The Survivalists Review | Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox, PC.

In genre congested by popular titles such as Minecraft, Don't Starve, and Terraria, Sold-Out Software is trying to cut their own sliver of the genre with The Survivalists. This is the spiritual successor to their popular series The Escapists, now turned island survival game and it's available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC this week.

We're skipping the story section of this review as all you really need to know is that you've crashed on a stranded island and you're just trying to survive. Nothing new in terms of writing for this genre but it works. The survivalists doesn't use story to fuel its in engagement but instead the consistent progression gameplay that rewards you for the effort you put into it.

The survivalists can be played either alone or with friends via four-player co-op online, sadly though that doesn't include cross-play. With a title that's on so many platforms, it's quite the bummer to see it drop the ball in that regard, hopefully, it's a feature that gets added at some point.

Jumping into the main game is as easy as hitting play and have a brand new island be procedurally generated. Spawning into the world you're presented with a brand new island to explore. I was prompted to customize my character which was a very basic editor.

I could change my character's hairstyle, facial features, and skin tone. It wasn't enough to get my character to look like me but at least it didn't look like every other character. I was able to quickly get the hang of things with the built-in tutorial that slowly introduces new mechanics as you try out the different features.

At the bottom center of the screen were my hotkeys that held all the items in my inventory. To its left is my health and the right was my energy that fueled any action my character did from rolling or mining. With no real sense of direction, I wandered around the lush island, destroying trees, stone, and harvesting plants I saw along my path.

Slowly, I began to make sense of it all, crafting together resources to create tools and buildings that then further unlocked new recipes. For example, building a hand axe leads to being able to forge a regular ax after collecting enough items for it.

Likewise, after making a small chest, I was able to learn how to make a larger size one. The survivalists want you to explore and learn every bit of its features even if you don't think you need it. While somewhat annoying at first, this quickly turned around as it got me to experiment with items I'd normally not go out of my way to craft.

Across the island are monkey too, they're potential friends that can be saved from the native tribal folk that are hostile to just about anything that isn't them. Additionally, you can bribe monkeys to join your forces by giving them an item they want.

In return these monkeys act as a fellow comrade, being able to mimic you or follow you with a quick press of a button. It's a nifty tool that becomes helpful for making large scale projects, especially if you're playing solo. I spent most of my time playing alone and despite this being focused toward co-op play, I enjoyed playing alone just as much.

I found myself getting lost in playing alone. Exploring nearby islands lead to such surprise encounters like finding a vault that homed not only enemy npcs but treasures too. Heading off to the sea, I could craft together fishing equipment to catch some new food but also come across sharks that proved to be another hurdle.

That tended to be the gameplay loop that worked really well. I'd explore the unknown, find some brand new feature only to want to progress past it and find myself finding something completely new. Likewise, as I kept exploring, I'd keep progressively getting better items and equipment that only made me want to keep on exploring.

That fun continued on with the co-op multiplayer that made progression a faster and social experience. It was a mostly fun time though my friends that played with me reported that eating food to regain health often took multiple clicks, a possible network issue with the game.

Outside of that problem, surviving together was a blast! Building a camp together to slowly build up our resources and then go adventuring into vaults for better tools and treasure, was a rewarding time and while you can technically beat the game, I found myself actively avoiding it to further enjoy my time on the island.

The Survivalist beautifully meshes subtle touches of animation, active shadows, and lovely drawn sprite work to craft together a work of art. It reminds me of the Octopath Traveler art style but with the camera angle to make the overall presentation flat.

I loved walking through the grasslands and seeing the weeds sway to the wind as the off distant beach tide pulls up to the shore. Sold-Out Software has had a knack for crafting these wonderful sprite landscapes and The Survivalists is no different. There's a great combination of retro-styled sprite work and modern graphic work from the fluid animation to the modern lighting that makes this stand out among the plethora of other sprite-based games.

In terms of performance, I had no issues running this on my PC running a GTX 1060 and an i7 4790k. It's not a demanding game and so I don't expect it to be an issue on the console front either. The escapists series ran well on Nintendo Switch and I'd expect similar performance with this title as well.

For a game about trying to survive, the music and sound library is oddly relaxing in this game. That's not a complaint, I easily lost track of time playing through solo rounds of trying to survive, make a camp, and exploring the wilderness. In those adventures, I'd hear the subtle wind hum over my ears as birds chirped in the background.

As I got closer to the forest, I'd here more wildlife, from frogs croaking in the distance, monkeys in the trees, and rabbits scurrying along the valley. All in the background of this, some lofi synth waves played that transported me to this wilderness oasis.

It was tranquil, peaceful, and mesmerizing. In survival games like this, I think it's easy to get bored, especially considering gameplay loops and presentations can be quite repetitive but The Survivalists surpass it. I found even doing the more monotonous stuff to be rather therapeutic and it's certainly in part to the calming music and sound design.

The Survivalists stands its ground as a fun and entertaining new addition to the survival co-op genre. When you're playing with friends, it feels like a light-hearted survival game with layers of gameplay mechanics to keep everyone busy and entertained at all times.