How long can you survive the post-apocalyptic wastelands of NEO Scavenger? In the near-future, supernatural activity and human warfare have fragmented mankind into pockets of civilization struggling to survive in wild and dangerous lands. You awaken alone in an abandoned facility with no food nor water, and only a hospital gown and some mysterious items as clues to your identity. NEO Scavenger is a game where you must survive in the wasteland long enough to figure out who you are. Each turn you must decide where to go, how to scavenge for supplies, and how to deal with anything and anyone you encounter. And with each passing minute, the pit in your stomach grows, your dehydration worsens, your muscles tire, and your body temperature drops in the cold autumn air. Choose your starting abilities carefully, because they and your wit are the only tools you have in the apocalypse!
Introduction
NEOScavenger is an amazing little roguelike title developed by an ex-BioWare employee. It challenges you to scavenge for food, water, and equipment in order to keep yourself well-fed, warm, and in good health.
Story
The story of NEOScavenger can only be explained as "minimal" - with no solid storyline to guide you once you start a new game, apart from a vague description of a "glow" in the distance. It's very easy to get lost in the game, unsure of what to do next - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The game's features keeps you enthralled in the world and the experience, and the lack of a rigid story to guide you helps make the world feel larger, and adds to the sense of being lost.
Features
With crafting, a needs system, turn-based combat, inventory management, exploring, quests, and scavenging (duh), NEOScavenger offers a surprisingly large amount of features for such a small indie title. However, with the large amount of features in the game, the lack of a tutorial and the slightly confusing UI is highly questionable. Your first few play-throughs of the game is definitely going to be a frustrating case of trial-and-error, and can end up making you give up instead of getting sucked in.
Gameplay
Those that stay interested through the confusion of learning the game is quickly met with very rewarding and challenging gameplay. A large amount of the game is risk assessment - "should I engage that bandit with this piece of wood for his loot?", "should I try my luck scavenging this building?", "should I spend my hard-earned cash for a meal or risk starvation to find one myself?"
Permadeath definitely adds to the tension of the game, where you feel the weight of every decision that could lead to a great reward, or possible death. Quests operate in a similar way (and can sometime be very frustrating), where one small mistake or a lapse of judgement can lead to instant death. You can't help but feel cheated in certain quests, where an option simply means you lose hours of progress. Once you're over the initial frustration, however, you quickly realise that the fact that a simple wrong move leads to death makes you a lot more cautious, which in turn sucks you much deeper into the game.
The combat is mostly text-based, and quite realistic (relatively speaking). You get an impressive amount of options in combat - ranging from retreating or advancing, to tackling, to getting into cover, to creating obstacles, etcetera. Although the lack of visuals can be a bit off-putting at first, the descriptions provided is very rewarding, and you quickly use your imagination to fill the gaps without even intending to.
Graphics
The graphics are quite stylised, and looks like the lovechild of retro and modern indie PC games. While some graphics can get a little repetitive, the art that IS there is so beautifully and meticulously done that you won't often mind.
Sound
The soundtrack and sound effects is probably the game's weakest point. It's extremely repetitive and forgettable, and can definitely leave you a little audio-bored. I often find myself muting the game and simply playing my own music in the background.
UI
The UI is quite confusing at first, and since the game lacks a tutorial it can leave you entirely stumped when you first start the game. With little explanation to what different buttons do, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that the UI was designed with no reason or rhyme - it simply looks like a bunch of buttons slapped onto the screen.
Once you get to know the UI and you're able to more easily use the menus, it does get a little better - but not by much.
All in all, I'd give this game an 8/10. It's DEFINITELY a must play for indie, roguelike, and RPG lovers.