Abiotic Factor

Abiotic Factor will be my GOTY for 2025 once 1.0 releases.

This is Early Access done right - the quantity and quality of the content is incredible.

The level design is incredibly well done, with intention put into each Sector, which continues to improve through updates as we approach launch. The map design rewards exploration, the convenience and sheer scale of the Cascade Research Facility is a treat.

Abiotic Factor is the perfect blend of sandbox and linearity, the story is from another dimension, or perhaps many. Despite this, the player is afforded every opportunity to take over the games setting, building bases that have substantial creative freedom for, this is especially true if you enable the Sandbox settings and adjust them to your liking - which doesn't disable achievements - a great feeling.

Despite its Early Access status, Abiotic Factor has already exceeded my expectations and far outpaces many AAA games without breaking a sweat. I am eagerly anticipating the full release of this game and look forward to any further love and attention this masterpiece can be afforded and explored in 1.1 and beyond!

I've typed this much and I still haven't mentioned the best thing about Abiotic Factor.

THE CO-OP!!!

Co-op is expertly integrated and makes playing through the game and all it has to offer with friends an absolute experience to remember. It is important to remember that the story is a great part of this game, and is integral to learning the mechanics and progressing through the setting, so I would advise against players joining part-way through on their first play-through to not spoil the experience. Solo play is no less enjoyable for this, and can be more immersive as you have complete freedom to immerse yourself in the sheer amount of lore tucked away in this game.

Combat is interesting and also rewards exploration and creativity. Combat is deeply connected to the Crafting System, and the most innovative Scientists will find a solution to any problem they encounter. Scientists should be advised that running head first into situations you are unprepared for will reward equally fast consequences.

You should be cautious if you get overconfident in the Character Creation settings, your Scientist is likely more frail than you expect - if you are adverse to the sounds of breaking bones, your Scientist should take care when launching themselves through the facility without thought. Having a Fanny Pack as a trade-off is pretty cool tho.

I am absolutely confident that I will be satisfied with the release of this full game, and will update this review should I be wrong. Abiotic Factor and the incredible team at Deep Field are excellent and I hope that they continue to nurture this game. Their Youtube Channel also contains a great amount of additional content from the progress of this games development as well as further lore.

The only reason I've typed this much is because I think this game is a 10/10, 5 out of 5 stars, an exceptional game regardless of whatever metric you measure game quality by.

This is how it feels to be a Half-Life 1 scientist npc.

There are so many fun and creative things you can do. A fun mixture of survival-story-coop.

It's been 100 hours with Abiotic Factor and I am still exploring new areas, I'm still exploring the plot, I'm still uncovering new items to build, and yet I still have interest and purpose to return to older areas in the game.

Abiotic Factor is a Survival game. But instead of surviving in the typical jungles, fields, bountiful forests while wielding axes and swords, you're going to be surviving a black-ops science lab that's a lot like Black Mesa of Half-Life fame crossed with Secure/Contain/Protect lore, and you're going to be doing it as a weak science nerd.

If you have played (and enjoyed!) survival games before then you should enjoy this. Notable comparisons include Grounded! and Green Hell, moreso the former. Extra points if you are a science nerd yourself! Extra-extra points if you are familiar with SCP Lore and/or have played through Half Life 1 or 2.

I love Deep Field Games' writing and character building and everything. I love how this product is soundly supporting local development through the New Zealand Centre for Digital Excellence and I appreciate that company for what it stands for.

Personally, every digital penny spent on Abiotic Factor has been more than worth it. I highly recommend.

Disclosure: This game is multiplayer friendly (even encouraged!) but I have only played single player. Also, I play with the support of a guide as is my playstyle these days. Finally, my biggest complaint of the game is what I would call the "Recipe Discovery Sequence", whereby new recipes are discovered through a puzzle element where you may or may not have all the puzzle pieces. I do not like that so I turned it off in world settings.

