by theygamesHalf-Life 3 remains likely little more than a glint in Valve’s eye. The series’ influence can be felt across the industry, however, and no more so than in new survival crafting game Abiotic Factor, which launched just this week via Steam Early Access. The charming newcomer from Balatro publisher Playstack blends that late ‘90s aesthetic and a huge facility packed with all manner of weird and worrying experiments with its own twist on co-op survival, and it’s already off to a shining start.
“Thank you for the incredible launch,” Abiotic Factor developer Deep Field Games writes in a post on Steam. “We are already sitting at 98% overwhelmingly positive reviews, and we are blown away. A massive thank you to everyone who picked up the game and those who have webbed, weaved, and wiggled their way through the GATE Cascade Research Facility.” That review score comes from over 1,400 reviews, with the survival game already reaching a concurrent player peak of 10,779 in its first three days – seriously impressive numbers for a small indie studio making just its second game.
As the science team at a secretive GATE research lab, your life has been thrown into chaos by a catastrophic containment breach, leaving all manner of anomalies, monsters, and a mysterious magical military faction roaming the halls of your facility. It captures that ‘90s sci-fi vibe that made the original Half-Life so special, but with a survival crafting twist and the ability to play either alone or in up to six-player co-op.
You’ll have to scavenge from the offices, laboratories, and vending machines to build your base. A wide range of positive and negative traits along with various skills and perks allows you to choose how you want to specialize; are you a master plant geneticist who suffers from narcolepsy, or an expert theoretical physicist with a penchant for cooking that matches your ravenous appetite?
Among the user reviews, there’s lots of praise for how well Abiotic Factor captures the visuals and atmosphere of Half-Life while still feeling original, and for its unique spin on the survival crafting genre. Suck up all the useful tech and junk around the office, find the perfect location to set up base with defensive structures to protect you, and then pick it all up with forklifts and SUVs to move across the facility when you spy a better place to call home.
“We are incredibly humbled at the response,” Deep Field continues, “but not so humbled that we can’t put on our best mad scientist goggles and control your destiny at a whim in the form of a delicious hotfix.” The first update includes several UI improvements and accessibility settings, along with a helping of bug fixes. “The team is now taking a brief and well-deserved weekend nap and will [then] begin our regular patching and update cycle,” it concludes.
Abiotic Factor is out now on Steam. If you’re quick, it’s still on an introductory sale through Thursday May 9, so you can grab it at an early price of $19.99/£16.79 if you’re eager to check it out – expect to pay $24.99/£20.99 after that.
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