredients, and potion bases. The process of running the potion shop will also expand, as players will be able to upgrade their garden, work on their reputation and develop their alchemist talents. To make sure making potions doesn't become a routine, certain custo??mers will request potions with sp??ecial conditions. We also have plans for numerous quality of life improvements, for which we would need a lot of player feedback."

If you're intrigued, Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator is on Steam for $13.49 during launch week, so you're better off buying now, or strapping i??n for a long wa??it for eventual sales.

I came in with little to no expectatio?ns �I had heard of this game once before, likely from a showcase, but never dug into it �and I?'ve already become a fan. It's a gem!

_{[This impressions piece is based on a Steam Early Access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Early Access Review

Early Access has been such a huge benefit to so many games. Players get their hands on the game earlier than they thought, and developers get access to a ton of valuable (and plenty of not valuable) feedback. Of course, we all know the games that spend literally forever in Early Access as well and sully the name of the program. But like it or not, it's here to stay. I thoroughly enjoy being able to support games during their development phase, but sometimes I just don't want to play a game until it's "done." And yes, I'm aware that a game in its 1.0 format is usually far from "done," but let's not dive too deep into semantics here. It's the reason why I own Baldur's Gate 3 and cannot wai??t to play it, but have avoided installing it during its Early Access period.

Death Trash has sort of fallen into this camp as well. I've played it (for this article), and almost wish I hadn't. It seems like? it'll be a great game on release, but playing it now has a hollow and very incomplete feeling?.

Death Trash wears its OG Fallout inspiration on its sleeve, as the game certainly has the same vibe as the classic Interplay titles. You start in an underground/closed-off area only to emerge into a wast??eland filled wi??????????????????????????th curious creatures (I hesitate to call them people) and an even more curious environment. The main draw comes from exploring the land, talking to people, and figuring out just what the heck is going on.

//youtu.be/D1oA9yUrnlY

Players will create their character by allocating stats into a range of categories, but it's important to note that combat plays a large part in Death Trash. Unfortunately, I never put poi??nts into combat stats when given the choice??.

Like the original Fallout games and many others ins??pired by them, I was hoping that non-combat alternatives were viable. They are not.

In the less-than-ten-hours I've played of Death Trash, I found myself thrust into many combat situations that I fel??t ill-prepared for. Especially early on, I had no expertise in any of the weapons I found �my character was good at Empathy and Animalism, neither of which were useful in combat. (Though I could persuade little flesh monsters to be on my side and throw them, they sucked at actual combat.)

So the non-combat route isn't viable. That's fine, I don't expect every game to give the player as much agency as the all-time greats. But I would appreciate a better combat system. The pixelated-isometric view works just fine for ranged combat, but melee combat feels awkward??.

I used a mouse and keyboard to play, and resorted to stea??lth and stealth kills as much as possible to avoid actual combat. It just feels...not great. Dodging also feels weird, as I'm not sure what part has invincibility frames and what doesn't?. Maybe the combat works better in the local co-op mode? No idea, but it can be frustrating in single-player.

So, it's easy for me to say that people will play Death Trash for the story and environment �I know I will. This brings me back to my title. Why would I want to play a game for the story when the story isn't done yet? I really enjoyed learning more about the world of Death Trash. So much so, that when I got ?to ??this part, I just quit the game.

The main story was getting pretty hot and he??avy, and then I get hit with this.

Any interest I had in playing was gone. What if I get invested somewhere else and run into another brick wall of plot? Not interested. Most of the si?dequests involved me simply traveling from point to point, often using fast travel, and talking to key N??PCs. The stories were fun, but the in-between was not.

Yet, I am very interested to see where Death Trash ends up. And I do think it will be pretty great overall. I'd highly recommend buying it in Early Access to support the development if it seems like your cup of tea, but just like m??any o??ther single-player games, I'd also recommend not installing it until you see the 1.0 update hit.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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It's a mad world

Would you rather be a priest or a journalist? I feel like you probably already have a begrudging answer lined up, but before you lock it in, we're looking at this question through the lens of a Lovecraftian nightmare in the upcoming FPS Forgive Me Father.