This and Grounded will make you judge every other survival game more harshly. It is the most interesting and best co-op survival game around. I love all the lore, the crafting gets easier as you progress, and the portal worlds allow for endless possibilities for future updates (which they have proven by continuing to add new portal worlds).

My only negative is how I can't make Go-Kart track into a circle.

This might be the best survival game I have ever played! The game is not even finished yet but there is still so much content in the game already!
This is a MUST play if you enjoy survival games!
10/10

I refunded this... but I am still going to recommend it. Why did I return it? I couldn't get over the graphics and I didn't have anyone to play it with so it just wasn't right for me. BUT,...I am going to recommend it. You can tell a lot of love and care has gone into it, I WANTED to love it. The Devs are great and even enjoyed watching the little update videos they put out. This is a great example of how to build a game and community. 100% wish this game the best, just wasn't for me.

Is this for you? Maybe, if you don't mind the graphics and like survival games you will likely love this.

If Half Life 1 had a 7 Days to Die mode and im all for it.
its actually fire..
like what are you waiting for? Haven't you seen the reviews? Go and get the game already!

THIS GAME IS SO GOOD!
THE TRAILER REALLY DOESNT GIVE IT JUSTICE AT ALL!
Half Life, mixed with System Shock, a touch of SCP entities, crafting, base building, RPG mechanics... And you play as a scientist! And you can have a Ridiculous Tie™! Combat is great, graphics are okay; great even, if you take in account that they probably wanted it to look like Half Life 1, it's stylized! The game gets creepy at some points, and that makes it 10 times better for me, being a horror fan! Electricity mechanic.. you can build defenses.. amazing networking, i play with a friend from America and he does not experience any lag! The main menu really hides how good this game actually is! Absolutely love it and a must play from me! 10/10!

My buddy and I have been in a game slump for a while after playing nearly every decent survival game we've come across (e.g., Valheim, Sons of the Forest, Icarus). We love the genre and the many hours of gameplay these types of games provide us to play, chill, and grind at our own pace, though there's only so much tree-chopping and base-building one can tolerate before things get stale. Enter: Abiotic Factor. Holy moly, what an absolute breath of fresh air. This game adds so many unique concepts to the survival genre while still managing to be familiar that we're now 10-hours in and cannot wait for the next time we boot up.

I absolutely cannot recommend this game enough, and we fully understand why it has carried "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews since launch. The less you know, the better. Go in blind, don't look anything up, and use that over-exercised scientist brain of yours to puzzle your way out.

If the "potato graphics" are the only thing holding you back: I get it... I like high polys and rich textures as much as the next person, but we're enjoying the game all the same and it's simply not a barrier to immersion (just like Valheim, imo).

We've also had no bugs to speak of except pots/pans and their contents being a little difficult to interact with at times and needing a bit of finagling to target.

If I just absolutely had to be critical of any aspect of the game thus far, its "worst" feature is the voice acting, and yet even that becomes immediately nostalgic (a la Half Life) and endearing (small studio working with what they've got).

Great job, Deep Field -- I can't wait to see what more you have in store for us!

Considering how much content this game has, it's surprising that it's still in Early Access. Ever since my friend and I started playing this game, we have entirely forgotten about the existence of other games. We've finished the game but we still haven't seen everything the game has to offer! We've started a new save on harder mode but with more players :)) Looking forward to the future updates!

Do you enjoy Half-Life 1's aesthetic and linear progression? Do you enjoy survival games like 7 Days to Die? Congratulations, you just found your new favorite game.

Abiotic Factor takes the survival formula, polishes it a little, and sprinkles some horror elements and references onto it. Problems I had with certain survival games were solved in a clever manner here, and the game is not afraid to keep you on your toes - there'll ALWAYS be something new that you're gonna die to. Sometimes this works to its detriment (looking at you, Ikea and Order village), but I've been having far more fun with this game than not, and I always look forward to exploring the next area together with my friend.

You should buy it! Maybe you'll get rid of the feeling that someone's watching you.

This game is honestly super good. I highly recommend even at full price.

