DEADSIDE Preview for Steam Early Access

Deadside, by developer/publisher Bad Pixel, is a multiplayer open world survival game where you try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The game has been in Steam Early Access since April and keeps getting updated with new weapons and extensions to the map. 

The process is similar to other survival games. You spawn in a random location, go around looking for weapons and food, and hope that no one sees you in the meantime. Once you have your basic needs, you can venture into the wilds or complete the missions that are randomly generated on the map. There is not a tactic you can develop while playing the game since it is a matter of luck for you to come across enemies or other players for the first couple of minutes in the game.

This is the whole game at the moment. You can explore cabins in the woods, deserted houses or go on a rampage, for there are randomly spawned NPCs around the map to keep you busy. Since it is a survival game, hearing a gunshot provides a great adrenaline rush. Until you locate where the enemies are attacking from, you sweat until you find a cover. When it comes to being realistic, the game mechanics seem to be right on point. Just like any other survival game, Deadside does a good job on the management of the inventory space. You have to find clothes like trousers or vests to carry more items, which are crucial for your survival. On the other hand there are some equippables you can find like gloves or hats but they don’t seem to have any apparent effect on the gameplay other than being cosmetics, since you can get killed with a headshot with every weapon. Pistols and rifles have the potential to one shot you, and if wielded by the right hands, will act as the same weapon. This can become demotivating since no matter how much you grind, you will not make any substantial progress. This brings up the question, “how realistic should a game be?” and it is up to the players to decide.

There are several features that haven’t been added to Deadside, which I believe will set the game apart from the other survival games out there. You will be able to create your own bases, storage chests and many other ways to progress in the world. From my experience of playing “The Forest,” having the freedom to build my own base with my friends was the best part of the gameplay experience. However, I have some concerns about this feature in Deadside. If everyone on the server can easily gather building materials and start building their own bases, the whole can be monopolized by a certain player group. Keep in mind that, right now, most server’s max player limit is 30-50 players so the players might fill up the space quickly. On the top of this issue, there will be “optimal” spots for building bases since there is only one kind of map in the game. Anyways, this problem is left to the developers of the game to solve and I am hoping they will come up with a balanced system.

Without the feature I previously mentioned, the game space feels so meaningless right now. In your travels you can check out and loot several houses or containers, fight against – or run around –  randomly generated enemies, but that is it. If a mission is 2km away from your current location, all you need to do is press Shift + W for 5 minutes. Due to the abundance of weapons/food, you don’t have to take the risk to search a house, kill NPCs or other players. What you find at the beginning of the game is more than enough for your survival and grinding for more does not provide you any benefits. The enemies just become an obstacle for your survival and do not have a second dimension to them. 

Right now, due to the nature of Early Access games, there are several bugs and glitches, which do not hinder the gameplay, but the blandness of the current game is a huge issue. You can spend time at the safe zone with your friends, do some role playing, grind some money to buy new weapons from the shop, and then go out to grind even more, and it is the best it can get at the moment. Deadside lacks motivation as there aren’t any worthwhile objectives or goals the player can find or create, but once the mentioned features are added, the game might have a whole new experience.

Check Out the Deadside Steam Early Access Trailer:

Deadside is available for $19.99 for Windows PC via Steam Early Access.

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