Mist Survival is a single-player zombie-lite survival game currently in Early Access. It is also the best game I have played of this variety. (It has an issue with pants, but that’s another tale entirely.)
If you have spent any time playing zombie survival games, or even survival games in general, you probably know what to expect as far as the level of detail and design: nondescript rubbish littered about, murky low-textured walls and assets, interactive items that stick out from the rest of the game’s assets like a sore canned-peach thumb.
But Mist Survival bucks this trend by offering a surprising level of detail — not only in the look of the in-game assets, but their placement as well. It feels more like what you’d expect from a bigger budget game like The Last of Us rather than from a game in the same lane as DayZ.
And although a lot of these assets might have come from an asset pack rather than being built from scratch (I don’t know definitively either way), it’s their implementation that stands out here. Even in its smallest details, such as an empty water bottle or crumpled up piece of paper, the detritus in Mist Survival feels genuine and area-specific.
On top of that, the interior decorating in houses isn’t just drab drapes or a plain wooden kitchen table or a crumpled clothing article.
No, the pictures on the wall seem to follow some sort of a motif or color scheme specific to each house. Some of these do repeat, of course, but the sheer amount of variety here is pretty impressive. Perhaps this is partially to do with the game being set in a rural area, with a the lack of the house clusters you’d find in an urban or suburban environment. This probably makes this feat easier to achieve but no less impressive and noteworthy.
The trash that litters the game world makes sense in its placement. The magazine covers are appropriate and for the most part quite legible. So are the spines on the books lining shelves (though the quantity in variation leaves a little to be desired). Heck, you can read the labels on random paint cans, labels on wooden beer crates, and labels on food and health items. So many items!
Just look at this pool table!
And look at this gaming nook!
This playground feels designed, and every piece of equipment is accurate in scale and placement, perfectly spaced apart.
I dare you to tell me this is not exactly what those dimestore, Cub food checkout crossword puzzle books look like. I double dog dare you! You can’t! Look at it!
And check out these pictures!
I wouldn’t necessarily hang this assortment of pictures in my own home, but you know people do it, and these people did it, and I buy it!
