NEO Scavenger preview

I have recently had the pleasure of being able to play the indie game NEO Scavenger. Set in a post-apocalyptic earth where some sort of global disaster has plunged the world back into the dark ages, ruined cities litter the landscape, horrific monsters roam the surface and the remaining humans live as nomadic bandits or cling together in urban fortresses. The game has a permadeath system, meaning that if you die your saves get instantly deleted, and with the unrelenting difficulty of this survival simulator that's going to happen quite a lot.

First Impressions Count

"You wake up disoriented, slumped over the base of an empty cryosleep pod, still damp from cryo fluid. The thick dust from the floor clings to your skin, leaving a clean spot on the ground, where a large 05 is painted.

Across the room, there is an open door to the hallway, and a broken window leading outside.

Just as you gather your wits, an unearthly scream erupts from down the hall beyond the doorway. Something is coming. Fast"

The game then gives you a choice to make, based on the traits you select in character creation. Do I dive out of the window? Should I hide in the corner? Or is attempting to fight off whatever is approaching the best idea? This introduction to the game really reflects the choices given throughout the rest of that game, but more on that later.

The Big Wide World

The world in NEO Scavenger is what you would expect from a post apocalypse, ruined cities, destroyed towns and natural growths cover the landscape. The world map is handled in hexes much like civilization 5, and movement and actions are turn based. For every playthrough the world is randomly generated, assuring a fresh experience every time you die. which will be often. There are many locations that can be scavenged for items, of course items are not the only thing you could stumble across, you can choose to scavenge in a number of ways, for example using your strength, hiding skills or a crowbar, these choices affect your looting, safety, and stealth levels, meaning that if you decided to strength loot somewhere with a crowbar more than likely someone will hear you and attack.

Fisticuffs

This brings us neatly on to the combat segments of the game. Combat works very much like a roguelike, you pick an option from a number of choices, the game calculates what damage you did to where, and on the surface it seems very simple. In fact the combat manages to be very dynamic, there is a large number of combat options but not all of them are available at any one time and there is a numerical distance system, stealth system, and stance system worked in too. You can even threaten enemies with your weapon to scare them off! However like a lot of roguelikes battles can leave you with long lasting wounds, which means that every battle is a hard choice to make, is this guy worth the loot? or should I run away and hide in the woods? This game offers choice at every turn, and its stuff that actually matters gameplay wise. Just winning the fight isn't the end of it though.

Patch Me Up, Doc

NEO scavenger boasts a rather in depth wound system in comparison to most other games, limbs can be crippled, wounds must be bandaged and the amount of pain the character is in actually affects the actions they can take. If a wound is not treated properly infections can occur, which require you to find antibiotics and hope for the best, to avoid this a clean rag is required, which is hard to come by in the post apocalypse. Due to the long term ramifications of wounds, a lot of thought has to go into everything potentially risky in the game, even in scavenging a building floors can collapse and give you a nasty cut that could end up being the death of you. Your character also has needs that need to be tended to, a sleepy overburdened thirsty survivor is hardly going to last long out in the wilderness.

Items, A Survivors Best Friend

Naturally a game like this has a lot of items, and being in a beta state even more are to come. The inventory in NEO Scavenger is handled very realistically, with backpacks being used to contain a finite number of items arranged into a grid, items can be rotated to optimize space usage, similar to games like Resident Evil 4. Items of clothing have item slots in them too, like pockets in hoodies or jeans. small plastic bags can also be found which adds believably to the game world. There is also a crafting system which adds to the survival elements of the game, meaning that you don't always have to scavenge everything you need and can just instead make do with what you have

And Of Course, The Graphics

The graphics are a pretty standard affair for an indie game, high quality pixel art is the name of the game here. The pixel art for characters is what you wold expect, however occasionally events happen that have their own special pixelart, which is honestly astounding. From a distance these scenes can look like photographs, but on closer examination you can clearly see that a lot of work has gone into them, take this for example:

Its a very high quality rendering, and really helps drive the imagination of the player.

You can check out NEO scavenger for yourself at Hereand back the steam greenlight at Here. I would really recommend that you check this game out, its very good and from a clearly passionate developer.