14 DAY TRIAL // NEO Scavenger is the kind of video game where players need to become accustomed to death, which will soon become less of a sign of failure and more of an indication that the circumstances or the strategy was wrong and that another attempt is required in order to deliver better results.
The title created by Blue Bottle Games is a rogue-like that uses science fiction instead of fantasy and drops the player into a world about which little is known and where survival is linked to getting access to scarce resources and making sure that no powerful threat knows where you are.
My first attempt at exploring the world ended in death in about half an hour, with hypothermia the reason why I succumbed, and I immediately started another attempt, with the clear goal of making sure that the cold cannot take me out as fast.
I then died because a powerful human character found me, fought me and killed me. So, I had dual priorities: getting clothes and shelter and making sure that I could either fight or run away from enemies.
The death of my character affected me every time but I never saw it as the end of the road for NEO Scavenger, but as a chance to start off again, with more information that I can use in order to get a better result.
Difficulty and hope offer a very good mix
Some of those who have played NEO Scavenger for a long time are saying that the difficulty level of the game is set too high at the moment and that the development team would gain more fans if it introduced at least a limited save feature, in order to allow gamers to preserve their most successful campaigns and try out new ways to progress.
For me, the finality of each action a player makes is one of the most interesting things about the title, and the blend of hope and death that it offers is powering my attempts to learn its mechanics and find ways to survive in the world.
The main change that I would see fit for NEO Scavenger and its difficulty is an option to allow gamers to turn off one cause of death for each campaign in order to give them some more control over their learning experiences.