[Good]
It’s a different take on a survival game that ends up putting it in a niche genre. You make your base craft your items etc as a scientist trapped underground in a secretive lab. plenty of exploring to do, and it guides you through the zones as you accomplish the story. Much less open ended than survival games such as ark.
It has a unique art style, the different zones are very different and interesting. I usually don’t care about story but the story is pretty interesting. Very easy to play with friends. You can tell the devs spent a lot of time and effort working on the game.

[the bad]
There are some things I genuinely disliked about the game. They are currently working on 1.0 so some of these may get addressed. Worth noting that many of these are nit picking, and the game is almost perfect.
-buggy. The game can be slightly buggy and there were a few times where items in storage/inventory would randomly disappear or enemies would take abnormally long to respawn.

-late game armor options kind of suck in my opinion. You end up having the option to use a full armor set, or to use late game items that offer essential capabilities but offer worse armor than starting armor. (Arm wraps required to use guns, bionic legs for fall damage etc). IMO arm wraps and bionic legs shouldn’t take an armor slot.

-ladders: ladders are the bane of my existence…

-in game map: almost unusably bad. The world can get really confusing at times as it’s so large. it would be a huge quality of life addition to have a working map. The current version is like a shadow outline without indicators of any kind.

-bullets can’t be crafted

-performance issues: I have an extremely high end pc (i9 14th gen and 4090), and was hosting for two friends. End game was very laggy and had a few crashes. This is particularly strong when accessing storage containers and using auto sort.

-Skill perks: are not great but I’ve heard they are being overhauled.

-set bonuses: most suck/far too situational

-lacking some crafting QOL: can only use “go to previous recipe” once. Additionally, there are times when you want to craft item one, but for that you need to craft item two, and for that you need to craft item three. One button to craft all requirements would be nice.

-late game storage: gets a little annoying. There are a TON of different items in the game. Especially when opening inventories causes lag it’s annoying to go through 10 different containers to just find the solder. Would like some way to store everything in one container/be able to pull out any time from storage to your personal inventory.

-unsure if this was a bug but items don’t often respawn making resources really hard to come by late game. Especially when we end up wanting to craft multiple versions of them (for each of us to use)

Phenomenal game. A must play if you are into survival games and if you have played Half-Life you will feel like you are back in Black Mesa. This game will constantly have you wanting to come back to play. Just when you think you got a grasp on what you are fighting and where you are going, the game will throw a curveball and surprise you. Like many survival games, the beginning might be a little daunting. It does a good job alleviating alot of stress that might come with survival games at the start, and will have you in a flow state where hunger isn't a pressing issue. Alot of depth to crafting and discovering new recipes. Many different skill sets, armour sets and weapons that allow that players to have different play styles. Such a great amount of content for its price point. 10/10.

One of the greatest games I've ever played. It takes a little time to get into the flow but wow what an amazing piece of work by the devs. So many little puzzles, content, and items will keep you constantly discovering new things. I think it will also appeal to a lot of different types of gamers. Its got a great blend of crafting, horror, survival, comedy, and fps. Certainly one of the best value games on Steam too, incredible amount of content for $20-30. It's best experienced as a coop game, unless you play a lot of solo RPGs then you'll probably be fine. Regardless it should really be talked about more, this game deserves some awards. 10/10.

One of the best, if not the best, Survivalcrafter game I played. Some might say im biased because im a huge Half-Life fanboy and i have a unhealthy obsession with "hidden" research facilities since HL1. But its save to say that they really tried to break up the scenario in creative ways which makes exploring so much fun. Not many games make me want to continue to explore the world because theres always unexpected stuff around the next corner.

The game is a little slow for the first little but then it gets really addicting! Graphics could use some work but that really does not detract from the game.

