As the title suggests, Triton Survival, by developer/publisher DreamsSoftGames, is a survival game like many before it. Think of it like Minecraft, or more like Subnautica if you’re familiar with that, but in the future on an unfamiliar Earth. Collect resources from your surroundings to not only survive, but to destroy any enemies threatening to destroy your portal, the gateway to other worlds. Kill enemies to level up and unlock new crafting recipes including stronger weapons and fortifications to deck out your character and your base to defend Earth from those seeking to destroy it.
For this preview, I’m going to leave explicit bugs for another time and focus only on the intended mechanics. The game plays nicely, albeit slow at first. The controls were somewhat intuitive, but having to use F8 to teleport home was a little jarring. I would expect that to be something closer to my resting position. I did appreciate the mechanic, though, as there have been many times in these exploration games where I wished I could just explore without worrying about getting all of my stuff back. This enables exploration without punishing for failure and encourages experimentation.
On a similar controls-related note, I wish I could swap the current active hotbar item by using the scroll wheel, as having to look down to hit the right button was jarring, especially given that I didn’t want to accidentally waste any single use items like water and food, which were tedious to come by. The whole object of collecting resources was relaxing for me, especially given that I could teleport home at any time. As I went out repeatedly, I began to develop strategies to make this process more efficient: definitely use the harvesting gun, and don’t go near any trees so as not to provoke any unnecessary conflict. I really felt like I was learning more and more about how the game worked as time went on, which was nice as a player to make things naturally easier as you play.
Of course, that’s only the first part of the gameplay. Having to deal with the ultimate onslaught of aliens was more difficult than I had originally thought, especially because during the first few waves, I was unaware I had to defend my portal. By the time I realized I had to fortify my portal, I was going out collecting tons of iron and rock to make the most secure base possible, but still, the swarms of those little beasts ate through everything. They did their job, but had to be remade after every wave, as repairing them was usually more expensive than just destroying them and crafting more. I think that’s one of my main complaints about this game: the lack of balance. Sometimes, I would have an entire metal wall destroyed by a stray alien that made it past my turret. With regards to balance, I never repaired my body armor because it was way more cost effective to just heal myself using bandages. Minor changes like these I think would make the game a whole lot better.
On the art side of things, I think Triton Survival is lacking a cohesive style. Every part looks great on its own, but the rocks, the trees, the enemies, and the main character all feel like part of a different game. Perhaps some minor changes can be made to make them seem more in line with each other, but I imagine this could also be done with just some simple retexturing or even a shader change. Right now, the game looks very dark and dirty, but I think with the right textures and shaders, it could look a lot more in tune with its theme.
Overall, I would say I enjoyed Triton Survival, but I’m not sure how long it could actually be played. It doesn’t have as much raw content as other games in the genre. I’m sure that’s due to it still being in early access, so I don’t fault it too much for that. Judging by where it was only a year ago, I have high hopes for the future of this game. That being said, I would recommend this game mainly if you’re looking forward to seeing something come of it in the future.
Check Out the Triton Survival Video:
Triton Survival is available for Windows PC for $14.99 via Steam Early Access.
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I am an aspiring game designer looking to explore the philosophy behind game creation. Some of my favorite games include Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, Portal, and Beat Saber.
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