It’s 31 below and I’m at the limit of my thermal undies. I’ve scoffed all the healing roots I had, and sloshed down my last flask of cold-resistance-boosting moonshine a while ago. If I don’t find a heat source sharpish, I’m done for. But you should see the other guy: he has four of my arrows buried in his head, and another in his shoulder for luck. You’d think these injuries might have a sapping effect on his motivation to keep running about and firing his gun at me, but no: he’s unperturbed, and continuing to keep me from building a much-needed bonfire. If he doesn’t go down soon so help me I’ll… oh, that did it. Fifth arrow’s the charm.
Permafrost, the hardcore survival sim from SpaceRocket Games, takes its systems seriously, boasting detailed crafting and the need to manage hunger, health, stamina, and body temperature. It depicts a fragmented society struggling to survive the harsh conditions brought about by unforgiving cold. But that gravitas is eroded by enemies that display no ill effects from being turned into porcupines. If I’m going to die from a lack of hot beans, I expect my opponents to politely expire when perforated.
Perhaps, given that Permafrost is in Early Access, this is an unreasonable expectation. The dev team has committed to at least 12 months of refinement before the game is declared 1.0, so the game could look very different in a year’s time. But at the current discounted price of just over £17, it’s worth bearing in mind that some wobbly execution undermines the great visuals and smart ideas presented here.
The game is set in a chilly post-apocalyptic world which, ten years after a cataclysmic event which shattered the moon, has plummeted into an unrelenting ice age. What results is a desperate struggle for survival amid less-than-balmy temperatures. You can build and renovate shelters, craft better gear (your starting clobber will keep you alive down to about -26°, but you’ll need better kit to venture into colder areas), and take on various quests from the communities you’ll encounter along the way. All of this can be tackled alone or with up to three friends, and you’ll have to achieve it in an uncommonly hostile world. Hopefully those supernaturally hardy enemies are placeholders, then, and will be tweaked to accept the finality of headshots in time.
But they’re certainly not the only issues that need to be addressed. The current build has UI elements which tell you to press one button, but actually mean another. You also need to line up your reticule almost exactly with any object you want to interact with or pick up, making for frustrating resource collection. Then there’s the stone furnace which doesn’t light up when used, and the fact that you can’t consume items from storage chests, even though the option is presented to do so. Also, sleeping for hours currently doesn’t pause the consumption of any firewood you have burning, nor does it result in the end of any NPC gunfights that you try to nod off during. If my dog could get stuck on the scenery less frequently, I’d certainly be grateful, too.
Ah yes, the doggo. Permafrost pairs you with a furry companion, and that, for many, will be enough to overlook any teething issues. My buddy’s called Peeve. He’s my pet Peeve. Geddit? He has a little waistcoat with storage that expands my inventory, can be politely asked to search for items in the wilderness, and is pretty good at warning me when danger is nearby. It’s another mouth to feed, of course, and my precious supply of bandages will need to stretch a little further, but the pale-white husky is pretty cute, I suppose. And don’t worry, while he’ll become less efficient without food, he won’t ever expire.
He also provides welcome company while scouting Permafrost’s handcrafted icy wasteland. You actually stumble on a settlement called Horizon very early on, which provides much-needed protection from the elements and a bed to rest or sleep in (both also set a respawn point, by the way), as well as friendly citizens with whom to trade or accept life-threatening missions from. After learning the ropes of hunting with a bow and arrow and skinning an unfortunate deer (which took only two arrows to kill, by the way), it’s time to make a hotpot and head out.
After a circuitous amble through a cave and an encounter with an injured bear, you find yourself on the other side of the ravine which cuts through the land next to Horizon. The bridge is out, but there’s a little spot on which you can start building a hut (you don’t have to build right here, but it’s conveniently marked out) and begin to wonder why you didn’t just ask to rent a place within the protective walls of Horizon. It feels a bit odd building a shelter so close to what could be home, and positively contrary when you eventually repair the bridge and continue to live just a hundred feet or so from an established community.
However, this is just the first of many bases as you gradually push deeper into the handcrafted world. You can build from scratch using foundations, or you can renovate damaged shelters you find along the way. Each one, along with every bonfire you leave in the wild, serves as a staging post that allows you to recover some warmth, cook up more hot food, and rest before pressing on. Cold zones, storms, and night see temperatures plummet further, but as you expand your network of shelters and craft warmer clothes, progression starts to feel a bit more like a Metroidvania than a traditional survival sim, encouraging you to return to earlier areas that were too dangerous previously.
There’s a lot to like here, not least the feeling of huddling around a brazier in a makeshift shelter with the window shutters closed to the stinging cold. There are rough edges to be expected in Early Access, but while SpaceRocket needs to iron out those mechanical bugs and balance its combat, there’s a core concept here that is very easy to warm to.
