Impact Winter

Mojo Bones feels the chill as it reimagines the survival genre

PC, PS4, Xbox One

The park, or at least what’s left of it, is a surreal sight buried under 50 feet of snow. Now hollowed out into a frozen cave, it has become a network of chilly, gloomy chambers in which we’re searching for components that can be used to build a basic heater for the abandoned church that we, and four other survivors, have commandeered as a shelter. Mid-search we happen across an injured man who begs us to bring him medical supplies. We agree, triggering a new event, but our inventory is stuffed full of breeze blocks, metal pipes and scrap metal. Deep down, we know we’re not coming back. On the arduous return trip to the church a notification pops up to tell us that the event can no longer be completed, and we know that the man no longer needs our help.

Impact Winter’s post-apocalyptic world is severe and unforgiving – a vast, potentially deadly tundra in which opportunities, items and other survivors appear randomly while you do your best to keep your five-strong party alive for the 30 days it will take for help to arrive. But while the harsh winter, base management, and focus on surviving until you’re rescued evokes comparisons with 11 bit studios’ This War Of Mine, Impact Winter offers a profoundly different experience.

“We’re fans of the game, but stylistically it’s very different to Impact Winter,” lead designer Stu Ryall tells us. “But the big thing we’re trying to convey with our game is this idea of the team being automated. Your team will sleep when they’re tired, and they’ll get food when supplies are low. You can do interesting things with that because we have morale in the game and characters can become depressed – they can argue with each other randomly based on their moods, and you can

Ako-Light follows you around whenever you venture outside, providing a torch, a radar and a modest inventory. You have to consider the device’s battery, however, as if it runs flat you’ll be left with only basic navigation and no light

ABOVE Interiors are peaceful, melancholy spaces whose emptiness underscores your vulnerability within this asteroid-devastated world. LEFT Supplies are semirandomly distributed each time you start the game, though you’ll always be able to find food in...