The developers say it will enter early access on September 24, with four maps, a set of weapons and five “disaggregated characters, each with their own baggage and playstyles.” That ‘baggage’ can be both metaphorical and literal, as one of the game’s features is that you have to strap a bulky modular backpack, called a ‘rig’, to your body before entering the kill zone. Imagine Death Stranding’s courier backpack, but equipped with jump jets, or stacked with deployable turrets instead of cold pizzas.
I thought of it as a ‘PvEvE’ looter-shooter, where enemy factions wage war while you try to get by. The whole idea is that you’re a fragile little jerk in an overly mechanical conflict, and it’s often better to avoid patrols and let the opponent’s machines fight it out than to engage in combat yourself. There was a recent beta and YouTuber “Riloe” has one swish hype inducing video which explains the general principles and inspirations of the game. It was enough to keep me lurking in the game’s Discord, where I first saw people getting really hot over the leggy mech they now call “harvester mama.”
Anyway, the video above features creative director Miles Williams speaking to us from behind the cyber helmet of a human scavenger. He makes some promises about what the game’s early access period will look like, much of which addresses common complaints among gamers. The game will cost $30, and he’d like to make it clear that there will be no “pay-to-win” antics after that buy-in.
“You’re never charged for a new character, because that’s how it should be when you buy a game,” Williams says. “You won’t be charged for maps, weapons, extra quests, new bosses and more. That money is for the birds.”
That said, the game will still sell cosmetics and skin packs for extra money. So it’s not entirely an old-fashioned approach. Although the studio boss has fond memories of a time when you could just buy a game and have everything it had to offer, The Forever Winter still exists in 2024. They need to sell some face paint, I guess what they’re saying. That’s fair.
Williams also lays out a roadmap for future things, such as new enemy bosses and upcoming levels. Early access includes an additional gray box (essentially a ‘work in progress’ card) on top of the four main cards. This is so players can help test the battlefield, the developer says, and is partly inspired by another extraction shooter.
“We really respect what the homies did with Ready Or Not,” Williams says. “It was incredible that we had the balls to release gray box cards in their card series. That’s why we’re taking a page from their book.”
So yeah, looks neat. I have been watching the progress of The Forever Winter with hopeful interest over the past few months. There’s something about the fact that big robots are hideous that appeals to me Animatrix-addicted brain. I’ll have more to write about the war-torn loot zones soon. Until then, enjoy one hour ambient harvester mama.