Wanderlost

Survive then thrive in a zombie-infested world. Gather materials, craft diverse weapons and tools, build and fortify a shelter, explore a massive world filled with the secrets of a dead civilization and whatever you do: stay clear of the…

Game Details

Developer: Eli Segal
Platforms: Coming to Steam, PS5, XBOX One, Nintendo Switch
Link: Website
Release Date: Unknown
Status: Currently open in Alpha state to Kickstarter backers.

Planned Features

• Survival reliance of food, water, and shelter.
• Base building ranging from cosmetic to defensive.
• Loot & explore through 9 biomes, with a variety of points of interest.
• Farm, Fish, Hunt, Gather, Craft, and prep.
• Aggressive AI include Zombies, Bears, Alligators, Panthers, and Boars.
• Play as a protagonist with a fancy hairdo. (Future female model planned)
• Procedural generated maps that are infinitely large.
• There will be a NPC hub, you can interact with them, there is reputation with them that will impact/influence game play and questing.

Visuals

Game Bytes:

• The developer really wants to bring more depth to the survival aspects within the game, more real life grit & accuracy. Describes the game as falling between Stardew Valley and Rust-which is an awesome niche. (2/5/21 Youtube Crytivo Connect)
• There will be a lot of customization that impacts game play, play style and experience. (RPG, rogue lite elements)- traits, leveling and stat points among other things. (2/5/21 YouTube Crytivo Connect)
• Resources will have different times/patterns for replenishment- resource management is key. (2/5/21 YouTube Crytivo Connect)
• Doing away with the uncertainty that typically plagues these indie titles, the Developer has indicated – per the Kickstarter Stretch goal- that the title would be released on all consoles. (6/5/21- Kickstarter)
• Their Kickstarter unlocked a variety of great stretch goals that are incredibly popular, including: pets and rideable animals, weather including impactful temperature & wetness mechanics, professions, and (my wife will be so happy) Beekeeping.

My Thoughts (12/25)

How weird to have a non realistic survival game on my index! I mean. I know The Long Dark isn’t realistic- and I love Firewatch, which is both not a survival game & also not realistic-but I’ve never really gotten into these 2D style games outside of playing on the Switch. I think the quirky look will help onboard folks- and honestly I it fits right in with similar style games that are also popular- like Stardew Valley and Moonlighter. (Insert thinking face emoji) I’m going to chuck this under both Horror and Non Horror because while it does have Zombies..I mean…they’re kinda cuddly looking.

I do like that so many of the typical survival game community wants/desires (consoles, pets, professions,etc) have already all been promised and, in some cases, shown off via image/gif.

The developer, Eli, not only rocks a great beard but he has a genuine passion for survival, for bush craft and survival skills- and he really wants to bring more of that gritty survival accuracy into Wanderlost, which is so nice to hear! I’ve always wanted more effort, more grind, more work in my survival games; not many of them have been able to scratch that itch.

I could do without the addition of the guns – I tend to skip them in games when I can- so hopefully the game isn’t balanced around utilizing them. At the very least I hope the bow is a solid choice! It would also be interesting to see how in depth the resource management goes- will animals have winter scarcity? If you’re always popping off with guns by the house, will deer avoid your homestead? I’ll keep an eye out for further info and you can still back the game via their Pledgebox Page.

Follow my Curator Page (join the group for alerts!) to wishlist this game and find some other new games to wishlist!