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After essentially inventing the battle royale genre with PUBG, Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene’s next project is, unsurprisingly, an ambitious one. It’s so ambitious, in fact, that he needs to release three smaller games in the build up to test and refine some of its core pillars. The first is Prologue, a survival game that challenges you with surviving in large, randomly generated, but realistic worlds. Set for an early access launch within the next few months, you can jump the queue and join the latest Prologue playtest, which has just gone live on Steam.
At a first glance Prologue sounds like a rather simple and basic survival game. You’re the only living thing in its vast map, you’ve got hunger and warmth parameters to manage, and the only real objective is to make your way to the blinking light atop a weather station tower. However, it’s actually one of the most grueling, punishing, and immersive survival experiences I’ve played. Sure, you can’t build yourself elaborate bases, tame a dinosaur, or protect yourself from cannibals. But the loneliness, the atmosphere, and the sheer scale of Prologue’s randomly generated maps make for a compelling time. At least, that was my experience when I got to try Prologue out at PlayerUnknown Productions earlier in the year.
In almost every way, it’s a stripped back and unsupportive experience. You spawn into a starting shack where you can collect a few helpful tools, some supplies, and a map and compass to help you navigate the terrain and find more cabins to shelter in and loot. These cabins, and the occasional smaller shacks, are the only structures you’ll see aside from the weather station that awaits you on the other side of the 8×8 kilometre map.
As well as making sure you’re well fed and watered, the biggest thing that’ll catch you out is the dynamic weather. Rain storms can turn certain patches of ground into quagmires that will slow your walking speed down, or blizzards will reduce your visibility and bring the temperature right down. If you’re not inside, wearing enough warm clothes, or next to a fire, that will cause a swift, icy demise.
If Prologue sounds like an interesting project to you, then you’ll probably want to get involved with its latest playtest. PlayerUnknown Productions has been running them every month since February, and now the April one is here, once again putting it through its paces ahead of the Prologue release date.
The new Prologue playtest is live right now on Steam until Monday, April 14. Sign ups are open, and keys will be given out on a first come, first served basis. You can sign up in the game’s Discord server here.
For more, check out my interview with PlayerUnknown himself about what Prologue aims to achieve for his final goal, Project Artemis. Alternatively, here are some of the best open-world games and best single-player games on PC right now.
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