It's a brutal, turn-based Rogue-like game with no save points and no mercy.

I still haven't survived longer than a few hours before I die from a traumatic head wound or massive internal bleeding. Like some nightmare version of Groundhog's Day, I start over again every time, awakening from my cryogenic slumber into a post-apocalyptic world filled with nightmarish creatures and anarchy.

And I love it.

NEO Scavenger by Blue Bottle Games, available on Steam, is a post-apocalyptic survival game reminiscent of the early Fallout games. You wake up in nothing more than a hospital gown, a wrist strap with your name on it, a mysterious bronze necklace around your neck, and a fierce Dogman about to eat you.

After defeating the Dogman, you go outside the Cryo facility and walk around, scavenging whatever you can from the landscape. And then you die from hypothermia before you make it 10 squares away.

Game over.

This time, you find some clothing first. But now you're thirsty, and there's a spring right over there with plenty of water. And then you die from diarrhea.

Game over.

This time, you find some clothing first, find a tin can or a cooking pot to boil the water in, and you happily start scavenging for loot from the nearby abandoned homes. Ooh look, you found a rifle. No bullets though. Ah, who is this person approaching? Then you die from massive internal bleeding from being stabbed in the gut with a primitive wooden spear. (Don't worry, the game is largely text-based, so there are no graphic depictions of violence.)

Game over.

59 hours in, and I'm nowhere even close to surviving. I've only just recently made it to the point where I figured out what I used to do for a living before whatever cataclysmic event destroyed what is apparently the Detroit, MI area.

59 hours in, and I'm nowhere even close to putting the game down.

You can find NEO Scavenger on Steam or Blue Bottle Game's website

---

---