The Last Plague: Blight

The Last Plague: Blight is a brutally challenging and realistic single-player top-down perspective survival game.

Game Details

Developer: Original Studios
Platforms: Steam
Link: Website, Discord, Trello Roadmap
Release Date: 2022
Status: In development

Planned Features

• Co-op multiplayer
• Fishing
• Farming
• Building system (floors, walls, roof, etc)
• Character customization including gender
• Taming animals
• Injury and wound system
• More localized languages

Current Features (In playtest)

• Procedurally generated world
• Actions like chopping trees or cooking food will result in the passage of time
• Survival requirements including food, water, and energy via resting
• Scavenge and process raw materials in numerous ways to craft & build

Visuals

Game Bytes:

• Hopefully folks aren’t confused by Blight:Survival when trying to pair the search terms ‘Blight’ with ‘Survival’. Update- as of 7/31/2022 the name of the game has been changed to The Last Plague: Blight
• The developer envisions the game as being something akin to Project Zomboid in terms of realism, with a dash of Don’t Starve. (Steam Forums)
• The developer wants to stay away from the skill system(s) prevalent in RPGs. I agree! I always thought the way SCUM handles it is pretty neat: you naturally get better at specific attributes – like dexterity- from time and game play, and that impacts your proficiency at things. (Steam forums)
• In a welcome nod for content creators- you can stream/record your time in the playtest, so play away! (Steam Forums)

My Thoughts

You can sign up for the Playtest via the Steam store page- Steam will email you if you’re chosen to participate. I haven’t received access to the game at this time so my thoughts/feedback are based solely on the pictures and videos on the Steam store only, since I avoid play videos. Seems like lately I’ve been seeing a lot of these ‘top down perspective’ survival games pop up. Interesting.

Yay: I’m very much a first person PoV fan, but I’m willing to be persuaded! Scrolling back & forth through the trailer video- I have to admit that there’s a lot I like. I’m very much a fan of the look of the world/environment along with the buildable items, like the shelter, etc. Many of the mechanics look incredibly polished (like splitting wood) and the AI seems very smooth & looks great from the video/viewpoint.

Hmm: My initial reaction to seeing the character/toon is to feel a bit jarred by the look. So much of the first half of the video portrays this kinda ‘all in hands dirty’ survival- the basic whittled spear, the brush shelter, the basic wall structures. But then the entire time he’s strolling around doing basic tasks like chopping wood, gathering, fighting wolves near camp- always wearing this giant clunky bag complete with bedroll to drag down movement and decrease effectiveness? In games that feature bags & backpacks, I always find it neat to be able to put down the bag if I want (for actual in game benefits like less weight carried or simply for the mental role play), even when it impacts my carry ability. I’m also not a fan of the targeting circles under the animals as you’re aiming- I wonder if that’s something that can be turned off in menus. I curious about the final form of the stat bars (water/food/etc), as I find the brightly colored lines a bit distracting from the overall muted & relaxed look of the game itself.