Review by Jon Donnis
I was sent a review code by the good people at Team17.
The Survivalists has you shipwrecked as you play on procedurally generated islands, you control a character whereby you explore, craft and even train monkeys to help you survive.
You start off adrift on a raft, you crash into your island, and start off collecting pebbles to make your first tool, you use this tool to break rocks and cut trees, this helps you gather more pebbles and wood, you find berries to eat and before you know it you are well on your way.
Whether you are collecting items to help you build new tools which you can then use to build shelters or if you are growing crops to eat. The Monkey Mimic system is the key as you will train monkeys to help you do all of these tasks. Up to 20 monkeys can be used, and you get them to copy you as you do a task, then you get another money to copy you doing something else and so on.
You can play single player, or with up to 4 other players with the objective being to help you all stay alive and grow your area.
But there is more to this game than just creating a camp and food, you can also explore the island, find wild animals, mythical creatures and other interesting things to keep you playing. You will find temples and vaults, so there really are things to find if you are willing to look far enough.
And just when you think you are in charge and know what is up, your camp will get invaded by angry orc creatures. So you can understand this won't be an easy challenge to survive.
The Good
The game is colourful, there is plenty to do and does have longevity.
The Bad
The controls are not the best, either on a gamepad or keyboard, the controls just seem poor, and unless you are willing to stick with the game you might find yourself being put off by them. I also had an issue with the save game system, for me it simply did not work. I am sure this is just an early bug though and will be fixed soon enough.
Summary
A cutesy game with plenty of longevity, but not a game I think suits my liking. If you liked The Escapists of which this game shares a proverbial universe, then you will enjoy this. I score the The Survivalists a fair 6/10
