Smalland:Survive the Wild is a new survival game on PS5 that Merge Games was kind enough to send me a copy to check out. Obviously a special shout out to them for hooking me up.
With that out of the way, there is a bit to cover. You will start out right after your group (of which you are the only survivor) gets attacked by a wasp. Your job is to survive,meet up with other members of your race that have also finally come above ground,and not get bullied by the local wild life.
For starters the game looks great. I loved just taking in the scenery or watching the butterflies go about their day and once followed a lady bug around to see what it would do. (Not much for the record,it’s just a bug) They really paid attention to the little things it seems as when night comes you don’t see too many of the non hostile creatures around because they are replaced with more violent entities, even if it’s just a nocturnal lady bug.a
The sound is another place the game shines at. Hearing a bee fly overhead is surprisingly scary when you are maybe an inch or 2 tall and can ride insects. Storms will occasionally rage in the sky and you need to hide out, because again at that size even a raindrop can be devastating. I remember not long after I started simply sitting in my makeshift leaf house waiting for a stop to pass. This process doesn’t take long,you won’t waste much real time thankfully.
The building is also simple and intuitive,and finding materials is easy since your characters actually have a special ability to help see materials and enemies on the screen. Not that they are hard to find anyway,but it is a nice touch.
Nothing is perfect tho and I feel like the enemies have a weird jump to them. The earlier ants are pretty easy to deal with but it isn’t long before you run into bigger threats like beetles and bees, and to really get into the story of the game you need to traverse through areas you may not be ready for. Bees also hang out around some of the great trees and make leaving your base more challenging than it should be if you aren’t prepared, and you won’t be if you pick the wrong great tree.
None of this takes away from the enjoyment of the game though,in fact for many this will only make it better. This is definitely one of the better survival games on PS5, and a must buy for fans of the genre. 8/10, pick this one up and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 