Surrounded

About

Surrounded is a single player and multiplayer open world survival game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by Nightmare Studios and was released on July 14, 2023. It received neutral reviews from players.

"Surrounded" is a horror open-world game that offers both single-player and multiplayer/co-op modes for up to 6 players. Explore the dynamic world of Echofield, uncover its dark history, and use proximity voice chat for a more immersive experience. The game also includes a replayable mode called "Hunted" for up to 4 players, where you can explore abandoned locations and banish monsters with syringes infused with black matter. However, the game suffers from optimization issues and contains numerous bugs.

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45%

Audience ScoreBased on 594 reviews

story16 positive mentions

stability58 negative mentions

The game has a fun concept and unique monster designs that can be terrifying.
The atmosphere is creepy, and the jump scares are effective, providing a thrilling experience.
The developers are responsive to feedback and show potential for future updates and improvements.

The game is plagued with bugs, including poor optimization, crashes, and issues with multiplayer connectivity.
Many players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in content, with a huge map that feels empty.
The voice chat and audio mechanics are inconsistent, often requiring players to shout to communicate effectively.

story
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its gripping and immersive elements, while others criticize its lack of direction and clarity, leading to aimless wandering. Many enjoyed the thrill of uncovering the narrative through puzzles and interactions, but noted that bugs and performance issues detracted from the overall experience. Overall, while the story has potential and is appreciated by some, it requires further optimization and development to fully realize its impact.
- “10/10! Can't wait to see more added to the story and perhaps more chapters in the future!”
- “First impression is 10/10! The story is gripping, enjoyable, and unpredictable. It keeps you on your toes, and for the price, as well as how much story and replayability the game has, I'd highly recommend it!”
- “I like the fact that there is a lot of mystery going on as the story progresses. You learn more and more about why these events are taking place.”
- “There was barely any direction regarding the story and how to progress, and we often found ourselves wandering aimlessly whilst trying to get further along in the story.”
- “If I hadn't read the story description on the Steam page, I doubt I would have known much about what was happening.”
- “The story doesn't make too much sense, and there are times when I'm not sure what to do.”
stability
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is widely criticized for its severe stability issues, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and poor performance that significantly detract from the gameplay experience. Players have experienced frequent crashes, frame rate drops, and problematic enemy interactions, leading many to recommend waiting for substantial updates before purchasing. Despite its potential, the current state of the game is described as a "buggy mess," making it largely unplayable for many users.
- “The game has potential; however, it is very buggy at the moment. The collision is very bad, you will seem to lag for no reason when running. The flashlight will turn off if you get near things, and the collision boxes for the player characters are bad because you will get blocked even at a distance. The baby enemies are almost impossible to see most of the time due to their color, and the ethereal ambience is very loud, taking away from the horror. I have high hopes for the game; however, I recommend waiting at least a few months or a year until the game's bugs and features have been better fleshed out and the game is more stable.”
- “Game was really buggy, kicked me out multiple times. It's boring, and the monster was just standing there and didn't kill me or do anything. I don't recommend this; don't buy!”
- “It's really unfortunate that the game is this buggy; it had a lot of potential.”
optimization
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
45%
44%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with users reporting severe performance issues, frequent bugs, and a lack of polish that detracts from the overall experience. Many players have experienced low frame rates, janky animations, and connectivity problems, leading to refunds and disappointment. While some hope for future improvements, the current state is deemed unacceptable for a playable experience.
- “I'm hoping in the future since this is still early access that it will be optimized and the story doesn't glitch out.”
- “It's honestly a great game, and the patches that they've done have been great for optimization and utilization of assets.”
- “Could be good with better optimization and clear objectives.”
- “Absolutely terribly optimized, not even worth trying to figure out how to play the game.”
- “The optimization is horrendous and basically non-existent.”
- “In general, the optimizations of the game and some bugs prevent me from playing the game casually, so I have to apply for the refund.”
graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
74%
15%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players expressing disappointment in the overall quality, often comparing it to outdated visuals and experiencing significant bugs and performance issues. While some users noted that the monster designs were well-crafted and visually appealing, others reported low frame rates and a lack of graphical settings, leading to frustration. Overall, the game's graphics seem to fall short of expectations, especially given its use of the Unreal Engine 5, indicating a need for further optimization and development.
