During Gamescom I’ve had the pleasure to sit down with Vostok Games‘ Joe Mullin for a Survarium preview (you might recall an earlier interview we published a couple of months ago). This online-only first person shooter, developed by many individuals who previously worked on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, already looks promising despite still being in alpha. We’ve recorded the whole presentation, but we’ll also offer a written summary below.
Despite being an FPS, Survarium has a strong RPG-like progression system under the hood. There are currently five main skill trees: firearm training, endurance, technical skills, survival and first aid, world knowledge. Players can decide to spend their points wherever they wish, and every five points spent in a skill tree they can choose one of two perks; the other will then be blocked, so even though it will be eventually possible to maximize all skill trees, no character can ever gain all perks - in fact, each character will be limited only to a half, thus encouraging group play.
Currently they’re estimating the level cap to be around LV 100, but it will take a very long time to reach that and they will likely have extended the skill trees before anyone gets there. In terms of character customization, gear will be acquired by accomplishing missions for factions (there will be six to eight at launch) who are going to contact our character via an in-game diary. An interesting aspect is that there will be a weight limit in terms of how much each character can carry, and of course using a backpack or vests with larger pockets will help with that, but it will be possible to deliberately choose to carry less stuff around and be more agile, which should give an edge in combat.
Of course, that would probably mean more obstacles in terms of dealing with the harsh, post-apocalyptic world of Survarium, stricken by a worldwide (yes, the game won’t be limited to Eastern Europe and we may see zones and environments from all over the planet) catastrophe; as you can see in the video, Joe had to equip an oxygen tank in order to survive the “anomalies” that litter the maps.
As we already learned from the interview, Survarium won’t have a large, persistent world, preferring the session based approach with different maps. There will be three different modes: PvP will see two teams trying to gather enough artifacts in order to power up a device capable of protecting them from an impeding cataclysmic event and co-op is meant to be heavily story-driven. The third mode is easily the most interesting: dubbed “Free play”, it takes place in a massive location and introduces many more nuances to the standard action in order to achieve a sandbox flavor.
For example, characters will need to keep their hunger and thirst levels in check, and even temperature will be a factor. The sessions played in this mode should also be far longer, to the point where the day/night cycle might kick in; clearly, “Free play” appeals to those who prefer a more hardcore, survival playstyle, as in this mode teams are not predefined - every time you notice another player you will have to ask yourself that timeless question: do I shoot first?
After loading the game, I was pleasantly surprised - as you might hear in the video - by the graphics. Vostok Games built their own engine and it’s looking pretty great for an alpha; Mullin said that while the engine is DX11-based, it’s very scalable so that players with weaker configurations can enjoy Survarium as well. The question was, at that point, fairly obvious since we’re in 2013: what about a release on next gen consoles?
The answer was that, while they are fully focused on delivering the game on PC first and foremost, a release on PS4 is very much possible at a later stage, and from what I could understand, it’s also more likely than an Xbox One release (hardly surprising at this point, given what we know about the different policies). Unfortunately, I can’t in all honesty comment on the gameplay, as it was plagued by high latency issues due to the bad connection at Gamescom (unfortunately, this happened all over the place). That said, soon many players should be able to get their hands on the game as alpha is coming in NA/Europe in the upcoming weeks, while beta is expected to hit early next year; a clan system was also confirmed during our talk, with leaders able to design their own insignia/badge which will make them stand out from the others.
Overall, Survarium seems really interesting, especially if you enjoy the post-apocalyptic setting. We’ll be sure keep it on our radar, so stay tuned if you want to know more.
