NEO Scavenger is a turn based isometric roguelite survival sandbox role-playing game.

In the at first bare feet of Philip Kindred, dazing panicked out of a cryogenic facility, the plotline tasks the player, in addition to surviving, with finding their forgotten past and any background on the Michigan wasteland. The menus are unintuitive and a bit of a mess to navigate effectively, but eventually it becomes more or less second nature.

Remarkably detailed sprites represent everything in the game world, including your "paper doll" character avatar. There's really not much else to say about the graphics: it's not a super high tech 3D game. The screenshots should give an idea of how it will look like.

On the sound front, the effects are equally simple: crunchy footsteps when moving on the map, cracking and popping firewood when you get a campfire going. The little slurp sound when consuming water is especially satisfying when you're heavily dehydrated, even if it may only buy you some time in the end. Music is ominous when it does trigger.

You start the game by choosing your character's desired positive skills and negative traits - aside from Unstoppable and Elusive reputations and one surgery, you gain no more skills or traits throughout the game, so choose wisely what you'll stick with on your playthrough. Your character then wakes from a cryo pod, with an imposing and lethal dogman approaching his location. Your abilities and any found items can provide additional responses to encounters and combat, even some which may not be immediately apparent.

Once having escaped from or dealt with the dogman, you're pressured into finding means of regulating your temperature, quenching your hunger and thirst, and any other bodily ailments. Scavenging is a big part of the game, but even bigger is smart scavenging. Moving on the map leaves trails, which get more intense if you decide to run, if you're suffering from certain ailments or if you're pure and simply bleeding. Searching for loot in promissing places is always a tradeoff between the chance of winning something, the risk of being stuck or hurt by collapsing structures, and of making a big enough racket that you get spotted.

Combat is a difficult affair; it's less about striking with the biggest stick than it is about dancing around your enemy and exploiting any vulnerable states while covering your own flank, and exploiting the environment whenever possible. In general, fallen combat entities are at the greatest risk, as they can't do anything but crawl, roll dodge and get up. For a pleasant change from the norm, melee weapons have their own ranges: a crowbar will reach further than your own two fists. Firearms, of course, are even deadlier, but they use hard to find, expensive munition, and are cumbersome to store.

Once combat is resolved, the surviving party needs to tend to their wounds. A fairly in-depth medical system presents itself with bruises and cuts, which may bleed, and demand different types of care. Pain accumulates from multiple wounds or a couple severe ones, like crippled limbs, and too much pain will interfere negatively with all of your activities, culminating in passing out (usually a death sentence in combat). Blood loss remains a concern both in and outside of combat, as penalties to your physical prowess and temperature regulation pile up if you run low, but using dirty rags to bandage wounds is generally a bad idea. In the longer term, immune system strength determines how easily you're able to fight back against things like cholera and infected wounds. The standard survival needs appear too, and they, too, negatively affect your actions if you go too hungry, thirsty, tired, carry too much load, and are too hot/cold.

The game does seem to have an unintrusive overarching plotline, with the first player nudge appearing in the first night: the distant lights, promise and opportunities of the Detroit Mega City. Trudging through marshes and ruined suburbs and high rises, popping pills to keep the pain of fighting under control, setting noise makers when camping to stand a chance at catching trespassers before they do you in, going cannibalistic, random encounters with unfavourable actions and outcomes, are all just some of the things you'll face on your journey to survive in Michigan.

While permadeath remains a staple of modern, indie survival games, it is a bit of a shame to lose the progress of a highly developed plotline to seemingly random deaths. I guess that's what makes this game that little bit more special than the droves of survival sandbox games coming out in recent years: a sense of purpose.

It is a good game with great replayability. Definitely recommended with a small sale.

[h1]Player has begun transformation into a Wendingo.[/h1] [b]NEO Scavenger[/b] is a turn based isometric roguelite survival sandbox role-playing game. In the at first bare feet of Philip Kindred, dazing panicked out of a cryogenic facility, the plotline tasks the player, in addition to surviving, with finding their forgotten past and any background on the Michigan wasteland. The menus are unintuitive and a bit of a mess to navigate effectively, but eventually it becomes more or less second nature. Remarkably detailed sprites represent everything in the game world, including your "paper doll" character avatar. There's really not much else to say about the graphics: it's not a super high tech 3D game. The screenshots should give an idea of how it will look like. On the sound front, the effects are equally simple: crunchy footsteps when moving on the map, cracking and popping firewood when you get a campfire going. The little slurp sound when consuming water is especially satisfying when you're heavily dehydrated, even if it may only buy you some time in the end. Music is ominous when it does trigger. You start the game by choosing your character's desired positive skills and negative traits - aside from Unstoppable and Elusive reputations and one surgery, you gain no more skills or traits throughout the game, so choose wisely what you'll stick with on your playthrough. Your character then wakes from a cryo pod, with an imposing and lethal dogman approaching his location. Your abilities and any found items can provide additional responses to encounters and combat, even some which may not be immediately apparent. Once having escaped from or dealt with the dogman, you're pressured into finding means of regulating your temperature, quenching your hunger and thirst, and any other bodily ailments. Scavenging is a big part of the game, but even bigger is [b]smart[/b] scavenging. Moving on the map leaves trails, which get more intense if you decide to run, if you're suffering from certain ailments or if you're pure and simply bleeding. Searching for loot in promissing places is always a tradeoff between the chance of winning something, the risk of being stuck or hurt by collapsing structures, and of making a big enough racket that you get spotted. Combat is a difficult affair; it's less about striking with the biggest stick than it is about dancing around your enemy and exploiting any vulnerable states while covering your own flank, and exploiting the environment whenever possible. In general, fallen combat entities are at the greatest risk, as they can't do anything but crawl, roll dodge and get up. For a pleasant change from the norm, melee weapons have their own ranges: a crowbar will reach further than your own two fists. Firearms, of course, are even deadlier, but they use hard to find, expensive munition, and are cumbersome to store. Once combat is resolved, the surviving party needs to tend to their wounds. A fairly in-depth medical system presents itself with bruises and cuts, which may bleed, and demand different types of care. Pain accumulates from multiple wounds or a couple severe ones, like crippled limbs, and too much pain will interfere negatively with all of your activities, culminating in passing out (usually a death sentence in combat). Blood loss remains a concern both in and outside of combat, as penalties to your physical prowess and temperature regulation pile up if you run low, but using dirty rags to bandage wounds is generally a bad idea. In the longer term, immune system strength determines how easily you're able to fight back against things like cholera and infected wounds. The standard survival needs appear too, and they, too, negatively affect your actions if you go too hungry, thirsty, tired, carry too much load, and are too hot/cold. The game does seem to have an unintrusive overarching plotline, with the first player nudge appearing in the first night: the distant lights, promise and opportunities of the Detroit Mega City. Trudging through marshes and ruined suburbs and high rises, popping pills to keep the pain of fighting under control, setting noise makers when camping to stand a chance at catching trespassers before they do you in, going cannibalistic, random encounters with unfavourable actions and outcomes, are all just some of the things you'll face on your journey to survive in Michigan. While permadeath remains a staple of modern, indie survival games, it is a bit of a shame to lose the progress of a highly developed plotline to seemingly random deaths. I guess that's what makes this game that little bit more special than the droves of survival sandbox games coming out in recent years: a sense of purpose. It is a good game with great replayability. Definitely recommended with a small sale.