The Survivalists in an interesting game. A spinoff of The Escapists games from Team17, the premise is simple, as you are on a broken raft before crashing onto the shore of a desert island where you need to gather together enough resources to survive. You start off small, but gradually find yourself in a mix between Minecraft and Story of Seasons blended perfectly together. This is a survival game where you need to build campfires, beds, basic fencing, and find food, but the pressure is surprisingly low and the urge for exploration is high.
Along the way, you will encounter help in the form of monkeys from the island that you can bribe into being your loyal helpers. The monkeys can be taught to follow you, copy your actions and assist you with crafting and gathering. You will need to manage things however, so you do not run out of food for them to consume along the way. After all, they are not doing this for free and will want something in return. The Survivalists may seem like it will have the same urgency as The Escapists, but things are actually much more low key and calming. Yes there are dangers here, and you are not going to just wander around doing nothing, but things still feel a lot more relaxed even with enemies present.
These enemies take the form of hostile animals, and orc tribes that will raid you to destroy what you’ve built and steal your stuff, this of course means you will need to do some fighting to defend yourself and take back what is yours, and it is done pretty well here. The game shares the strike style from The Escapists 2, but something new has been added here that completely changes the way you will experience the combat. Team17 has added a dive roll that adds multiple new ways to go about fighting and interacting. As such, while combat can be tense, it is not as punishing as the other games, and still feels pretty mellow. Strategy is involved for sure, but the game doesn’t make things harder than they have to be here. You can still take your time gathering, building and interacting, and you can do things at your own speed.
As you gather resources, you gain better tools and you can make a more versatile camp with a large amount of options, even including a teleporter if you do things right. You will also be travelling to the other nearby islands and exploring them, their caves and temples to see what you can find. You will need to build a raft and keep the monkeys well armed to protect you, but there is a sense of fun rather than tension. The game has a four-player co-op mode, reminiscent of The Escapists 2, and with this game offering even more freedom for creativity in movements and actions, there is a lot of fun to be had. If you want to just play solo however, you are not left out either, as the game makes use of the monkeys for the single player mode and they work just as well for a good player.
What makes The Survivalists work so well, is the way you can customize the game to your playstyle. You can be aggressive, explorative, defensive and more. There is is much you can do to interact with the environment, and the only limit is what you can imagine. With amazing retro style graphics and excellent chiptune music, this is a game that is so charming, it engages you in a desire to keep playing no matter what. The Survivalists has that elusive X Factor that so many games want to have, but lack. With the foundations of The Escapists games behind them, Team17 managed to create a nice variation that stands out from the crowd. I highly recommend this.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
Available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Apple Arcade.
This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.
Images taken from Nintendo.com