If you don't think you'd like this game because it's not procedural generated:
THINK AGAIN.
I was skeptical about it as I'm a huge fan of Minecraft, Valheim, and No Man's Sky. Honestly, the hand-crafted map design is incredible and I think I actually prefer it more. This game is extremely fun and the game play is super addicting. It's totally playable solo also. Personally: The trailers on steam are fine but I feel like they don't do the game justice. There's so much incredible atmosphere and level design that they don't show (not sure how they would to be fair). If you enjoy crafting/ survival games GIVE THIS GAME A SHOT.

FUCKING AWESOME!

Abiotic Factor is easily the best survival game I have ever played. Buy it, make your friends buy it, and survive the Black Mesan’t incident.

Word of advice though: If the combat is putting you through the wringer, don’t be afraid to adjust your sandbox settings to fine-tune your difficulty. It won’t disable your achievements and it made the game much more enjoyable for me.

Absolutely phenomenal survival crafting game with a narrative that hearkens back to the original Half Life with a bit of SCP sprinkled in.

Yes, it is yet another early access "open world survival craft" game, but it is a nearly-complete and polished experience. (Just an update or two to finish out the story!)

Probably funner with friends, I wouldn't know. But playing it as a single player game isn't much of a problem progression-wise, as it is in other similar games.

I bought this game 3 days ago, meaning I've clocked nearly 15 hours a day. I still haven't scratched the surface, and the devs are still adding more. I haven't been this happy with an early access title since Subnautica.

A 1st person immersive sim ala deus ex where you and your friends explore an infested research facility. Took us 20 hours to finish.
You can skill into different trees, but they dont feel very impactful besides the combat ones unfortunately, and it takes ages to level them up.
The enemies feel diverse and require different tactics which is good.
You can build your base everywhere, supported by energy and resource management.
I was the groups chef, after finding one base recipe it lasted for the whole game which was a bummer.
Some zones you discover feel not fleshed out, but the zone you spend the most time in feels great.
Generally a fresh take on the genre with its multyplayer attempt. Feels a bit clunky overall but gave us some great hours of exploring, gathering and fighting

This game has so much more to it then my best friend and I thought. It has honestly blow us away with how big this game is and how much fun we are having playing it.
It is challenging and makes you work to progress which I really like.

After 60 hours of being stalked by IS-0091, I finally captured him and contained him in my bathroom so he's forced to watch me shit for the foreseeable future.

This game is a case study in how intelligent, purposeful level design can really shape the identity of a game. Every time you think you may have to start a new base out of necessity, the game gives you a metroidvania-style shortcut or switchback or route that makes almost anywhere you could lay down your head feel centralized. That's an incredible feat. It has some of my favorite survival game QoL features like being able to use items in nearby boxes from the bench and teleportation. There's a lot of traversal gear that makes exploring fun and snappy - from the anti-gravity cube to the jump packs and exoskeletal legs.

The mixture of SCP, Lovecraftian Horror and Half-Life works stupendously. You start out a measly, milquetoast intern and by the end of the game you're the equivalent of a Science Ninja jump-packing through levels and eradicating enemies with laser katanas. The game gives a real sense of progression in terms of feeling stronger as the game goes on. Things that were previously threats become trivia. I really like how the game offers you guns, but it's clear that they would prefer if you science the fuck out of everything you come across instead of using mundane firearms.

I had an absolute blast playing Abiotic Factor with my friend. I was always eager to check out the newest area and unlock the latest recipes. Near the end of the game there's a bit of disappointment as it feels like there's some unexplored territory in the way of DIY Science Weaponry - but besides a couple annoying bugs related to latency, it was a smooth, polished ride. An incredibly competent game and one that stands out above the forest of survival games with its unique setting, masterful level design and excellent world-building.

My only requests are being able to attach Moisture Accumulator's to farms so you don't have to nanny them, being able to package Coffee Machines / Vending Machines / IS-0083.

The survival genre is bored at this point.


Not with this. The Office has always been a house of horror.

Fun. Large. Crazy Survival and Crafting.

Most of Addicting to the point you lose track of time.
Solo can be difficult but you don't wanna give up.

