Abiotic Factor puts you in the shoes of a feeble ol’ Black Mesa scientist, right as the experiment had gone wrong. Taking a lot of inspiration from the original Half-Life, this indie survival game is one of the best you can get, and is finally out of Early Access hell.
Developed by Deep Field Games, Abiotic Factor released its 1.0 update on July 22 and is climbing the Steam indie ladder steadily, drawing in players old and new. I’ve played a lot of the game back when it was still in early development stages, and while it was already super interesting then, it’s come a long way since.
Abiotic Factor puts you in the shoes of a Black Mesa-like scientist during a Resonance Cascade-like incident, which saw otherworldly creatures come and invade our own floating space rock to exploit its resources. While not directly set in the Half-Life universe, the similarities are striking, and the developers have not been shy about admitting the source of their inspiration.
On its own, however, Abiotic Factor remains one of the most unique survival crafting experiences out there. You and your friends are stuck in a massive underground research facility and must survive through an alien invasion by doing the usual survival-crafting list of tasks, such as setting up a base, finding food and water, crafting better and better gear, and so on.
You explore a lot of this facility, meet hostile robots and otherworldly creatures, get hunted during the night, and try your best to leave.
When I first played, there weren’t many levels outside of the facility itself, but with 1.0, it now sports a wide range of levels and locations, all of which you must traverse while completing challenging missions. Its 1.0 update also added a ton of additional content, so if there was ever a time to get it, it’s now.
It’s addictive, fun, and has an unforgettable style, mixing into its own formula a lot of Half-Life ingredients that make it all the more familiar. And you cannot tell me you’ve never wondered what it’d be to play as a feeble Black Mesa scientist that isn’t the godlike Gordon Freeman.
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