The Wild Eight

The Wild Eight is a survival game featuring isometric perspective, which puts special emphasis on cooperative gameplay for up to eight players. Released for PC and XONE, this is a debut project of a Russian studio 8 Points.

Plot

The Wild Eight tells a story of a group of 8 unrelated persons, whose lives go through a dramatic change in one moment. They become the only survivors of an unexplained plane crash somewhere over the ice-bound Alasca. Easy to guess, the player assumes the role of one of the lucky few and has to team up with other survivors in order to stay alive and find a way back home.

Mechanics

Gameplay mechanics in The Wild Eight for PC and XONE draw inspiration from the multitude of previous works representing the widely popular genre of sandbox survival games, in which players are thrown into a hostile environment with only one mission: survive. Therefore, the game by 8 Points also features such elements as exploration, discovering new secrets, complex crafting system, character development, and combat with mutant animals and other dangers just waiting for the players in the far north. Using resources found in the game’s world you must also build a shelter for the entire group as well as create various tools useful for surviving in this environment where food is scarce and the temperature at night drops to critical levels.

The biggest innovation featured in The Wild Eight is emphasizing teamwork. Up to eight people can play together at the same time, and each character – depending on players’ preferences – can have completely different personality and moral values. As you play, you can never be sure if, when put against the wall, one of your companions won’t turn out to be a ruthless egoist, unwilling to stick out his neck for everyone, rather eager to sacrifice another player for his own gain.

Technical aspects

Released on PC and XONE The Wild Eight features quite characteristic, cartoon-like visuals. Despite its original art style, the creators succeeded in creating evocative atmosphere of the icy-cold regions of Alasca, unreachable for a common man. This, however, is not a big surprise, since members of the studio come from the eastern regions of Syberia – one of the coldest and unique parts of the Earth, where, as the creators say themselves “people eat bears for breakfast, develop games for lunch, and gather firewood for dinner — because electricity is too expensive”.

Last updated on 29 June 2023