2024 was an incredible year for survival games, and Abiotic Factor was one of them. With a 96% positive rating from nearly 20,000 reviews on Steam, the Half-Life adjacent experience sits alongside Enshrouded, Palworld, and Once Human as one you don’t want to miss. Now’s the perfect time to give it a try with friends too, because there’s a jam-packed new update and sale available for all players.
In Abiotic Factor, you take on the role of a thankless GATE scientist. The megacorp has a secretive network of research facilities all over the globe home to wonders from our world and beyond, and as you might already expect, something has gone terribly wrong at yours. Just like Gordan Freeman’s first day on the job at Black Mesa, anomalies and paranormal entities now roam the halls of the base, so you and your friends definitely don’t want to become their lunch.
Up to six of you choose a PHD, outfit your scientist with all the latest gear, and venture out into the subterranean world. You can craft tools, design weapons, and turn your decaying workplace into a new home to stay alive. This is a survival game after all, and scientists aren’t exactly known for coming out unscathed against alien threats.
Now, developer Deep Field Games has released Abiotic Factor’s Dark Energy update (which shares its name with the final mission of Half-Life 2, if my comparison wasn’t enough), introducing a another region and many more secrets to find. The team doesn’t reveal much about the Reactors area or how you’ll find it, but we do know it houses more enemies, armor, trinkets, weaponry, and deployable gadgetry. There’s the Gatekeepers faction too, who act as the company’s brawn to your brains, so it might not be best to tackle them head-on.
There’s also an extra traveling trader offering up some “odds and ends” for you to purchase, and you can lure them to your base by dropping a unique item there. In fact, all other traders throughout the facility will use this feature, so you can easily find them when you need them most.
You can also discover a few more ways of getting around in the Dark Energy patch. New teleporters can be placed to help you instantly travel between locations, but be warned that these are quite expensive to make. You can also utilize hardlight technology, which can create bridges or even bounce bullets. The long jump pack might be a touch on the dangerous side, but it’ll easily help you cross large gaps.
A new update also means more weapons. There’s the Harpoon Spear at the Hydroplant, which helps you to hit enemies from a distance and bring them in for the kill. You can also snag Exor weaponry, which comes from the “more savage corners” of the game. If you want to get even more dangerous though, there are plenty of military-grade explosives available like a rocket launcher, as well as some sort of black hole grenade. You can also utilize the construction gauntlet to help you with all that weapon engineering.
Abiotic Factor’s Dark Energy update is out now and you can grab the game at 20% off until Tuesday February 11, so expect to pay $19.99 / £16.79 until then. You can find the game here.
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