First Impression: The Survivalists (PC – Steam) ~ Monkey Business

Steam store page – Official site

Sometimes, I just need a game to get lost in it. A game where I can dive into and play for hours upon hours. Games like Minecraft and Terreria come to mind. Since last year, a 3rd game joined that list for me, and that’s The Survivalists. But why did I give it a spot on my top 10 games of 2021? Did it deserve that spot, or did I change my mind already? So, let’s start monkeying around and let’s talk about this game, while I invite you to leave a comment in the comment section down below with your thoughts and/or opinions on this game and/or the content of this article.

Monkey Business

This game is an adventure survival game through and through. The game starts with you getting shipwrecked on an island, and it’s your task to escape. Now, you might think that this game is similar to other survival games like Forager for example. But, this game has a unique mechanic that I love.

During your adventures in this game, you can free imprisoned monkeys. As soon as you free these monkeys, they’ll join your party, and you can use them for anything you want. You can teach your monkeys to do stuff for you. This game slowly goes from a survival game to a micromanagement game. Since these monkeys can learn how to farm, craft, fight, gather resources… So, basically, you can leave the grind tasks to your monkeys. They can level up in these tasks, to complete them even more efficiently. Or you can have an army of monkeys following you around to battle enemies and such.

But I might be going a bit fast here. What’s the story in this game? Well, there is none apart from you shipwrecking and trying to find a way out. You do meet some taskmasters, but those don’t contribute anything besides being your quest givers. So, if you are looking for a survival game with a story of any sort, I think you’d look elsewhere.

Anyway, back to the monkeys. They are the game-changer, and micromanaging them is one of the biggest mechanics in this game. At this moment in my playthrough, I have freed 20 monkeys and trying to find the right balance in which monkeys are assigned to which tasks are an amazing puzzle. Together with an easy-to-understand tutorial, this game teaches you the ropes without holding your hand. After that, you are free to explore the islands.

The difficulty of this game really depends on the random islands you spawn on and in which order you tackle them. So far, I have two playthroughs running, and I have to say that the difference in difficulty makes the game fresh. To make an efficient base and craft the correct equipment to go exploring, is also a great mechanic in this game.

At the start, this game is overwhelming. There are islands to explore, crafting trees to unlock, resources to keep high, dungeons to explore, treasures to find… But, in its current form, the game lacks depth in some areas. There are a lot of mechanics that can be improved or expanded upon.

For example, the blueprint system. You can’t rotate buildings OR cancel blueprints once they are placed. Another example, why can’t you sort your monkeys by e.g. skill in your menu or see their names on the map? Once, one of my monkeys glitched out and got stuck in the middle of the sea without me being able to pick him up. I could use a summon-banana, but I had no idea of the monkey’s name.

If I list all the mechanics that could use a bit more quality of life features, I’d be here for a long time. But, don’t get me wrong here. The features that are here are amazing, but certain things would make the game even more enjoyable to play. For example, see the radius of where gathering monkeys will go to pick up materials. On the other hand, it makes the game a bit more challenging, since you need to plan your building quite well.

Open sea

This game was released in October 2020. Since then, it got 4 big content updates. These updates brought a lot of new things to the game. Sadly, since last summer, there hasn’t been a lot of development of this game. And if there is, I haven’t found any traces of it on the social platforms or on their Discord.

It’s a shame really since the potential of this game is huge. Currently, you can explore 5 islands. At first, I was afraid that it would make the world too small. But thankfully, that’s not a big issue. Each island serves its purpose and going from island to island takes up a lot of time. Thankfully, you can set up transport gates.

These transport gates are one of the best additions to the game in my opinion. They increase the game flow so much. I don’t like having a monkey with me that carries a big chest for storage. Since, when they get knocked out, they don’t re-pick up that chest, and it doesn’t appear on the mini-map. And with the small inventory, these transport gates are a blessing. And it’s also really helpful that items don’t disappear from the ground. On my adventures today, I found some leaves I have thrown out of my inventory when I first discovered the island over a month ago.

Exploring the islands can be quite tense. Since you never know where the enemy villages are. And let me tell you, some of these enemies can pack a punch. Mastering the combat in this game is essential to survive. I also bought this game on my Switch and I have to say that I highly prefer the controls on the PC version. Maybe that’s because I got so used to them with mouse and keyboard, that I have some troubles playing this game with a controller… Which is also an option.

That being said, this game controls amazingly. Sometimes, I had a bit of trouble canceling some crafting of my monkeys, but that was partly my own fault since I placed so many crafting stations so close together.

With these wonderful controls, we can explore the amazingly designed world of this game. While there are only a few biomes, they are all well-designed and have their own reasons to be explored. It’s really quite impressive how well this game runs. In some cases, there is a lot going on, and I barely see any lag or slowdown appear. Which is good, since you’ve to be on your guard in some areas to survive.

I always tense a bit up when I heard that battle music coming. I always look around to make sure if it’s safe to continue to gather the supplies I was gathering or if I should first go into combat mode. The music and sound design are really well done, and it adds so much to the atmosphere of this game. I didn’t hesitate to buy the OST DLC to be able to put the music on my playlists while I’m working.

