Winter Survival Preview (Steam Early Access)

Rating: 0
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · April 10, 2024

Winter Survival Preview, Dive into the ultimate winter survival experience and see if you can survive long enough for rescue to arrive. Experience our unique sanity system that takes survival to the next level. What was supposed to be a nice winter hike in Mount Washington State Park with friends, turned into a dire situation. You are left alone to fight for your survival. With only marginal supplies, you have to fight off the cold, thirst, hunger, wildlife, and your state of mind while finding your way to an abandoned ranger station in the hope of being able to call for help.

Winter Survival Preview Pros:

Decent graphics.
7.92GB download size.
Steam achievements.
Full controller support.
Display settings – window mode, aspect ratio, display resolution, brightness, field of view slider, lock fps, and v-sync.
Colorblind support.
Graphics settings – quality preset, global illumination, shadows, anti-aliasing, view distance, textures, effects, reflections, foliage, shadow quality, and post-processing.
Advanced graphics settings – motion blur, lens flare, screen-space reflections, bloom, and ambient occlusion.
Can remap controls for the controller and the keyboard.
Survival gameplay.
Optional interactive tutorial.
Two difficulties – Explorer and survivalist.
Uses the lock pick system you see in the Elder Scrolls game where you select pins and lock them in place.
Uses the systems and bars for fatigue, sanity, hunger, water, etc.
The stench is a big part of the game as it can affect who and where animals will find you, taking off your clothes and entering water allows you to wash yourself and lower/eliminate the stench.
Dry clothes next to a fire.
You can find and use a Shovel to dig up items and chests/boxes.
Instinct mode will temporarily highlight interactive points and points of interest.
The tutorial idea is really good as it spawns in set pieces and explains why and what you are doing.
On-screen button prompts.
Set the button style used.
Sanity builds over time and can be reduced with sleep but filling the sanity bar will reveal a consequence next time you sleep.
Full day and night cycle.
First-person view.
Goes for a more Simulator approach to the genre.
The sanity is more integrated than you think, the left side of your brain is for adoption disorders, and the right is a new symptom.
Sanity will and can affect how you perceive the world and how things may work against or for you.
Has full platforming and rope climbing.
You can lock your focus onto an animal and follow and learn their pattern or movements.
A full 3D world with 360-degree camera control.
Pop-ups of ailments or notifications like fatigue and sanity.
The game has hunting like setting traps or using weapons and tools. You can loot and skin animals for materials and resources.
Crafting is split into four categories – bench crafting, cooking, construction, and self-crafting.
Collect resources from the game world.
Trees can be chopped down and then you choose to break down further or carry the log.
Building does use the snap-together method but you can also place it how you want with red meaning cannot be placed and green fine to place.
Two ways to play – story, and endless.
Shows a third coming soon mode called a cold wave.
The story mode is split into acts with an introduction and Act 1 available now and the next four acts coming later.
The story and cutscenes are done via wooden models and dioramas.
The stealth system is in play.
Play how you want.
A brilliant-looking world.
Has proven already that there is still room for innovation and creativity in a crowded genre.
Offers something very unique and special.
This si one to watch for sure.

Winter Survival Preview Cons:

Very hard to see where the cursor is in the menus.
The mouse cursor stays on the screen when using a controller.
Performance is not smooth and can get quite laggy and clunky.
Skinning an animal doesn’t change the animal’s appearance.
When chopping logs the game just cuts out the animation and has the blocks of wood dropping from the sky.
Can be a pain to pick up so many resources that are all grouped together.
So much to take in.
Button presses feel delayed.
The menus are clunky and just not smooth.
Only a few acts in the story mode at the moment.
Character models can look very wooden and robotic in their animations and facial expressions.