Expedition Zero Preview: It's Cold Out

At first I was afraid, I was petrified. But then about an hour later, I realised I’d survive the Expedition Zero demo, I would survive. Oh yeah. For a preview/demo, I was impressed by how many hours I ended up playing.

From Enigmatic Machines (there’s something… about them), and article favourite, tinyBuild, comes a first-person survival horror set in Siberia. You’re the idiot that heads into a no-go zone where a research team for a top-secret military project has gone missing. That’s always ominous in a situation like this, and given the 50m wall surrounding the area… well, this isn’t going to end well.

As the game opened, impressions were good. The visuals were nice (epic settings), good voice acting, and a naff pixelated font. From a first-person perspective, you sway about your surroundings, looking for a few clues on what to do. Pressing tab will bring up the inventory and objectives in case you get stuck. This is mainly for controls as the goal of ‘Destroy Plague’ was pretty vague. So, best wander about and work it out.

After scoping the area, I hopped on my snowmobile – a fast travel device, you can’t control it – and headed to ‘the wall’. The aim was to get from the entry point to a little Zoltar (Big reference) clairvoyant type who sets the task of constructing a headlight and returning evidence of anomalies in the area. But before you get there, you have to avoid some spotlights.

Though there’s no sign of life in Expedition Zero, finding yourself in the light will reward you with a double-tap to the sternum: you get gunned down in two shots. Without any on-the-spot saving options, you have to rely on autosave, and this would frequently place my hero under the spotlights, resulting in a swift death. This was incredibly dumb, and I anticipated a Christian Bale impression and, erm… bailing. Yeah, it doesn’t work, does it? Anyway, after a few attempts, I spoke with that Zoltar chap then returned to my base to do some MacGuyver shit.

Back at the digs, you can salvage parts from old electronic components and reuse them in these super-duper 3D printers, pending you have a point and click favourite – a crowbar. To cut a long story short, I didn’t realise until later that you can recycle the bits and pieces you find to make the necessary components to build equipment. The gear I crafted included an exoskeleton for carrying more weight and being a bit swifter, batteries, a recuperator, a heat harness and extended storage, among others.

That means dick if you haven’t played the game.

In context, Expedition Zero blesses you with health and stamina for dashing about, batteries to operate your flashlight and exoskeleton, plus there are your heat levels. If geography is new to you, Siberia is cold. Freezing cold. If you stay out long enough, you’ll freeze to death, and health restoration options are scarce at first. You can burn wood or chop some logs to keep you going to counter the cold. As for the batteries, they can be recharged from power stations, as well as your vehicle.

So, nobody manning the spotlights, and zero – ha, ‘zero’ – Expedition Zero… ok. Nobody manning the spotlights and abandoned camps give the impression that the survival element is about keeping warm. Wrong. There be zombies in dem hills, and a shot to the face with a bolt action rifle saves the day, but melee attacks are way better. There are even glitchy demon-like things jumping from tree to tree. That was really cool.

And that’s when I realised that Expedition Zero is great. I’m not a fan of horror games or skinflint survival games where you’re sniffing for bullets. The latter was, in fact, all over the place and ignoring those glitchy bitches; the ammo wasn’t needed. The fun came from sourcing components without freezing to death then balancing load-outs for optimal survival. Is this one to watch? I think so, and the exclusive demo I received isn’t so exclusive as you can grab a copy for yourself on Steam now. Download it and let me know what you think. If you want.