Dysmantle is a top-down 3D survival RPG developed by 10tons Ltd. The early release of the game is available for purchase on the Steam page for the price of $19.99.
Dysmantle is all about surviving a post-apocalyptic world where your crowbar is your best friend. You start out by leaving a bunker to discover that something disturbing has taken control of the humans and made them into weird looking monsters. You have nothing except your clothes and a crowbar you found. To advance, you need to collect materials to upgrade your equipment and bypass obstacles, whether it be a dresser covering a door, or a monster trying to eat you.
You find a seemingly abandoned camp and light the fire, allowing you to use the chest at the camp to deposit materials. Doing this also allows you to upgrade your equipment. There are several camps and as you advance forward you will run into new ones so you don’t keep having to backtrack to the previous one. This is extremely important when foraging for materials as early on you can’t carry much and will find yourself moving back to the camp to drop them.
According to the developers, about 99% of the world around you is destructible so long as you have the right level for your crowbar. Fight different kinds of monsters, collect their loot and return to the camp to deposit everything in your storage. The more you advance in the game, the more you will upgrade your backpack, allowing you to carry more. That’s not all you can upgrade though! Originally you start out with only a backpack and a crowbar, but as you collect more materials, you can craft various new items and upgrade those as well. These items include, but are not limited to, tools such as throwing knives, machetes, shovels, bandages, a flashlight, lockpicks, etc., and armor.
You can also replenish your items by resting at the fire. Be careful though, as anytime you rest at the fire the enemies will respawn and you will have to kill them again. Though, by that point you will have become much stronger and it should be easier.
My experience in this game has been very fun. I found myself lost with hours of gameplay hacking at the objects around me and upgrading all my tools and weapons. The crafting menu is very comprehensive, with many different paths you can take to enhance your character. With constant demand to upgrade your equipment and discover new aspects of the game, you’ll find yourself hooked playing this game for hours. This early release features so many different activities for you to do that it really qualifies as a full game already, in my opinion.
Within the crafting menu, you can also unlock the ability to gather ingredients for cooking. What I liked about this is that some of these recipes gave my character permanent upgrades. A tomato soup, for example, made from 3 tomatoes, will increase your max health upon use. This made venturing out into the wild and gathering the needed ingredients that much more rewarding.
While this game has a storyline that you will most likely follow and areas that will progressively get unlocked, the map is open-world, and you can explore the area as you see fit and come back to previously discovered locations at any time. There is a lot to do, from hunting game or going fishing, to planting crop and reaping the rewards. Fight progressively stronger opponents that continue to challenge you, and solve the puzzles along the way. You will also NEVER die from hunger!
Despite what people think about how intense survival games can be, this game is actually quite relaxing and fun to play. When you die you just start out from the nearest fire and you can simply return to your death location, marked with your skeleton, to recover your lost items. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and was impressed at how huge the map was and how polished and bug-free the game felt. I definitely recommend this game to those who love survival games but prefer exploring and destroying to maintain a character’s needs.
If you bought this game and played it, please let us know if you liked it in the comments below!
