Scavengers is a post-apocalyptic cooperative survival game with battle royal elements, the developers of which are currently conducting closed tests of the first game build. What the game from the developer Friv2Online Studio is noteworthy and whether it is worth waiting for - we'll tell you in this preview.
And unfortunately, we will only tell you, it is forbidden to show Scavengers yet. The external side of the friv game is not finished yet, but technically the project is quite playable. It is being actively researched by testers, fixes and patches are released regularly. A little more, and Scavengers will be open for everyone.
As much as I would like to avoid comparisons, in this case they are inevitable: Scavengers is very similar to Cycle. So much so that veterans of the latter can easily skip the tutorial and break into the top tier in their first match, but not to the point where you can end the preview there.
This time PvPvE events with an invariably shrinking map will unfold on a cataclysm-stricken Earth. Instead of picturesque alien landscapes - a snowy wasteland inhabited by mutants and marauders. It may not sound very good, but it looks, believe me, atmospheric, which is seriously promoted by quite good picture.
More than ten teams of three searchers each will try to outdo each other in collecting data from the nodes scattered around the location. The team's score is common, and the goal is the same - to get alive to the rescue shuttle, which will arrive near the end of the session and, accordingly, to deliver the loot on board.
The leading team, by the way, is marked on the global map with red markers, because of which their superiority is very shaky. Especially if an insidious enemy catches them at the moment of clearing some difficult area with mobs.
Valuable resource is distributed to the companions depending on who picks it up, and falls out in the appropriate amount when the carrier is killed. The defeated player goes into a recloning state and can revive a minute later, provided that at least one of the team members survives.
Weapons and consumables, unlike most battle royale games, always stay with you. Everything you need is stashed in containers located in the camps and bases. Some of them are very well guarded, including elite opponents and even bosses. An inexperienced team runs the risk of dying before the first PVP encounter.
But if they do manage to make it to the finals, a skirmish is almost inevitable. Unlike Cycle, there is no safe zone on board the ship yet. And you may be caught off guard by a decisive ambush on the approach, because the motivation for such an ambush is very convincing for the less successful players in data collection.
As is the team that's trying to escape. If the data can be protected in special transmitters before you have a chance to fly away, then the raw materials, for which there is a separate slot in the bags, can be taken out of the war zone exclusively on your own.
Later at the base, they can be separated into components and materials necessary for researching special blueprints, which will then be added to the crafting table. With their help, seekers will be able to create equipment on the go from scrap loot obtained during the session.
At the start of the friv game there will be eight characters. Each has one unique weapon and one ability, like trap, shield-dome, and accelerating trail. At the start of a match, you take turns picking a hero in turn order, which gives some room for tactics.
One of the nice/unusual things is the cold and hunger system. If a hero starts to freeze, his total amount of vitality drops, and if he's hungry, his stamina, which is used to roll, run, and fight in melee, will start to decrease.
To avoid unfortunate situations, we have to get meat from animals and periodically warm ourselves at heat sources. At the same time, tornadoes of different intensity roam around the level. You can see them on the map and from afar. You can try to get past them, and if it's too late - take shelter in a building and wait.
The dynamics of battles is not bad. There are no jetpacks here, but there are several varieties of bows, crossbows, all sorts of homemade weapons for close combat and various firearms. All of them habitually vary in quality level.
Already the project feels good, which can be said for Cycle, which unfortunately isn't much help. Here there are tasks like killing a specific target or sudden airdrops with valuable goods, but most of the activities are reduced to extracting something from the next spot - no trains or power plants.
I really liked the account progression system and it would be great if the developers improve and expand it. I liked the challenging (but I wish it was even more challenging) PvE and justified PvP. Enjoyed the scenery and weather effects, DLSS support, excellent voice acting of the characters who talk to each other like Left 4 Dead characters - essentially, and much and much more.
Even if you omit the sympathy for this kind of setting, Scavengers seemed to me to be a very promising friv game. It has all the makings to take off and build a stable community, but Midwinter Entertainment still has a lot of work to do.