Abiotic Factor

As an avid survival gamer, I have been in many conversations about favorite games in the genre. In the last year, this one kept coming up over and over, but every time I looked at brief video clips (I try to avoid spoilers), I couldn't get over the old school Half-Life style graphics. I could not understand what people might be seeing in it, and in trying to avoid spoilers, I wasn't digging very far into reviews or discussions...I was in a sort of limbo. A Schrodinger's game, of a sort, where so long as I didn't open the box, I wouldn't know if it was a good game or a bad game. When it went on sale, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get it for myself and my partner. We were eyeballs-deep in Icarus at the time, and couldn't see our attention being pulled elsewhere, but curiosity got the better of us one weekend, and we decided to play. I can't say it was love at first session, but it was definitely enough to make us want to play more. And now just a few weeks in...sorry Icarus, we'll be back, but we're fairly obsessed with Abiotic Factor; and given the amount of content still ahead of us, I am not sure I see that ending anytime soon. What do I love about it? Still not the graphics, I can honestly say that. But I'm over it being distracting. I'll just say it's campy and awkward in a way that suits the universe you play in. But past that, things that keep me coming back to survival crafting games are almost always three things: exploration that is rewarding, lots of goodies to hoard and organize and craft with, and story and/or world-building. The exploration, AF has in spades. The facility and related realms (no spoilers!) keep you moving, keep you wanting to peek into hallways and around corners to find Easter-egg type hidden places, and while not incredibly detailed, still offer a sense of place and unique environments to step into. For *cough*hoarders*cough* COLLECTORS like me, there is lots to gather up, and more interesting and unique things to craft as you progress. I highly recommend you go into your sandbox settings and raise the stack size, because it will quickly become untenable to store all the items you will need or want. To this point, there are a LOT of dials to turn up or down to customize your play experience, and I have mad respect for developers who understand that players are unique, and honor that fact by allowing us to play how WE want to pay and not they they THINK we should play. Thanks, devs. Finally, for story and world-building, there is enough surface-level storytelling to keep you motivated to move forward without needing to go deep into reading or listening to it constantly to stay in the know. But there is deeper reading and listening you CAN do if you want to go further with it. Again, honoring the different ways players want to engage with a game is smart. I know I can skip something now and go back to my journal and reference it later if I need or want to. Sometimes I wanna steep. Sometimes I wanna run and gun. And I always find a need to go back and check important details without having to return to a precise location to re-read/experience it. So the journal keeping notes for you is really perfect. For people who love base-building, I don't think it quite scratches that itch, but it does have some "nesting" as far as decoration and reinforcement of existing structures. You won't be building a tower to the sky, but there are options for those creatives who want to dabble a bit in making your home more homey. If you want an Enshrouded or Valheim experience, and want to make custom epic builds, won't find that kind of architecture here. I thought I would miss it, but instead I am finding the challenge of making functional and interesting home bases across the map to be its own fun. So yeah, everyone who told me to get past the graphic style and try it was right. I see many hundreds of hours potentially ahead of me. Reference survival games I love: Subnautica, 7 Days to Die, Icarus, Planet Crafter, The Long Dark, Enshrouded, No Man's Sky, Pacific Drive, Stranded Deep. And, while not survival, I played every Half-Life since they day they came out, basically. Kitchy futuristic science horror FTW.