It’s with some anticipation (and some nervousness) that I’m waiting to get stepped on by a weird robot in The Forever Winter. If you missed its announcement back in May, The Forever Winter is a co-op extraction shooter set in a bleak future where you struggle to survive in the midst of an endless hyperindustrial war. Since that reveal, developers Fun Dog Studios have mostly been sending out short “burst transmissions”—essentially footage from the front lines of hell—like this patriotic decapitation and a few panicked shootouts. But today, they’ve made a longer video revealing an Early Access release date. And—oh!—it’s pretty close.
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The game will hit Early Access on September 24, according to the developers, with four maps, a bunch of weapons, and five “ramshackle characters, each with their own baggage and playstyle.” That “baggage” can be both metaphorical and literal, as one of the game’s features involves having to strap an unwieldy modular backpack, called a “rig,” to your body before venturing into the killzone. Think Death Stranding’s courier backpack, but equipped with jump jets, or filled with deployable turrets instead of cold pizza.
I've seen this game described as a “PvEvE” shooter, where enemy factions wage war on each other while you scavenge for cash. The general idea is that you're a fragile little bag of flesh in an over-the-top mechanical conflict, and it's often better to avoid patrols and let the enemy machines fight than to engage in combat yourself. There was a beta recently, and YouTuber “Riloe” made a very exciting video explaining the general premise and inspirations of the game. It was enough to get me digging into the game's Discord, where I first saw people getting very excited about the leggy robot they now call “Mama Harvester.”
Anyway, the video above shows creative director Miles Williams speaking to us from behind the cyber-helmet of a human scavenger. He lays out some promises about what the game's early access period will look like, largely by addressing common player complaints. The game is set to cost $30, and he wants to make sure you understand that there will be no pay-to-win shenanigans after that purchase.
“You’ll never be 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 nickel and dime bullshit is for the birds.”
That said, the game will continue to sell cosmetics and skin packs for extra money, so it's not quite an old-school approach. While the studio head 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 have to sell face paint, I guess that's what they're saying. Fair enough.
Williams also laid out a roadmap for future elements like new enemy bosses and upcoming levels. Early Access will include an additional gray box (essentially a “work in progress” map) in addition to its four main maps. This allows willing players to participate in testing the battlefield, the developer explains, and is partly inspired by another extraction shooter.
“We really respect what our mates did with Ready Or Not,” Williams says. “Having the courage to release grey box cards in their card line was incredible. So we’re taking a page from them.”
So yeah, it looks cool. I've been watching The Forever Winter's progress with hopeful interest over the last few months. There's something about big robots being horrible that appeals to my Animatrix-addled brain. I'll have more to write about its war-torn loot zones soon. Until then, enjoy an hour of ambient harvesting mommy.