You can play either role in the game, and you know what? I'm clutching that cross??.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmfp3FxkLig

Over the weekend, Forgive Me Father popped up on Steam with an announcement trailer and som?e?? extended pre-alpha footage from 1C Entertainment and developer Byte Barrel.

I know we're not exactly hurting for retro-style shooters these days, but I liked the comic-book aesthetic enough to want to loo?k into it further, and even though Lovecraft is a common source of inspiration for video games, on some level, I'm just inherently in for freaky-faced creatures and vague threats about "madness." It's a t??rope I can't turn down.

Similarly, gameplay-wise, Forgive Me Father isn't the freshest �expect ?conveniently placed explosive barrels, item pickups like health packs and keys, and hordes of shambling wretches that a??re fodder for your thunderous shotgun. The trailer sold me more than the gameplay preview, which seems pretty straightforward in that "early-game area" way.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub6tJSjy6vY

That said, the gifs on t??he Steam page are wild �especially that sentient, slithering blade pro??jectile that's latched onto the player's hand. I'm curious to see what kind of upgrades the priest and the journalist can unlock, and how their playstyles might differ depending on which "active skills" you go with. Not much has been shown on that front yet.

The plan is to launch Forgive Me Father in Q1 2022 on Steam?, though that could change depending on how players take to the Early Access version rolling out October 28, 2021.

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You can also go "prone" now, which cracks me up

It's not my ideal way to approach a soothing simulator like PowerWash Simulator, but if you need that extra hook to keep you blasting?? the gunk a??way, there's now a Challenge Mode.

To start, it's a van that needs to be cleaned as quickly and efficiently as possible for a bronze, silver, or gold medal, though FuturLab?? says this is " just the beginning" for "fun [extra] modes." On that front, the developers "want to stress that the core gameplay focus will always be on zen cleaning but?? with these modes, we want to add some extra replayability to the levels." That's the right move, and originality can set them apart.

I like ??to go slow, and I like to use copious amounts of water, so I'll sit this one out.

Challenge Mode showed up in Update 0.4 �reminder: PowerWash Simulator is still very much in Early Access, though it's pretty fun as is �??and that's not all. More substantially, there are new levels to clean up (a fire helicopter, RV, ??and treehouse), a rework of the soap system, which felt undercooked and too vague before, and the ability to go "prone" if the basic "crouch" isn't enough for hard-to-reach messes. I could've used that!

The best chang??es, though, have to do with those pesky final smudges that inevitably get missed even after you've thoroughly scrubbed every surface one section at? a time.

• Added a "To-do" list to the HUD when three objects/groups of objects are left in a job.
• Added option to highlight remaining objects in the world which still have dirt on them (access via the Details tab).
• Improved thresholds to remove very low opacity dirt.

As it stands, "dirt that i??s all but invisible to the naked eye" should be auto-wiped once it hits a certain threshold, and there's more info to help you tip from 99% to 100% cleaned.

A few o??ther notes from the update worth mentionin??g:

• Added option to leave the crosshair on to potentially reduce motion sickness for some players.
• Added support for higher frame rates.
• Ulysses The Cat should always run away when approached.

"In a fu??ture update, we'll also be adding more FOV options and ar??e looking at other potential solutions for controlling the washer/camera," said FuturLab. "There's a lot more to come during Early Access, and I want to mention that in particular, we're looking to add control remapping as our next highest priority."

PowerWash Simulator is the right kind of niche sim. It's good, and I hope it becomes great. That said, I still find it amusing Square Enix? of all places is publishing this game.

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A brilliant little concept in need of more content

Phantom Abyss is out today on Steam Early Access, and while I adore the idea of dodging spikes, arr??ow traps, and eye-beam-firing ?guardians in procedural temple dungeons while other players' phantoms run wild alongside me, it's not necessarily worth buying yet.

