The remedy for my survival crafting melancholy is Abiotic Factor.

My connection to survival crafting games is akin to that of an enticing, yet unpalatable dish - imagine black licorice. "My taste has changed a lot in the last few years, I bet this is really going to do it for me now," you may be thinking to yourself. just to bite into it and contort your face in disgust. Me and survival games are like that.

I keep playing these kinds of games, but I usually become bored quickly and give up (as do my irate friends, to whom I always hurriedly offer such game). However, thus far, the narrative of Abiotic Factor is somewhat different.

For me, the environment in which I must exist is as crucial to understanding as the actual survival mechanisms. I've made it through so many woods, caverns, and even seas that I'm kind of tired of the typical suspects by now. I want to turn an unsightly couch into a bed, not construct a mattress out of logs and leaves. I would much sooner gather rainwater from hallway water coolers than to distill any more of it. Like crossbow bolts, pens. Cushions for chairs as improvised armor. Vending machines provide as great hunting grounds for a wide range of sweet and salty species. Abiotic Factor is that.

Completely occurring inside a simulation of Half Life 1's You take on the role of a pencil-pushing scientist in Black Mesa, which you may personalize both mechanically and artistically by choosing your classes and earning rewards in a manner reminiscent to Project Zomboid. Even in Early Access, the meticulously designed landscape is enormous and incredibly complex, with special resources and surprises lurking around every dubious-looking corner.

Although the realism seen in other survival games is suited by the presence of trees, rocks, and streams, it is very exciting to enter an industrial area that has been prefabricated, turn on the tactile light switches, and search through file cabinets. My favorite kind of survival games are what I refer to as "Pick-'em-Up" games. The film Prey (2017) is a prime illustration of this. Indeed, that was a great pick-em-up; you could even disassemble whole rooms into little material cubes to fill up your inventory. As you tear apart whole computer terminals into an exploding confetti of different parts and pieces you'll scavenge off the ground like a ravenous animal, Abiotic Factor perfectly captures this feeling.Of course, there is battle. Although killing an enemy alien dog with a metal pipe feels nice, it's advisable to approach it more carefully. The interconnected, almost immersive-sim level systems in the game are used by ranged weaponry, explosives, and well constructed traps. Just remember to use a chef's knife to cut apart their carcasses for pieces.There's a really deep feeling of physicality to the affair that I believe many games lack, from enticing foes into spinning saw traps to warming oneself with a homemade heater as the electricity cuts off for the night. Using your digital watch, you can track the temperature change in real time as you go from room to room. In that classic Half Life scientific cadence, your character will lament the cold or hunger. Furthermore, although thirst and hunger don't bother you too much, figuring out how to extract resources from a concrete bunker teeming with hostile lifeforms may be challenging.Your character's fragile physique will be impacted by radiation, "dryness," and other factors in addition to temperature. It reminds me a lot of the survival mechanisms from Project Zomboid, which were almost as intelligent as Dwarf Fortress . You can avoid becoming wet by using aprons, and you can protect yourself from radiation by wearing extra protective threads. The constant reminder of your small scientists' existence in the world adds to the tension of skulking around and acquiring materials.Naturally, the multiplayer component also excels well. You may assign jobs to up to five buddies, choose various "builds," and go level by level via the GATE facility. Here's a photograph of my friend using our one and only syringe to heal me after a long day of exploration if you need any more encouragement to invite a friend to join:

It just seems like one of those vintage acts of love. Like pigs on the search for truffles, Steam users have focused in on the game, propelling its player base to over 15,000 concurrent users and reviews to a 97% "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating. It's a well-deserved, if rather delayed, blowup after creator Geoff Keene's terrible experience of being "Among Us before Among Us" with his previous title, terrible Spacemen.