Replaying

One thing that really tripped me up several times is that this game doesn’t have an autosave. To save your game, you have to sleep.

The loading of another world also isn’t quite easy to do. But, once you have done it, it’s easy to do. You just need to know that “Save slots” is your world select. And, you better have some sort of note system since you can’t give your world’s names. 😦

This game also has multiplayer. I haven’t played a lot of multiplayer, but from what I have played… It works fine. The limited communication options through emotes are somewhat disappointing to me. Sadly, the last two times I got bad experiences in multiplayer with a broken temple and a very spammy host with emotes.

Personally, I don’t regret putting this game on my top 10 games list last year. Yet, I can totally understand why people expected more from this. This game is from the same studio that brought us Overcooked and Worms. The charm in this game is huge, but charm can bring you only so far.

I love playing through this game in short bursts from time to time, trying to finish all the quests and explore everything my islands have to offer. I’m also trying to avoid all outside help from wikis and such since the in-game tutorial and hints are great enough to help you with that.

You can finish this game in roughly 20-ish hours, but currently, I have played this game for 35 hours and I haven’t beaten it yet. Since I want to see everything this game has to offer. In general, I think this game has the potential to become even bigger, but for that, the game will need more content and some major quality of life patch. Like, being able to choose the world you want to open when you start the game?

I wish this game wasn’t such a hidden gem. If the community was larger, I’m sure that this game would get more frequent updates. But, now, I rarely see other players online… I wish there were more online, so I could experience the multiplayer. Maybe I should invite some friends to play this game since I think this game is even more fun when you play it with others. And possibly then I could unlock those final achievements.

If you enjoy games like Forager, Minecraft, or Terrarria… to name just a few; I really think you’ll enjoy this game. At the moment of writing, this game is on sale and I highly advise you to pick up the digital deluxe edition. The additional cosmetic content is totally worth it and the additional hats you can find for your monkeys make it easier to tell them apart.

And with that, I have said almost everything I wanted to say about this game for now. In short, I really like this game. While it has some rough edges, those aren’t a dealbreaker. While this game might not please every fan of the genre, I think there is something here for everyone. Let’s go monkeyin’ around since this is a tense adventure. An adventure worth your bananas and monkeys.

Before I ramble on, I want to thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care!

A tale about the original Legend of Zelda

Editorial note: this article is from @timbledsoe689. The reason it’s republished here is that his website got taken down due to events out of his control. In mutual agreement, we are republishing the article here to give it a new home. Apart from fixing a few typos… there is no difference between this publication and the original.

There I was, twelve or thirteen years old, in a quiet corner of a Sears department store. It was
midday, and no one else was around the lone Nintendo kiosk with its strange rectangle
controllers. As I picked up the now iconic but then alien controller, I had no idea my life was
about to be changed.

The video games I had played before were all in the arcade. I had played Atari at a friend’s
house once, but the abstract dots and lines and harsh bleeps and bloops never caught my
attention. The arcade games were better, with better graphics and sound, and a better sense of
what you were supposed to be doing. But even the arcade games never held my attention, they
seemed like simple experiences limited to one usually burned out CRT screen. The Legend of
Zelda was different.

It was mid-summer and my dad had dropped us off at the mall for a few hours to get us out of
his thinning hair. After the usual wandering, I came across this Nintendo kiosk and started
playing. There was no time limit, no line. The opening screen had beautiful music and this
intriguing screen that promised a great adventure.

was blown away by the freedom I had exploring Hyrule. I could travel any of the four compass
directions in a land that had realistic geographic boundaries like mountains and lakes. Going
any direction was a revelation; all games I’d played before had been single screen like Pac-Man
or Centipede. Side scrolling games like Super Mario Bros. were out there, but I hadn’t played
Then, and besides, that was just one direction. The Legend of Zelda let you go anywhere! Well,
almost.

It didn’t take long for me to run into monsters that took bites out of my three red hearts, killing
me and sending me back to the beginning. Soon enough, I found the strange old man in the
cave uttering the words that are now on 1000 T-shirts, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”
Armed with my new sword, I went back and took my revenge on the beasties who had
destroyed me earlier. But I still died a lot, as each enemy moved and attacked in different ways.
It would be several months later until I even learned how to use my shield to block Octorock and
other monster’s projectiles. The Tektites were my least favorite, leaping at me from above in (to
me at the time) unpredictable frightening death dealing drops.

Avoiding some monsters, I explored as far as I could. Along the way I discovered that stones
could sometimes be pushed, some shrubs could be slashed with the sword. My sense of
wonder increased with each discovery. I found a magical fairy fountain that replenished my
hearts. More strange old men in caves selling items.

I had just discovered my first dungeon in a tree on an island, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
Was it someone else wanting to play at the Sears kiosk? No, it was mall security. Apparently I’d
been playing for four hours, lost all track of time, and forgotten to go back to my pickup point in
the mall. My father had contacted mall security, and they were all looking for me!
That time with the demo of The Legend of Zelda profoundly affected me. Not only would I start a
lawn mowing business, so I could save up for a NES and a 13-inch TV, but my interest in gaming
was cemented At that moment. It’s safe to say that I would not be writing on games blogs now if
it weren’t for that day.

