The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 17th

A perfectly normal workplace lies behind today's door

Uh, it's probably not a problem - probably - but I'm seeing a small discrepancy in today's advent calendar and... no, never mind... it's well within acceptable bounds. Go ahead, open the door.

It's co-op comedy and scientific survival game Abiotic Factor!

Brendy: I haven't played half as much Abiotic Factor as I have wished. Partly because it's a survival game, that inherently time-sinky genre that wants you to worry about the poo in your gut even while you decorate your makeshift shelter. But also because of schedules. This game, you see, is best enjoyed with friends.

It's basically a survival Half-Life parody. Imagine if you and a bunch of pals got recruited to work at an off-brand Black Mesa, with none of the proper qualifications, and now you're all wandering about on your first day wondering if the office is normally this... corpsey. Something has gone wrong at the remote facility and you've now got to survive and delve deeper into it to find out what's happened. Along the way you have to cook interdimensional mutant meat and stay warm by huddling up to battery-powered heaters at night. You may also choose to feed "co-worker", the hungry man (?) who scuttles into your shelter late in the evening begging for scraps, muttering: "C'mon, we've all got larvae to feed."

Image credit: Playstack

It's funny and scrappy and it gives the survival genre a delightful new setting - not the expansive jungles and deserts of the outside world with all those familiar elements to battle, but the hideously tiled innards of a late 1990s shooter. There are tram systems and offices to sprint through, fearful of mutants and security mechs. And huge internal structures that make you wonder what the hell these scientists were up to. Although there are interdimensional "portal worlds" where the climate can suddenly whip up freezing snow. You might find some weird bees to keep, or fish to reel in, or creepy cultists to run away from.

I haven't seen even half of what the game has to offer and I'm already convinced it's one of the most fun survival games I've played since Subnautica. Now, if I can just find some time to poo with my friends...

Head back to the advent calendar to open another door!