Mist Survival is an open-world, stealth-focused, zombie-horror FPS currently residing in Steam Early Access. If that description hasn’t caused your eyes to involuntarily roll into the back of your head, then consider this: it also boasts crafting mechanics, a base-building feature and a multitude of survival meters that you will have to balance throughout. So you can see why ‘’innovation’’ is not one of the tags on its store page.
In fact, on a purely conceptual level, there is absolutely nothing remarkable about this indie project, save for the fact that the monsters are given free rein of the map, alongside a hefty damage buff, whenever the titular mist appears. Other than that, it’s pretty by-the-numbers as far as core mechanics and new ideas are concerned.
Yet where it successfully distinguishes itself from the shovelware you typically find on Steam, is in its first-rate execution. Because whilst there are still plenty of kinks that need ironing out (like recurring bugs and unrefined combat), the essential foundations are very sound and there’s a pleasing amount of nuance to elevate the otherwise derivative mechanics.
First and foremost, it’s one of the few times that a title has managed to implement survival meters, in a way that doesn’t feel totally averse to your enjoyment. Granted, you still have to monitor all the usual elements – such as your character’s thirst, their fatigue, their hunger, their body heat, and whether or not they have any illnesses or infections – but the difference here is that keeping on top of all these needs isn’t ludicrously taxing.
Which is how it ought to be when you really think about it, because the human race has adapted over the course of millennia to survive amidst the harshest of conditions. As such, people are capable of lasting up to 264 hours without sleep, up to seven days without water, and up to three whole weeks without food. Yet despite this scientific reality, most survival games would have you believe that we are compelled to shove canned goods into our mouths every 10 minutes, lest we collapse on the floor from malnutrition. Not only is this fundamentally inaccurate (and a massive disservice to the natural wonder that is the human body) but it’s also a major pain in the ass for players, who are charged with looking after these effete protagonists.
We’ve all played releases like this before, wherein the fun is constantly being undermined by debilitating status effects and naggy, flashing icons. Thankfully, Mist Survival has a much better grasp of biology, meaning that a can of coke and some blueberries are enough for your avatar to subsist on for a couple of in-game days. Likewise, you can still move at a decent clip with a sprained ankle, food-poisoning will eventually treat itself if left unmedicated, and you don’t contract hypothermia after spending a mere five minutes out in the wilderness.
Indeed, all of these things are made to be far less obtrusive than usual and so they don’t get on your nerves nearly as much, actually complementing the overall experience instead of subtracting from it. For example, given that starvation is no longer a pesky annoyance that interrupts gameplay on a regular basis, it can actually be quite panic-inducing when it does strike. Risking your life by desperately scouring bandit settlements for chocolate bars can make for intense scenarios when done in moderation, because it starts to feel less like a tedious babysitting job. It just goes to show how much promise other survival titles could have displayed had they exercised similar restraint and avoided wasting your time.
Furthermore, just like how those meters aren’t going to needlessly preoccupy your every waking second, the crafting mechanics here are also quite reasonable. None of the items are too costly in terms of their requisite components, tools and materials are generously scattered around the map, and – whilst some things do require workbenches or furnaces to make – the bare necessities can always be cobbled together on the go. Plus, it’s nice that everything you craft is genuinely useful for once: whether they are consumables; medical resources; weapons; clothing; or permanent fixtures that can go on to have long-term benefits.
Early on in my playthrough, I pieced together a water filtration unit at my home base, which then enabled me to have a steady supply of hydration at my fingertips. It was certainly a helpful starting point; however, you could just as easily go down another (equally valid) route. Maybe you’ll focus more on constructing an impenetrable shelter for when the undead appear, or an upgraded workbench that unlocks new schematics further down the line. If you are savvy enough, you could even try and build a fully functioning farm, with its own crops, chicken coops, and DIY defenses.
The point is – no matter what you choose to craft – it’s guaranteed to be worthwhile in the long run, with each player having their own individualized set-up that works for them. Once I had the basics nailed down, I personally set my sights on fixing-up a car, which required me to salvage parts from other vehicles. And whilst that project did take a fair amount of concentration, the end result was incredibly satisfying and truly expanded how much ground I could cover in a single day.
I also appreciated how complex the various systems are. It’s not just a case of combing through rooms for materials. No, you’ll need to melt down scraps to create useful metals, carefully select which parts of animals you want to harvest and even partake in amateur carpentry. All these actions have a time expenditure associated with them (either playing out in real-time or through an automated jump) that you’ll have to take into account as well. Then there’s the fact that some objects have multiple states – governed by their age or temperature – each of which comes with their own unique properties to exploit.
All in all, there’s plenty to wrap your head around here and I can definitely see genre veterans getting a lot of mileage out of the in-depth functionality. What’s particularly impressive is how well these interdependent mechanics all gel together, like they’ve been perfectly balanced, which is no mean feat when you consider the sheer volume of plates that lone-developer, Dimension 32 Entertainment, needed to spin.
On that note, this has far better production value than you would normally expect to see in a low-budget, solo effort. The textures are highly detailed, the lighting effects look good, it runs smoothly on the highest settings, and you can properly orient yourself around thanks to the unique assets strewn around the world. Sure, the audio-mix could use a little polish, what with the glaring absence of incidental music, and I did encounter a fair share of bugs during my playtime (structures popping in-and-out of existence and objects cloning when the inventory is full), but that’s forgivable in an early-access game. Especially one that has demonstrated a real commitment to improving via patches and an extensive roadmap of updates.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though as, with the exception of passable stealth, dealing with adversaries is simply not as gratifying as the other interactions in Mist Survival. The melee leaves a lot to be desired, resembling a sluggish version of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots, whilst the gunplay suffers from unreliable hitboxes. It’s also unclear what you can and can’t shoot through, meaning that you’ll frequently be wasting your precious ammunition, like when you discover that bullets can’t pass through empty spaces between table legs.
It doesn’t help that combat is rarely worth the hassle either, seeing as the risk-reward spectrum for raiding bandit camps is so off-kilter. Frankly, you’d be better off just ignoring NPCs altogether, running away from wild animals and finding a place to sleep out the zombie-infested mist.
That’s not to say that the enemy encounters can’t be thrilling, as you’re likely to stumble across some really cool, emergent scenarios. For instance, at one point I found myself trapped in a watchtower, armed with nothing but a makeshift spear, as a grizzly bear waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. On another occasion, I spent an entire day outmaneuvering a sniper by weaving between the trees and resting in obscure hiding places until he moved on. Then there was the time that I pitched up in a gas station, only to be awoken in the middle of the night by the chilling shrieks of monsters just beyond the wall. In these life-or-death situations, the game really comes alive and fulfills its ultimate potential. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wish that the combat mechanics were fleshed out to the same extent as everything else.
Irrespective of this one shortcoming, Mist Survival remains a cut above many of its Early Access peers. True, it’s unlikely to convert many cynics, given that it so rigidly sticks to the genre’s pre-established formula, but I am interested to see where it goes from here. Looking ahead, the developer recently announced that they are working on a brand-new story mode that will explore the lore behind the fog-bound creatures. If that campaign is realized with the same care and attention-to-detail that has been showcased here, then it could be very exciting indeed.
Mist Survival preview code provided by the publisher.
Mist Survival is out now in Steam Early Access.