That was my own personal introduction to the Legend of Zelda, but the game had quite a
worldwide impact as well. It was a bestseller for Nintendo, selling over 6.5 million copies. The
game is almost always included in any list of influential video games that have shaped the
industry. In The Legend of Zelda, there are 8 pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom to collect before
you can rescue Zelda. In a similar vain, I thought I would list 8 great things about The Legend of
Zelda, that when combined form a greater whole.

Exploration

For its time, The Legend of Zelda had a large, sprawling map. It was divided into squares
co-responding with what could be displayed on the screen. When the player leaves the edge of
the screen, the view shifts to the next square on the grid, which might seem jarring and limited
now, but in 1986, felt like a vast wilderness to explore. There were green forests, gray
graveyards, brown deserts and mountains, and blue streams and lake. Yes, it might seem
simple by today’s standards, but the brightly colored map allowed the player to fill in details with
their imagination and there was always the feeling that something magical would be discovered
on the next screen. Game Designer Shigeru Miyamoto drew inspiration for the game from
memories of his childhood exploring caves, forests, and streams around Kyoto. “When I was a
child,” said Miyamoto, “I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble
upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on
amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this.”

Secrets

Almost every screen of the map held a secret to be discovered. That differently colored crack in
the wall? Bomb it for a secret passage. Three stones in a row? Push them to reveal a trapdoor.
Bushes could also be burned to reveal entrances, and there were a few other ways to interact
with the environment, once the proper tools were acquired. Once the player figured out a lot
was hidden under the surface, they were encouraged to spend more time in each area, and it
made the areas something to explore, not just rush through.

Items and Tools

Sometimes the player would be certain an area held a secret, but there was no way to interact
with the suspicious item in the environment. That’s ok! After playing the game for a while, the
player knew they would beat a dungeon later that would give them an item that would let them
tackle that spot. For example, maybe you can now burn that gnarled tree thanks to the Blue
Candle you just earned. By the way, anyone who says anything other than the Magical
Boomerang is the best item is just dead wrong!
Monsters
While a few monsters such as the goblin-like Moblins or Wizzrobes felt familiar for a fantasy
game, The Legend of Zelda, introduced many unique monsters. Pesky Octroks flung stones at
you from Qbert like mouths, Tektites bounced toward you like your worst nightmare, and who
could forget the crazy spinning Leevers? Seriously, were they a plant or an animal? Some of the
most terrifying (and my favorite) monsters were reserved for the dungeons. These monsters
could not only kill you, they could make your life difficult. Once you were trapped in the
snakelike grasp of a Like Like, you would lose your precious shield! Or if you were scooped up
by the ominous floating handed Wall Master, it was back to the start of the dungeon for you, all
progress lost.

Dungeons

Dungeons were the treats the game rewarded you for exploring. Twisted challenging mazes
with traps, rooms that would go dark, and their own set of monsters, dungeon were a challenge
you loved to hate. In the days before the internet, it was not uncommon to be stuck in a
dungeon for a while until you talked to a friend or gave up and called the Nintendo game play
counselor. Yes, that was a thing. And if you reached the center of the dungeon, your reward
was a special Boss monster! In a whimsical touch, the grids of the dungeons were shaped after
creatures like eagles, dragons, and demons. For all the frustration, the dungeons of the Legend
of Zelda were somehow one of the aspects of the game I remember most fondly.

Sound and Music

Composer and sound director of the series, Koji Kondo had very limited hardware to create
sounds and music for the game. Yet, with scratchy percussion and tinny horns, he managed to
create a theme that was beautiful and evocative. Although I will confess I enjoy versions of the
theme played with real instruments, I still get nostalgic when I hear it in its original 8-bit glory.
The game sounds were fantastic too. I still to this day feel elation when I hear the sound of Link
acquiring a new item!

Second Quest

Other games have done it before and since, but it was still neat that after you beat the game,
you could play “The Second Quest”. While most of the Overland areas were laid out the same,
the dungeons were laid out much differently, and the enemies were harder. Back when the
game came out, games weren’t released as often as they are now and were quite expensive, so
in effect, doubling the content of the game was a very nice thing for Nintendo to do. Word soon
spread on the playground back in the day that you could access the Second Quest right from
the beginning by typing “Zelda” as your player’s name!

The Gold cartridge

There was just something cool about seeing the gold Legend of Zelda cartridge next to all the
standard gray NES carts in your collection. Nintendo knew they had something epic and special
with this game, and I’m glad they chose to celebrate it with the extra effort and expense to
modify their normal manufacturing process and give us something nice. In the day of more and
more games being downloaded directly, something as cool as a gold cartridge becomes an
even rarer

If you’ve never played The Legend of Zelda, I hope this article gave you a taste of what made it
such an amazing experience at the time. This blog is part of a larger series explores the history
of the series and its major entries. Be sure to check out the hub article via this link for links to all the
great articles and retrospectives on this epic series.