Any simmers who are also survival game fans out there? If so, I thought I'd give this game a rec, to anyone who doesn't already know about it. It's Stranded: Alien Dawn, published by Frontier (who developed Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster) but developed by a smaller studio. I might call it a copy of Rimworld, only not as difficult and without the cannibalism, organ harvesting, and other war crimes, but it has some different (and interesting) mechanics of its own. And, perhaps most importantly, is in very pretty 3D. The 3D makes it sort of Sims-like, in some ways, but it is definitely more of a survival and resource-management game. I bought it a long time ago, when it was still in early access, but just recently decided to play it, since it's in full release now.
The building aspect is more fun in this game than in Rimworld, because it is 3D and, among other things, you can make multi-story buildings. LOL It is the most Sims-like aspect of the game, which is why I think people who like to build in Sims games and who also like survival games might like it. Especially because you can build literally anywhere on the map you're playing on.
Above is a simple little cozy cabin that I built for the two survivors in one of the saves I'm currently playing. They hate each other. I thought they might develop a romantic relationship, since I decided to start this save with just two survivors (the default is to start with four), but nope. Just hate. Still, they're stuck in a little house together, possibly forever, alone on an alien planet (though maybe one day they'll find other survivors to join them) surrounded by wildlife, some of it hostile. LOL
The inside of the cabin looks like this:
You don't need bathrooms or plumbing at all in this game (though you can add it via mods, if you want more realism), so it's just two bedrooms and a common area for cooking, eating, storage, and crafting. It doesn't have electricity quite yet, but it will soon, once I have the stuff I need to build solar panels and batteries and a fueled backup generator.
Oh, and also?
The game has pterosaurs. Purple, featherless ones, but pterosaurs nonetheless. Which launches it straight into the awesome category, in my book. They fly around and scavenge dead critters. The one in the pic is going for that giant dead beetle that my survivors killed. (The enemies in this game are literal and increasingly-large hordes of various kinds of giant insect-like critters. So maybe it's not for the bug-phobic, alas.) But yeah. Pterosaurs. The game also has dogs and other critters that you can tame/domesticate as well as mechs that you can build and use, but I don't have any of those in my saves yet.
Anyway, yeah. I've been playing this lately instead of sims. Sorries! LOL Hope everyone had a nice New Year's.