Come, join the science team. You'll definitely end up enjoying your stay here in GATE, I can promise you that. Half-life 1 meets survival crafting, and it spares absolutely no expense in making sure you remember that you are not a main character. You are just another member of the science team, so don't get in over your head!

Play with friends, this game is amazing in co-op. Do me a favor, and realize you can throw a lot more items at each other than it seems. Nothing like getting beaned in the head from half a room away by the newest joke item of the night.

very fun & a lot of playtime to be had
more than worth the price

I've never been happier spending for such a game in a long time and knowing how much the devs care about their player base in terms of content and QoL is beyond words. Me and a good friend of mine are having tons of fun and haven't finished the first area itself because of the minute attention to details. The gameplay is quite interesting to explore, discuss and overall progress in your own pace. Crafting+Survival+Combat+Lore+Adventure and more encapsulates my interest and hopefully everyone seeing this review does give it a shot. Onwards fellow nerds, Huzzah !

FYI, If you ever come across a player named CodedOrochi, make sure you offer him Iodine pills often. Poor guy is always afflicted with Radiation poisoning. #NotRad

I would like to recommend this game almost explicitly on the sheer amount of creativity I have seen. There have been so many, "Oh my god....." moments or, "that's frakin awesome...."

Know the story of original half-life? Merge that with some inspiration from SCP and make it a crafting survival game and BOOM! Abiotic Factor.

Issues? Skill issues... on my part... I got lost a lot... thanks friend for the carry.

Some fun facts:
I have pooped myself in game
I found an imaginary friend... it killed me
The Bone Zone is a foggy place...
I got an irradiated item that made me sick, started vomiting uncontrollably because the radiation sickness... died at the finish line
The Grim Reaper is real... and he hates you

One of the best survival games with a great story and interesting realms to explore.

This game should be GOTY of Survival, the concept is very unique and new with complexity crafting but its not difficult. Everytime you pick a new items/resource there's always a new recipe for every items you need and every items you craft there's a new recipe for another items you need. you always need supplies that means you always pick items up everwhere you are.

im not finish the game yet i still in cascade but the story of this game is not boring and i like it because its not a short story game, and everytime u want to progress the story you must explore the place first to find any new items so you can proceed.

The environment in this game is just perfect and fits, new feelings for everymap you just unlocked new ways to conquer it so you'll need a new weapons tools and armor to do it.

The graphic might not look that fancy like other games but that should not be the case, its already a beautiful and a masterpiece with all the details.

Simply my top 3 Survival Co-Op games.

One of the best early access titles I've had the pleasure of playing, and that's only from a solo perspective. This is the only survival game I can think of where I can drive a forklift at ramming speed into some not-Vortigaunt, or latin roleplayer, or magic mercenary's skull.

Forklift certified/10.

As someone who has played a ton of survival games this is easily the best I have ever come across. The story itself and the zones are very immersive with a lot to do and explore around facility. The accessibility from start to finish is amazing which allowed for freedom to setup camp anywhere and still be able to access the rest of the map quickly. The game runs rather smooth with simplistic graphics yet also a very interesting style meaning even lower end systems could run this game decently without sacrificing quality! I really love the lore and the time the developers have put into this masterpiece of a game and with each new patch of content they bring it always seems to amaze me. Really fun would recommend to anyone as I believe it appeals to a large audience.

As someone who is a huge fan of the Half Life series and Subnautica series, I cannot describe how much joy this game brings me as I patiently wait for each new update because I cannot get enough of the story but I also cannot wait to see what new gizmos and doodads we can build next or what new entity we will discover. The visual style also adds a lot of character to the game and for me it's also super nostalgic of the 90's and 2000's games. If you're a fan of open world survival but don't like the visuals , I still recommend it 10/10 because just the gameplay is magnificent and after getting addicted to the gameplay you would forget the visual style and fall in love with the game.

Great depth to the game, many ways to solve its puzzles and boss fights

Visuals are great.
Gameplay is fun.
You can repeat playthroughs and take different paths!

