I've followed this game's development for quite some time, and there are a lot of things I really like about it, especially since the story mode has come out and it's come out of early access; I kinda waited on writing a review until it did get out of early access because there were a lot of things that bugged me initially but I saw great potential right from the start. I'm glad that we've started to see that potential realized now, because I've come to absolutely adore this game.

But let's get my gripes out of the way first. While the game developers seem to be striving for a degree of realism, there are some elements of gameplay that seem needlessly repetitive and/or complicated. In a survival game that is driving you to take every decision seriously (even the seemingly minor ones), I appreciate that it can be a difficult balance to find that "sweet spot." I'm not even talking about the chore-like tasks you find yourself having to do (e.g. gathering firewood, repairing clothing); those are the sort of things I'd expect in a survival game. I'm talking about the things where the game itself gets in the way.

For instance, in the story mode (in as general terms as possible so as to avoid spoilers), there is one sequence that is challenging not because of the "survival elements," but because the timing is very particular and basically comes down to frame-counting (which is exactly the sort of thing you don't want in a survival game that strives for realism), and the price of failure (which is likely; it's challenging by design, and that's okay) is an unskippable death cutscene, which a lot of players will have to watch over and over again as they figure out the timing through trial-and-error. There are quite a few little things like that throughout the game (e.g. not being able to fire a hunting rifle without aiming down sights, taking 30+ in-game minutes to melt snow over a campfire) that take away from the realism by creating artificial difficulty seemingly just for the sake of it, and that can be cumbersome.

But honestly, that's a fairly minor distraction, and it's really my only beef with this game. Everything else is just right on point. I absolutely adore the atmospherics of this game. If you were to just look at the store page, it would probably look like just a run-of-the-mill survival game - and in a lot of ways, it is; it still relies on the constantly-dwindling meters (hunger, stamina, etc.) and the necessity of harvesting resources. But it's really got a lot of great things going for it that make the survival elements unpredictable enough to keep you on your toes no matter how long you play. It really makes you feel like you're in a story by Gary Paulsen or Jack London, with maybe just a touch of Stephen King. In a lot of survival games, there is a lot of risk/reward balance involved, and while that is true of this game to some degree, it's definitely not guaranteed. I really like how this game forces you to make decisions about almost every aspect of how you plan to survive, but also how it manages resources; it punishes you for mistakes, rewards you for successes, and throws curve-balls constantly.

I really pay close attention to the artistry and style of games, and I really love the aesthetic of this one. It strives for realism in a lot of the mechanics, but the visuals have an almost painted look to them that really appeals to me. Each thing you pick up, each fallen tree you walk across, each campfire you sit by just has a very handcrafted feel to it that really shows the developers' commitment to the game.

And none of that even touches the game's story mode, WINTERMUTE. It's being released in episodes (episode 3 is the most recent as of this writing; will edit if the forthcoming episodes change things significantly), and while that's not a style I'm usually fond of, I do like the natural breakpoints it puts in. But the writing and voice acting of the story are just excellent, and it has really sucked me in. The developers did a really good job of making me care about the characters, which is quite a feat in a survival game.

I really love survival games in general, and this one in particular just really speaks to me. It's exactly the right level of genuinely challenging without being unnecessarily frustrating (for the most part). It's beautifully rendered and well put together. I would definitely recommend it without hesitation, and I eagerly await episode 4!