The Front Preview (Steam Early Access)

by Jim Smale · Published November 30, 2023 · Updated November 30, 2023

For our The Front Preview, we play a survival open-world crafting shooter. We play the role of a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop the rise of a tyrannical empire. Collect resources, craft tech, build shelters, and fight monsters to accomplish our mission.

The Front Preview Pros:

Decent high-quality graphics.
37.99GB Download size.
Graphics settings – dynamic resolution, graphics preset, windowed mode, fps, shader effects, anti-aliasing, shadows, view distance, texture quality, visual effects, foliage quality, FSR, and gamma correction.
Mouse and keyboard options – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, the field of view slider, can remap controls, set aiming mode, advance mode, camera follow, and helicopter control styles.
Streaming mode – profanity on/off.
Server browsers are split into 3 types – Official, dedicated, and solo/hosted games.
Create your own dedicated server with your own options for – name, password, player limit, survival mechanics, and how resources work. There is a lot to tweak.
Solo/hosted also houses a crazy amount of settings just like the dedicated server. I mean you can edit jump height, exp rate, how much food will fill you up and so much more.
Two modes of play – PvP and PvE.
One main map with a second beta test version of a new map.
Basic character creator – male/female, head, hairstyle, and hair color.
Has Ark vibes for the game options, choosing a spawn point, etc.
Open-world survival gameplay.
Hunger, thirst, and stamina mechanics are in play by default.
Punch and collect resources from the world.
Full day and night cycle with different weather effects
Earn exp from everything and unlock new quests, crafting, and more.
Full crafting and recipe system.
Play how you want but you do get quests to help keep you on track.
On screen exp bar fills up as you earn exp.
The ui can be tweaked to your liking but it’s very clear and has a lot of trackers on it.
All your hunger, thirst, health, etc is displayed in the corner.
Compass helps navigate the world.
The map lets you filter by points of interest, it fills in question marks as you explore and you can put your own markers down.
Familiar controls.
You can craft weapons and items to hunt the many animals.
Massive tech tree that populates as you level up – basic, weapons, structures, vehicles, gear, supplies, and technology.
Basic tools and weapons can be crafted in the inventory menu whilst bigger things require a crafting table.
When starting out you have a protection status to help ease you in, after level 10 that’s it you are all grown up!
Just like Ark and Minecraft you hit trees, rocks, etc, and get the materials, different levels of tools change the speed and amount of materials you get.
You can just hold down the action button for swinging axes and using weapons etc.
There is AI in the game and they are usually hostile!
Set more within the modern world with broken down cars, and settlements to find.
By default when you die you drop everything in a crate and you can then try and get it back.
Once dead you can respawn in a designated place or respawn where you died.
Fantastic looking world.
Very addictive for those who like to craft and explore.
Territory flags help keep structures and items together but you can get raided in PvP.
Weapons and tools degrade with use and eventually break.
It does feel like a living world even in solo play.
All the quests have progress numbers to help.
Moving the mouse cursor on the map shows cos ordinates.
You can fast-travel between your placed markers.
Vehicles are a huge part and I mean you can build tanks! Or tractors, I mean you wanna eat.
Traps can be for humans or animals.
The base building is some of the best I’ve seen.
It goes to the level of you can program doors to open, set up alarms and generators and so much more.
Each time I advanced in the era of weapons and tools it felt like a whole new game and world again.

The Front Preview Cons:

No controller support.
Very daunting opening screens of menu options.
No real tutorial as such and instead is just a load of quests and checklists.
Very basic character creator and even calling it that is a stretch.
So much to take in especially if this is your first foray into open-world survival games.
Combat is very button-mashy.
You can completely break the game with the settings.
Takes a long time to get going in terms of base building and getting familiar with the combat.
If you let it the game can just destroy your productivity in the real world.
The animations of the Raiders and Ai is quite robotic.
Animals don’t move and react that well.
A lot of the performance can be up and down.
A big undertaking.
Griefing can get out of hand quickly.
Building and surviving on the PvP side of things is really tough.
Few hit detection and building detection issues.
The controls can be awkward and I mean more the ones where you have to hold a button to press a button.

The Front:

Official website.

Developer: Samar Studio

Publisher: Samar Studio

Store Links –

Steam Early Access