I am loving this game, I bought it when the Early Access released and haven't had an ounce of regret! It does have it fair share of "features" aka bugs, but most of them are quite easy to solve when playing on a single-player. There are different play styles people can develop, stealth or guns blazing are two of my favourites.

Give this game a try, I cannot recommend it more!

My friend and I have started a feces war. It is a thing you can do. Don't ask me why.

Pros:
-Really fun progression. It's a survival with a story, with clear objectives on what do next
-Tons of building and crafting with a really innovative system of unlocking crafting recipes
-Customizable difficulty
-Quite an absurd sense of humor

Cons:
-Survival mechanics can take too much time away from story progression and it's easy to end in a loop of only caring about your next meal. This can be easily solved by changing the server's modular difficulty

Rating:
Solid 9/10

Conclusion:
Really fun and quirky game. Buy it!

This game is so amazing. I play with friend and we completely addicted. We're patiently awaiting each update ! It's one of my favorite game <3

Dark Energy update incorporated EOS and broke online play for certain users who always experience broken online play when that service is in play. I might add that EOS is entirely irrelevant to playing with people on Steam, yet two Steam platform players cannot play together because of EOS. Do not buy; you may not be able to play with people. And do not trust the company not to break things essential to the play experience, such as online play. I got the game, played the tutorial, and then the update rolled out and voila, can't play with a friend. I have been scammed.

Abiotic Factor is a surprisingly delightful addition to the modern video game landscape.

I went in expecting a run-of-the-mill survival crafting experience with maybe some novelty in its setting.
What I got was so much better!

A blend of Half-Life and SCP atmosphere, lore, and design.
Level design that rivals the best—like Dark Souls and Resident Evil.
Survival crafting that builds upon and improves the genre’s formula, stripping away the usual tedium.
Top it off with a dose of immersive sim gameplay, reminiscent of Prey and Dishonored, and you get something far greater than it has any right to be.

It’s rare for a game that draws so heavily from its inspirations to truly excel, but Abiotic Factor nails the best aspects of them all, resulting in a focused, engaging, and cohesive experience.

The progression and pacing remain rock solid—even 45 hours in, it doesn’t miss a beat.
You’re constantly discovering new tools, recipes, and secrets. There's always a new mystery to solve, a shortcut to unlock, a character to engage with.

And all the while, each new area one-ups the last—intensifying the oppressive feeling that the world is on the brink of collapse. You’re just caught up in it, forced to muster all your wits and courage to push forward.

A genuine masterpiece in game design, pushing its respective genres forward.

I cannot recommend it enough.

This is my most favorite survival sandbox genre game. It features linear storytelling that I have not seen other games pull off that well before, which also does not punish your experience if you choose to backtrack for any reason before you decide to go any further. You think you may start a game where it's world may seem like a nothingburger, but if you pay attention to the environmental storytelling, and what is left in the logs, you may notice quite a lot is going on which isn't just your "Resonance Cascade" from Half-Life 1. The game takes huge inspirations from SCP community, and it is creative at iterating their own containment lore, which I wish to not spoil about.

The gameplay is semi-linear, sort-of narrow corridor type of where you need to go, but all those corridors tie with others, making you open shortcuts back to the starting area (which could be your potential first base of operations) in a interesting way. Sometimes, it is easy to miss shortcuts at first, but if you are attentive, and curious, you will manage to manage your own traffic efficiently by your means.
Crafting is very straight forward, there is enough understanding of which sector provides what resources at most, making you build efficient strategies on where can you get what, with whatever yield count you may need, but one thing I really like about this game is that old areas will become less and less visited the further you are to the story, making it a lot more comfortable sending yourself a lot less to the road that backtracks you way too far.
Enemies are quite straight forward to fight, but you may find shooting enemies to be quite off with the way how they give you damage, which isn't game-breaking, but it will leave confused at best until you start getting the feel of how the game directs it.
Variety of weapons, and tools in this game, is rich enough for its current stage of Dark Energy, but it with the current curve of growth, you probably will not want to get rid of older weapons that will be useful for the upcoming upgrade system, allowing you to upgrade earlier-unlocked gear to the late game level we will be able to go, which is a great thing to consider since there are so many types of ammo that work well against many types of enemies each. Building is subpar, but basic enough to follow.
The electricity system is something you will have to get used to, solely because you will get none of it during night time, so batteries are your best friends.
Survival mechanics come with infamous continence stat, allowing you to measure the units of taking a dump, which also plays a huge role in your needs, like farming and crafting. Hunger and thirst are also there, so as sleep. The latter works differently than how you may think other games do, but you simply sleep, and overcome your bad dreams to gain energy faster (god I wish that worked in real life), which is fun.

