FULL-LIFE

ABIOTIC FACTOR is an instant survival classic and one of the best I've played in years

- Morgan Park

I'll just get it out in the open: Abiotic Factor is one of the greatest survival crafting games ever made and by far my favourite. In a year of early access time with friends, we've witnessed the GATE Cascade Research Facility and its horrors expand in real time. Updates have proven frequent and excellent, unlocking huge sectors of the map while introducing transformative technology, mysteries, conveniences and, most importantly, fishing.

I'm not usually one to play games before they hit 1.0, but Abiotic Factor's premise was too good to pass up. You play as scientists trapped in a secret underground facility amidst a Black Mesa-style disaster in the year 1997. That's some potent PC gaming catnip, but the Half-Life trappings aren't just wallpaper.

Deep Field Games takes the survival framework of Valheim and Project Zomboid and fully commits to the idea of nerds with zero survival skills and male pattern baldness thwarting an interdimensional apocalyptic invasion with nothing but office equipment, PhDs and gallons of coffee.

WORK LIFE BALANCE

Many of our 80+ hours in Abiotic Factor were spent tiptoeing down the cold, unfeeling halls of GATE while gripping crossbows made out of metre rulers and eating crisps pilfered from vending machines.