I have played nearly 200 hours of The Forever Winter since its early access launch in September of last year. Seldom a week has passed, let alone a day, where I have not at one point logged on for a play session or two, barring vacations, holidays, and the like.
Despite this, I’ve refrained from writing about it because it was not yet in a state where I could write a qualified impression. That is, until now. With the launch of the game’s most recent quality-of-life update, I feel now more than at any point in the past six months that my faith in The Forever Winter was well placed.
Image: Fun Dog Studios
Developed by Fun Dog Studios, a Washington-based studio founded by 25 veteran game designers known for their work on titles like Doom Eternal, Hawken, and Horizon Zero Dawn, The Forever Winter is a survival horror extraction shooter set in a post-apocalyptic future. The world is divided into roughly three factions, each competing for precious territory and scant resources on a planet wracked by decades of nuclear devastation and environmental collapse. You’re not part of any of them, however. Instead, you are a scavenger, or “scav,” picking through the detritus of this hellish war-torn future with only one ultimate goal: survival at all costs.
”[The Forever Winter] was largely inspired by the opening scene in Terminator 2 and the future horror scenes in the first Terminator,” Fun Dog Studios CEO Miles Williams told PC Gamer in May of last year. “And of course Animatrix: The Second Renaissance was a big inspiration as well.” The resemblance is plain to see from the moment players log in to the game for the first time. With map names like “Scorched Enclave” and “Elephant Masouleum,” The Forever Winter’s universe feels like a nightmare worthy of Hieronymus Bosch. It’s like playing the interactive equivalent of Phil Tippett’s Mad God.
Players begin in the Innards, an underground bunker that serves as their base of operations. You can choose between six different character classes, each with its own unique skill trees and weapon proficiencies, with the freedom to switch between missions. The missions you take on essentially amount to simple reconnaissance and supply runs. Once you’ve done a few, you’ll get a feel for the game’s core gameplay loop and you’ll have collected some water barrels, one of The Forever Winter’s key currencies, in order to build up your base and attract vendors.
Image: Fun Dog Studios
Another key inspiration behind The Forever Winter’s gameplay loop are real-time strategy games like the original Dawn of War and the Command & Conquer series. This is evident in the game’s “Dynamic Encounter” system, which procedurally spawns enemies throughout the map who move in coordinated groups with their own objectives and goals.
The result is that no two playthroughs are exactly the same, forcing players to strategize which entry points to choose to spawn from, which weapons and items to bring along with them, and moreover, which resources to prioritize bringing back from the battlefield. Add the fact that nearly every map has a randomly triggered “Night Shift” variant, complete with a top-to-bottom cosmetic overhaul and a slew of high-level enemies that are difficult, if not in some instances impossible, to kill and you have a tense moment-to-moment experience that keeps players on their toes and their head on a swivel.
If that sounds nerve-wracking, that’s by design. The Forever Winter is a game that asks players familiar with first- and third-person shooters to partially adopt the mentality of RTS players, weighing the pros and cons of every excursion to play with intentionality while keeping them engaged and challenged throughout. One of the most defining (and divisive) design decisions that plays into this calculated balance between adversity and opportunity is the game’s water system, which, as of this writing, has since been overhauled per The Forever Winter’s latest update.
Prior to the update, water was an important, albeit depreciable, resource in The Forever Winter. Barrels of water could be collected throughout levels or awarded to players upon completion of missions; those barrels could then be used to purchase cosmetic and defensive upgrades around your base. The drawback was that one’s water supply would deplete in-game on a daily basis, even while the player was absent, at a rate of one barrel every 24 hours. While the philosophy behind this mechanic made sense in-universe, it drew the ire of a considerable number of players and divided the fan base. As of this update, the player’s water supply no longer depreciates in real time, but instead is now a currency spent on selecting specific entry points depending on which map you choose. Additionally, the costs for each map change daily, prompting players to strategize when and where they wish to deploy for certain missions.
I’ve played roughly five hours of The Forever Winter since this latest update went into effect, and it has totally shifted how I play the game for the better. No more am I endlessly spamming high-reward missions ad infinitum, because instead I’m weighing the cost versus benefit of each deployment as I accomplish my objectives. No longer am I mowing down indiscriminate waves of enemies only to buy my way back into their good graces with a handful of high-value items — now I’m meticulously choosing which enemies to avoid and which to target while out in the field.
There are three ways to regain your reputation between factions, however: by taking on more missions from that particular faction, selling them items and resources you’ve scavenged during your missions, or eliminating situational opponents while fighting in-game. Maintaining relationships between factions while accomplishing missions to upgrade your characters and base is at the heart of the game’s delicate balancing act. The most effective solution to an enemy encounter is often to simply hold your fire and sneak past while they’re engaged in combat with an opposing faction.
Image: Fun Dog Studios
Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn’t address what in my opinion is one of biggest selling points behind The Forever Winter: the visual design. With a cohort of talented concept artists and character modelers, including veterans like Rael Lyra (South of Midnight) and Kai Lim (Blacklight: Tango Down), the game boasts a stylized yet grounded aesthetic that feels indebted to the inspiration of Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), Tsutomu Nihei (Blame!), Ashley Wood (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker), and Zdzisław Beksiński, each element coalescing into a visual language that feels both recognizable and yet distinct from anything else I’ve played in the past year.
As YouTuber Riloe described it in a video from June of last year, “This is a game for ’90s anime sci-fi dystopian fiction fans to geek out over; this is the OVA in the back corner of the video store; this is the Heavy Metal magazine in the middle of the pile on the bottom shelf of the library.” If that description resonates with you as deeply as it does with me, consider this my enthusiastic recommendation that you play The Forever Winter for yourself.
With that said, The Forever Winter is still in early access, and as such many levels and major mechanics are still in progress. Enemies occasionally spawn within the architecture throughout maps, and gunplay is still being tuned and refined. What the most recent update to the water mechanic has demonstrated to me is that the developers at Fun Dog Studios know how to meaningfully engage with feedback from their player base without compromising the spirit of their core creative vision. I’m thoroughly impressed with what I’ve played so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the game continues to grow and evolve moving forward from here.
The Forever Winter was released Sept. 24, 2024 in early access on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a copy purchased by the author. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