Overall, in my experience after playing many types of survivals, starting from Rust, ARK, The Forest, Minecraft, Reign of Kings, Last Oasis and so on, I think Abiotic Factor is the best out there solo, and with friends. Its linear, so you won't expect any "PVP" or need to play in huge lobbies, just have fun and explore! This is what the game industry really needed, and at the core, its the best game for a good time, not a long time.

Very good game with very bad balancing.

It's a good survival/exploration game if you can handle the bullet sponginess of it. The enemies along the story path will always be tuned to feel like you need a stronger tier of armor and weapon than the game provides. Depending on who you are, this is either awesome, or an on-going problem from every major content patch the developer has provided over the last year.

Military weapons are still dogshit after all this time -- but that's okay, because, now, laser weapons are dogshit too. The dev's vision seems to be to make Slushie Bmbs the only viable weapon in the game. *Science.*

Abiotic Factor is a 15/10 incredible experience.
I enjoyed it alone, but when me and my buddy play together it literally has breathed life into both of us. We've been playing games together for 15 years, so we hardly ever find game ideals nowadays that compare to what we fell in love with (teamwork, strategy, and fairness).

We have compared this game in different capacities:
Graphics - Similar artstyle to Valheim. 3D Pixel Art. This game is outstandingly beautiful
Atmosphere and level design - DarkSouls and The Surge

The ingenuity to the Survival Genre that AF brings to the table is top tier.

I would pay 60 dollars for this game. For me, Abiotic Factor has set a new standard for what I define as a game.

Devs put so much passion, thought , time and work to abiotic factor
Feels like early 2000s gaming with the quality
Abiotic factor alone benches at least 20 triple A studios in terms of “soul of a game”
Easy 10/10

It's co-op survival Half-Life 1 from the Scientists perspective. Sprinkle in a little Project Zomboid skills tree/classes and a lot of humor and you've got yourself a stew!

Folks this is a good one that's worth your time, attention, and money. The reviews aren't exaggerating.

If you enjoyed Half-Life, SCP, and any survival craft game in recent years, this is the new game you're looking for. All with the charm of retro graphics and fantastic co-op play.

Kind of feels like what Half-Life would have been if it was a survival game, even down to the art style and lower detail animations. Even has creatures with behaviors very similar to head crabs. It's well done even in early access.

I've grown genuinely bored of open world survival crafting games, wandering around a forest collecting sticks and stones for the first majority of game-play. Abiotic Factor puts you in a unique setting that is perfectly complimented by its graphic design.
No more sticks and stones; you're a scientist. With each new recipe you unlock, you feel more and more like Tony Stark stuck in his cave, using the bare minimum to fashion some great technology. Using pens for ammunition or turning old electronics into high-tech teleporters, it feels like anything is possible. The crafting is designed to be both creative and entertaining.

In many ways, this game makes you feel like a child again. The graphics feel almost nostalgic, yet even with 80 hours under my belt before the most recent update, it felt like I was far from discovering everything.
Each new hallway, office, laboratory, and multiverse portal you discover brings about such a sense of childlike wander and excitement; its almost addicting. I've fully dedicated work-shift long sessions just to prepare for new areas and explore.

