Winter Survival
- March 6, 2024
- DRAGO entertainment
Get on Steam"Winter Survival" is a first-person survival game set in the snowy Mount Washington State Park. After being separated from your group during a hike, you must fight against harsh winter conditions, hunger, thirst, wildlife, and your own mind to reach an abandoned ranger station for help. The game offers dynamic combat, stealth, base building, and a unique sanity system, with multiple game modes and difficulties for varied experiences. Explore snow-covered forests, mountains, and frozen lakes while grappling with treacherous terrain and dangerous wildlife.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a lot of potential and offers a challenging survival experience, reminiscent of titles like The Long Dark and Green Hell.
- The graphics and atmosphere are well-crafted, creating an immersive environment that enhances the survival experience.
- The developers are responsive to player feedback and are actively working on updates to improve gameplay and fix bugs.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including crashes and unresponsive controls, making it frustrating to play.
- Combat mechanics are clunky and unbalanced, often leading to unfair encounters with wildlife that can result in quick deaths.
- The game feels incomplete, with limited content available in early access and a lack of essential survival mechanics like base building and intuitive crafting.
- story34 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The story mode of the game has received mixed reviews, with players noting its relatively short length—around 3 to 20 hours depending on progress—and a linear quest-driven structure that limits exploration. While some appreciate the atmosphere and survival mechanics, others express disappointment over bugs and a lack of depth in the narrative, leading to a desire for more content and refinement in future updates. Overall, players are cautiously optimistic about the potential for future story developments.
“The environment is different enough to be interesting on its own, but the actual survival mechanics and story are pretty solid too!”
“I like the story so far and am excited to see what the future contains.”
“It runs well and has voice acted story which is a nice touch.”
“I was expecting this game to be an extremely cool open world survival game, but instead it's just a quest-driven survival game where you only get to do what the quests say.”
“Some bugs were expected, but after playing two hours and receiving a message about the end of the story for now was just a disappointing slap in the face.”
“The game being released in early access is fine and all, but with it only having one act after nearly 4 years of development time, this is what's most disheartening because I was truly expecting... or at least hoping... for a full story game.”
- gameplay23 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the solid core mechanics and interesting survival elements, while others criticize issues like clunky building mechanics and sluggish performance. Many users noted that the game features beautiful graphics and a decent gameplay loop, but also pointed out the need for better optimization and balancing of certain mechanics, such as the insanity and stench factors. Overall, while the gameplay shows promise, it requires further polishing to enhance the player experience.
“The environment is different enough to be interesting on its own, but the actual survival mechanics and story are pretty solid too!”
“However, the core gameplay is solid and something I've been wanting for a while to help me scratch the long dark itch.”
“A few bugs and glitches as to be expected with an early access game, but the gameplay itself is incredible!”
“I can't comment on the gameplay as I got 5 minutes in before I turned it off and refunded, but the bad review is for the game not being properly optimized.”
“Very disappointing gameplay.”
“Building mechanics are very clunky and make it hard to move forward as you progress, frustrating to say the least.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the stunning visuals and immersive environments, particularly highlighting the dynamic elements and the recent Unreal Engine upgrade. However, others report performance issues, such as stuttering and the need to lower settings for smoother gameplay, indicating that optimization may vary across different systems. Overall, while many appreciate the graphical quality, there are notable concerns regarding performance on certain hardware.
“The graphics are amazing, you really feel the temperature and the weather playing this game.”
“The visuals in this game are top-tier, and for the most part is decently optimized except around a few assets.”
“Beautiful graphics and responsive gameplay.”
“Awful graphics.”
“I have a 4000 series graphics card, ran all the settings on ultra and the game still looked poor.”
“The graphics had to be turned down on my PC so it wasn't stuttering, but they aren't bad.”
- stability11 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a significant concern, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and performance issues that can make it nearly unplayable at times. While some players acknowledge that the game has potential and that many issues could be resolved in future updates, the current experience is marred by frequent freezes, loss of progress, and an incomplete feel. Overall, the game is considered very buggy, particularly in its early access state, leading to mixed feelings among players.
“It has some good ideas and they have been working on it, but it's almost unplayable at times from being unclear or buggy.”
“The game is incomplete, has multiple glitches, no map system, kicks you to load screen whenever and all progress is lost and you cannot rearrange crafting stations once they are set down.”
“The game is buggy from A to Z.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is mixed; while some players report significant performance issues even on low settings, others find it decently optimized for an early release, with high-quality visuals that only struggle around certain assets.
“Being an early release, the optimization isn't bad at all.”
“The graphics had to be turned down on my PC so it wasn't stuttering, but they aren't bad.”
“Very bad performance even on lowest settings.”
“The visuals in this game are top-tier, and for the most part, it is decently optimized except around a few assets.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, particularly in endless mode, where constant resource management and survival needs create an unending cycle of grinding. The limitations on movement and combat further exacerbate the experience, leading to a lack of enjoyment and overall dissatisfaction with the game's mechanics.
“After waiting more than a week for some bug fixes - since I liked the game itself - I decided to give the endless mode a go, but it's all about falling into an endless loop of grinding and dying because there's always something missing from your crafting list for survival needs.”
“Unlocking things through the adaptation system during endless mode is extremely tedious.”
“I cannot recommend this game: it is terribly grindy, you can barely go too far from the cabin because the character gets hungry/thirsty almost immediately, he gets tired after minutes of resting, and the combat options are horrible; the character can barely swing the axe.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised, with excellent lighting and sound design that enhance the immersive experience. Players appreciate the survival elements and the ability to take breaks to enjoy the visuals, suggesting that the single-player focus effectively contributes to the overall sense of horror and ambiance.
“The atmosphere, lighting, and sound design are great; I had to take some breaks to just take in the view.”
“The game is not multiplayer; however, I feel that is a good choice to build on atmosphere and horror.”
“Story's a bit meh at the moment, but it has some good survival elements and a good atmosphere.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its ability to evoke intense emotions, creating a sense of hopelessness and dread that complements the survival theme. Players find it enhances the overall experience, particularly in the game's atmospheric snowy forest setting.
“The music in the game is phenomenal; it actually makes you feel hopeless and dreadful, which is exactly what it should do when the player is stuck in a snowy forest trying everything they can to survive.”
“When playing, it gives me shivers with its intense background music; the graphics are amazing and the storyline is captivating.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by its clever and unconventional portrayal of mental illness as a skill tree, which adds a comedic twist to a typically serious subject.
“On one hand, mental illness being a skill tree, not an impairment, is pretty funny.”