- “The visuals are impeccable, on par with some triple-A video games being released today.”
- “Lovely graphics, simple but very effective.”
- “On a positive note, the graphics of the monsters, particularly the smaller one, are exceptionally well-crafted.”
- “The frame rate on the game was so low it was like playing through a Samsung smart fridge on McDonald's WiFi. Me and my friends tried everything with the graphics and nothing fixed it.”
- “Furthermore, the graphics fail to deliver a satisfactory level of visibility, requiring players to relog multiple times to compensate for the lack of clarity.”
- “Once in the game, the graphics were terrible no matter what settings we used.”
gameplay
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
58%
17%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant bugs, lag, and repetitive mechanics that detract from the overall experience. While the horror elements and monster designs are praised for their potential, issues such as poor optimization, erratic movement mechanics, and unresponsive sound cues hinder immersion. Despite these drawbacks, some players find enjoyment in the game's unique concept and believe it could improve with further updates and refinements.
- “Game team should be proud of themselves for the imaginative concept and fun gameplay.”
- “Fantastic horror game with unique gameplay and wonderful updates.”
- “Massive potential and if you can get past the teething issues of loading into the game, and look past the slightly buggy collisions at times, it's a really enjoyable and terrifying few hours of gameplay.”
- “The biggest critique is noticeable stability issues that result in very laggy gameplay and huge FPS drops. I will mention I do play on an NVIDIA 3060 with an Intel i9-11900K processor and 32GB RAM.”
- “This game is so laggy and there are so many bugs with its gameplay and lobby that it is almost unplayable.”
- “The gameplay is fairly buggy; getting a friend back up after they were downed by a monster was very hit and miss, only working maybe 25% of the time.”
music
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
78%
11%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising the chase music for its intensity, while others criticize it for being overly loud and repetitive, with limited volume control options. Glitches causing the music to persist during inappropriate moments detract from the experience, and some players express a desire for more varied sound effects, such as monster screams, instead of the current musical score. Overall, while there are moments of appreciation, many find the music to be a significant drawback.
- “Amazing music.”
- “You will know that you have been spotted by the fast-paced music change.”
- “- eerie music and it will change when a monster is chasing you.”
- “The music can only be turned down to 10%, which is still too loud for how terrible the music is, and I can't change my sensitivity.”
- “Can't even load in, just gives me a black screen and puts the music audio to max. Bad.”
- “The chase music was also kind of dumb; I would rather have monster screams than a 'scary' beat when I'm getting chased.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
12%
13%
The game's atmosphere is consistently described as creepy and engaging, with unique monster designs that enhance the tension. However, issues with sound design, such as distracting ambient noises and unbalanced audio levels, detract from the overall immersion. While the atmosphere shows great potential, current gameplay problems significantly hinder the experience.
- “The atmosphere was nice and creepy; the monsters were all unique and scary.”
- “The atmosphere was good and the creature designs were creepy.”
- “The game has a great concept and atmosphere to it for sure, but it is all ruined by the unplayability with the current problems that it suffers from, which ruins the entire experience.”
- “There is a quiet atmosphere which makes the monsters showing up more anxiety-inducing (in a good way).”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the absurdity of situations, such as the comical hit boxes and the amusing attempts to escape monsters, like trying to climb non-climbable lamp posts. Players find the experience particularly funny when shared with friends, although some frustrations, like the lack of a save button, can detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “It was scary, it was funny, but where is the save button :(”
- “It's funny with friends.”
- “It was funny to see myself 5k+ distance from the landmarks, but I feel I should report that back.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players express concerns about the current lack of replayability due to numerous issues and repetitive gameplay. Suggestions include introducing varied map spawns to enhance the experience and encourage longer play sessions. Overall, the game's replayability is seen as limited until significant improvements are made.
- “- Introduce different map spawns to increase replayability and prevent the game from becoming repetitive after a few hours.”
- “Hopefully in the near future the game will be more playable, because at the moment, it just has so many problems that it isn't fun at all.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report a strong emotional impact, often feeling deeply moved and experiencing tears during pivotal moments in the game, particularly when the stakes become clear. This suggests that the narrative effectively resonates with players on a personal level.
- “Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players have reported that grinding in the game is often tedious, with many main quests feeling repetitive. Additionally, bugs that require restarting progress have further exacerbated the frustration with the grinding experience.
- “We faced some bugs that made us restart from scratch twice, and most of the main quests were just tedious.”