The characters you meet in the game act as simple guides, but each of them feels whimsical and full of personality. Their voice acting adds so much to the overall mood of the game and I feel like the NPCs themselves set up an amazing foundation for the most core aspect of the game.
Multiplayer.
Trust me, this game is so much more with a friend or few. My friend group fell into the role of "goofy posh scientists" very quickly. Proximity chat is utilised perfectly alongside walkie-talkies and pagers, and the animations of player-characters make the funny moments happen without even trying.

Have you ever questioned why so many survival games allow you to feast without ever seeing a single loo? No?
Well, now you do. Your friends better remember where the toilets are and keep each other safe when the situation gets dire. There is nothing more memorable than someone spectacularly shitting themselves in the middle of battle in the Containment Sector.

You're still a scientist though, so worry not. You can at least turn that humiliation into soil. There's your food problem solved!
Even making it to the toilet isn't boring, because then you're awarded with a POOPING MINI-GAME.

Who'd have thought of that?

This is a game made by goofy people for goofy people, and it is evident with every step that the developers are having as much fun as we are.

My rump is sat, and I'm about to spend the rest of the day fighting aliens and breaching the multiverse to effectively shit on my friend's bed. How will YOU benefit science this weekend, hmm?

genuinely one of the most fun and creatively inspired games i've played in a long time
so many amazing references and inspirations drawn from other series
you go into this expecting just half life survival game
you get so so so much more
im a larva sniper rifle build x throwing weapons guy that tends gardens and cooks cool meals
i hope this game gets workshop support and people add onto the already amazing content the devs have made

After concluding my first session, I was left utterly astonished by how much I enjoyed playing Abiotic Factor.

How to describe this criminally unrecognized indie gem? Not an easy task by any means, but here's my best try: take Half Life 1, Arkane Studio's Prey 2017, Resident Evil and ARK: Survival Evolved and shove them into a mad science mecha-hybridizer. These are not pieces you'd think would naturally fit together, and yet somehow they just do. The result is a glorious Frankenstein's monster that works and plays unlike anything else on the market: a bona-fide first-person/immersive-sim/coop-survival-crafting/survival-horror/metroidvania/RPG!

Abiotic Factor's biggest asset is probably it's level design. Intricate does not even begin to describe it; in the true signature of masterful, Soulsborne-tier world design, the research facility you're trapped in isn't huge, but it FEELS absolutely enormous, and you will relish exploring every inch of it. Each sector is it's own distinct, sprawling environment, with unique enemies, resources and navigation challenges. The devs make excellent use of their game's central premise (essentially, a Resonance Cascade at an SCP containment site), creating a cohesive and believable environment that I was never less than eager to learn about. Nothing is lazy or repetitive, and there's oodles of fascinating and brilliantly-written lore you can find that expands on this engrossing original universe.

Notably, despite the abundantly compelling narrative, this game is also--refreshingly--very systems-driven. Abiotic Factor borrows heavily from the Immersive Sim genre, and that genre's most vital and enduring lesson is this: the most effective and reliable way to create player immersion is to make it clear to the player that this world has Rules, and if you do not pay attention and learn them, you will get screwed! Entirely aside from the personal admiration I have for the devs for choosing to put more video game in their video game, this systemic focus serves the gameplay tremendously. You really do have to learn and engage with the world on it's own terms, and it's always satisfying to devise a solution to or discover a way to circumvent a problematic situation using the ample suite of tools the game provides you. After all, you are a scientist; ingenuity's kinda your thing. Although this game doesn't have a Gloo Gun or versatile Typhon powers, it does have a robust building system.

I could go on.

Suffice to say that Abiotic Factor has impressed me in more ways than I can readily describe. Not only does each component work great on it's own, everything dovetails together beautifully into a whole greater than the sum of it's parts. Please believe me when I say you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not at least try to play this game. If any of it's above-mentioned inspirations have compelled you at all, especially if you've enjoyed more than one of them, you owe it to yourself to give Abiotic Factor a look. You might just fall in love with it like I and (as of the time of this writing) over 18,000 other Steam users already have.

And by the way, I love coffee in my coffee hole!