That sounds harsher than I mean it to! The initial thrills are just ?a bit too fleeting. Let me back ??up, as I think this game is worth keeping tabs on during the rest of the year.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ldvS26hrY

Phantom Abyss is a one-player first-person platformer adventure game, but it's built with asynchronous multiplayer �and streaming �in mind. You'll leap over pitfalls, slide under spinning blades, and fling yourself unnaturally high over obstacles with your whip. If there is? any takeaway to g??lean here, it's this: the whip rules and it makes the game.

It's tricky to work out exactly how close you need to be to a would-be whipping grapple spot while you're running for dear life and you're midway through a leap of faith over a bottomless pit because you didn't have time to plan this mess and you're running purely on instinct. The feeling when you narrowly latch on with your whip and zip up a ledge? So so satisfying. I love the way Phantom Abyss peer-pressures me into going as fast as possible, often to my detriment. I can't quite explain it, but it's got this frantic obstacle course game show vibe. I must tap the Shift key to sprint at all times. I must.

While you're trying to survive semi-randomized temples, which are broken down into distinct segments (with branching paths if you want to press your luck and keep going), you'll see other players' ghosts run amok. They can pop open treasure chests, smash pots, and set off traps, for better and for worse. You can even follow their breadcrumbs to beeline it through a labyrinth or simply see what not to do. That might sound too chaotic, but Phantom Abyss is a fairly easy-to-read game i??n te??rms of level design and trap "tells."

The ultimate goal is to keep your hearts (HP) intact long enough to claim a relic for your collection, and if? you go all the way down to the deepest layer, where the rarest relic is located, it's even possible to shut out that incredibly specific temple from the rest of the world. Consider it gone. I'll admit, I haven't seen this play out yet, but it's a novel idea.

Reaching the end will ?be a tall order if you aren't comfortable with fast first-person platforming, and I'd argue that it's best played with a mouse and keyboard for quick aiming, but you can learn the tricks. There are also breathers between each floor, and you can spend currency you accumulate on the current run to refill your hearts or gain buffs like slow-falling "Wings." Longer-term, you'll unlock whips with various rarity tiers and pros and cons, like one that makes you immune to fall damage but strengthens guardians.

The guardians are also somewhat randomized (though you'll know which one is a threat beforehand), and they grow stronger the deeper you go. One of them fires a laser, one of them launches a volley of balls that explode into toxic gas, and one of them pursues you like Principal Skinner calmly strolling through a river. I'll let you guess which guardian freaks me out the most and causes me to slip up and make stupid mistake?s.

Aside from coins used to give yourself more of a fighting chance, you'll also want to keep an eye out for tucked-away chests that have keys. Sometimes you'll need to find an orb to open up a door, but there are also key keys that are optionally used to extend your run far enough to reach the rarer relics. I like the decision-making that goes into whether I should just call it and walk away with a consolation prize, and I wish there were more opportunities to make meaningful choices in Phantom Abyss. Back at your base, you can buy fancier and m?ore daring whips, but this hasn't been a big motiva??tion for me.

I like what I've seen of the second zone/biome, and there's apparently three total in the current Early Access build. Problem?? is, it doesn't take terribly long for repetition to set in.

I've spent a couple of hours with Phantom Abyss, which, barring a sudden infl??ux of Steam friends picking up the game, is probably all I have in me until more substantial cont??ent updates roll in. It was a great two hours, full of "oh shit"-eliciting close calls and surprisingly fun first-person whip-based platforming, but I'm not feeling much of a desire to keep plugging away to reach the deeper, deadlier zones. It's the nature of the beast.

Team WIBY expects to stay in Early Access for "at least a year" to build out "new rooms, traps, whips, zones, and additional gameplay features." That's what the game needs (along with a captivated streamer audience), and I can envision it coming together in a way that pulls me back in. As it stands, though, Phantom Abyss feels too one-note.

My d??ream? A temple that captures the crushing despair and all-out euphoria of Sen's Fortress. (Too demanding? Hey, it's just a dream!) The Early Access content is a fine starting point, and I hope things progress at a reasonable pace. I'm rooting for this one.

_{[These impressions are based on a Steam Early Access build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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