Absolutely brilliant concept, executed in a fun and engaging way.

I'm a long-time fan of the survival genre, and Rust has been my top-played game for years now. I tend to try every new entry that comes along (eventually) including fantasy versions like Conan and Enshrouded, various zombie and monster survivals, and your Valheim types. What's been sorely lacking across the board lately is any true originality.

Abiotic Factor addresses this right out of the box. No starting in the woods, and no building campfires. Instead, we're faced with a mildly campy form of urban survival — something that I haven't seen nearly as often as wilderness survival (or zombies).

Stuck inside a massive science/industrial complex, you're looking for water coolers and vending machines rather than freshwater streams and berry bushes. You build tech out of old office supplies. Instead of chopping trees (THANK GOD) you're smashing computers apart for circuit boards and CPU fans.

New areas are unlocked as you progress through the story, and hidden rooms/sectors abound. While you're obviously not dealing with miles and miles of expansive terrain, I was surprised by how fun it can be exploring hallways, air ducts, and bathrooms for hours on end. And when new areas unlock, I've found it to be right around the time I become desperate for more resources and new tech.

AF has maintained a decent difficulty curve so far. I'm not one to speedrun a game, so I've been taking my time. I played for quite a while before settling on a good spot to set up my "base", and then spent hours building furniture, crafting supplies, and upgrading my bench before unlocking the second area.

Now, I've come face to face with the military force on site, akin to Half Life's Marines. Since I have a crossbow made out of office supplies and a pistol with no ammo, I don't do well in stand-up fights against them. The game has turned pretty heavy on the sneaking for me. I will say I'm not a huge fan of stealth games, but the prospect of gathering the items I need to upgrade my arsenal and going toe-to-toe with the enemy has me pressing on.

I've been gaming for a long time, so I feel the immersion even with the Source Engine look. Yeah, there's some Half Life nostalgia baked in, but I feel it's just a good-looking game on its own merit.

Haven't found a bug yet. And I don't have any performance issues despite running AF on a five-year-old MSI gaming laptop. Doesn't even warm up the laptop, much less send it into meltdown, so I'm not sure what's going on with those hitting problems.

Highly recommend this game for anyone who likes survival, horror, sci-fi, Half Life, and/or crafting. It's a unique entry to the genre that deserves the spotlight.

Absolutely brilliant concept, executed in a fun and engaging way. I'm a long-time fan of the survival genre, and Rust has been my top-played game for years now. I tend to try every new entry that comes along (eventually) including fantasy versions like Conan and Enshrouded, various zombie and monster survivals, and your Valheim types. What's been sorely lacking across the board lately is any true originality. Abiotic Factor addresses this right out of the box. No starting in the woods, and no building campfires. Instead, we're faced with a mildly campy form of urban survival — something that I haven't seen nearly as often as wilderness survival (or zombies). Stuck inside a massive science/industrial complex, you're looking for water coolers and vending machines rather than freshwater streams and berry bushes. You build tech out of old office supplies. Instead of chopping trees (THANK GOD) you're smashing computers apart for circuit boards and CPU fans. New areas are unlocked as you progress through the story, and hidden rooms/sectors abound. While you're obviously not dealing with miles and miles of expansive terrain, I was surprised by how fun it can be exploring hallways, air ducts, and bathrooms for hours on end. And when new areas unlock, I've found it to be right around the time I become desperate for more resources and new tech. AF has maintained a decent difficulty curve so far. I'm not one to speedrun a game, so I've been taking my time. I played for quite a while before settling on a good spot to set up my "base", and then spent hours building furniture, crafting supplies, and upgrading my bench before unlocking the second area. Now, I've come face to face with the military force on site, akin to Half Life's Marines. Since I have a crossbow made out of office supplies and a pistol with no ammo, I don't do well in stand-up fights against them. The game has turned pretty heavy on the sneaking for me. I will say I'm not a huge fan of stealth games, but the prospect of gathering the items I need to upgrade my arsenal and going toe-to-toe with the enemy has me pressing on. I've been gaming for a long time, so I feel the immersion even with the Source Engine look. Yeah, there's some Half Life nostalgia baked in, but I feel it's just a good-looking game on its own merit. Haven't found a bug yet. And I don't have any performance issues despite running AF on a five-year-old MSI gaming laptop. Doesn't even warm up the laptop, much less send it into meltdown, so I'm not sure what's going on with those hitting problems. Highly recommend this game for anyone who likes survival, horror, sci-fi, Half Life, and/or crafting. It's a unique entry to the genre that deserves the spotlight.