Keeping the content coming, this time I had the chance to play Stranded Alien Dawn. Released back in April 2023, I finally managed to get around to playing this Sims like survival mash-up, which offered a fun and challenging take on crash landing on an alien planet and having to start from scratch. This is something that I have often thought about in passing thought, like what if you got stuck on an alien planet with nothing? How hard would it be to survive? Would it even be possible?
I think it is safe to say after playing Stranded Alien Dawn it is a scenery I wouldn’t want to be in. Playing the PC version of the game I couldn’t wait to begin my journey and see if my survives had what it took to survive and hopefully be rescued.
Stranded Alien Dawn is a third-person, open-world, survival sim developed by Haemimont Games. Brave a new world, where you controlled a small group of marooned survivors in this fantastic survival sim. You’ll have to protect your survivors from starvation, hostile enemies, disease, and more.
Build simple camps to complex bases so that your survivors can thrive and fend off the attack of alien creatures. The game throws you straight into the thick of it every time you start a new game, you’ll have a small group of survives that you select, each having strengths and weaknesses that will play a vital part in your survival. You start with nothing and have to prioritise gathering resources so that you can get the basic needs met. Once you have the basics you’ll research, scavenge and survive the elements in the hopes of being saved from the planet you now call home.
I didn’t want to jump straight into the game without playing the tutorial first. This was super helpful as it broke up every individual element and gave you a detailed explanation of how to successfully manage your survives. After my brief training (playing the tutorial), I felt like I was ready to start a new game and see what journey lay ahead.
After selecting a few settings and picking my difficulty, I found my four survives marooned. Straight away, there wasn’t enough time to chat the crew was tasked with gathering resources and getting the lay of the land. After the first in-game day, I managed to get basic shelter and resources for the crew to make them feel somewhat comfortable. However, it was long before one of them was on the verge of a breakdown. The core mechanics come down to base building, farming, resource management, and above all, survival.
I loved the fact that each survivor had their personalities and traits as it made them a key part of your survival and success. Making sure that they are tasked with the things they excel at can be a good starting point for a thriving colony. After a few hours of gameplay and building a stable starting base, the game opens up to enormous possibilities with the ability to research new technologies, build electricity, and even animal husbandry.
I loved the Sims-like base building as one of the key elements for your survives is feeling happy and this can be done by providing them with simple leisure as well as giving them a comfortable place to live. On top of this, I enjoyed farming and taming the wildlife as it made gathering resources a lot easier rather than having to send the crew out to scavenge, they could just gather it locally, keeping them safe from danger.
Combat is Stranded Alien Dawn felt awkward as you had to draft crew members before you can use them to attack. In a pinch, this can be awkward if they are in different locations but it is something you get used to after a few hours in the game.
I like watching combat and seeing all the different alien creatures, I also love how the planet is filled with life and character, it’s fantastic and you can get lost in it. I spent hours base building and gathering resources that it took me a while to realise how in-depth Stranded Alien Dawn goes with hot-air balloon expeditions and late-game content, which I will avoid spoiling. I feel like there is so much that this game offers its players and base building is just a small percentage of it.
Trying to meet the needs of the crew is challenging as they can have breakdowns and fall out with one another. Keeping their happiness up is a challenge as there needs to be a good balance of relaxation and working as well as the crew doing things they love. Not only this but trying to keep them healthy can be hard if they get sick or get wounded in combat. however, these things add to the intensity and make you think through every choice you make before doing it. It is an unforgiving world and the crew is the center of everything.
Graphically Stranded Alien Dawn is beautiful and I loved the level of detail that has gone into bringing these open-world planets to life, from the landscape to the creatures. The soundtrack is also brilliant and is very fitting to the game. I love everything sci-fi and I love alien creatures, even more so when they have awesome designs, I feel that Haemimont Games did a brilliant job at making you realise you’re not on Earth anymore and things are not going to be easy.
There is so much replay potential with Stranded Alien Dawn as there are 34 survivors (Currently) that you can choose from that will make play-throughs feel different due to their skills and traits but on top of that with the random encounters and scenarios the game might feel similar but it won’t always play out the same. It is also something that takes time, researching, crafting, and farming it isn’t something that just comes easy.
So the game does a fantastic job at balancing everything so that you don’t get everything straight off the bat and have to work for it. It’s safe to say that being lost in space as much as it’s daunting and scary could be beautiful under the right circumstances.
Closing Statement
Stranded Alien Dawn is a brilliant take on a survival game that has interesting mechanics as well as satisfying building elements. You also feel that every choice you make has a meaningful and lasting impact on the crew.
I feel like it’s a solid starting point and it will be nice to see what else comes to the game, whether that be in updates or DLC, It will be nice to have more planets and locations. In terms of gameplay, there are many hours available for fans of this style of game, and Stranded Alien Dawn is a good example of how to do the survival/strategy genre correctly, for those reasons I’m giving Stranded Alien Dawn an 8 out of 10.
Stranded: Alien Dawn Trailer
Grab your copy here https://www.strandedaliendawn.com/
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Review based on PC and PS5
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