The venerable survival genre is nearly as old as gaming itself, dating back at least to Oregon Trail and survival modes in tower defense games. For a substantial period of time, Japanese survival horror games nearly became synonymous with the entirety of the genre. These days, fleeing from monsters still dominates the genre thanks to games such as Left 4 Dead, Day Z and Slender Man.
Sibling led developer, Butterscotch Shenanigans, is here to disrupt the pattern of doom and gloom by bringing the world a colorful, comical, sci-fi survival RPG. Yes, that is a mouthful to say, but to describe this game with fewer adjectives would be a crime against all things awesome.
The games website offers the following description of the game’s plot and features:
Play as Flux Dabes, a galactic delivery truck driver whose latest shipment gets interrupted by a megalomaniacal alien named “Q” who tears her ship to pieces looking for useful tech. Crashlanded on Woanope, you must fight, tame, craft, quest, bossfight, and adventure your way to domination of all the things so that you and JuiceBox, your trusty sidekick/supervisor/robotic cargo palette, can send a message to the Bureau of Shipping and get those damn packages delivered!
The premise may draw inevitable comparisons to Minecraft, seeing as Minecraft also offers crafting, taming and building. However, what sets Crashlands apart from its distinguished competition is far more than a sci-fi setting or 2D visuals.
Crashlands offers a dynamic real time combat system that requires you to learn specific tactics to defeat each mob type, varied weapons crafting that includes ranged and proximity weapons such as lasers and bombs, and an infinite self-managing inventory that ensures that you won’t be wasting your time worrying about available slots in a chest.
Even more promising is the ability to create your own campaigns using the “BscotchID” modding tool. Using said tool, users can create not only their own maps, but can create their own boss fights, enemies, dialog and stories. The developers have claimed that it would be possible to recreate The Legend of Zelda within Crashlands. If that promise makes it to the final build, then Crashlands may be more than a great mobile game: it may be game of the year material.
The game is set to release for Android this Summer. Check out the game’s first trailer below and be sure to visit the developer’s game page for more information about this new title.
Official Website: Crashlands
