It’s probably not fair to either game to invoke No Man’s Sky when talking about upcoming sci-fi survival offering The Solus Project [official site], but both the reddish-pink colour palette and the heavy use of tricorders (let’s not kid ourselves, eh?) does put me in mind of Hello Games’ newbie. The Solus Project is billed as a survival game, but more in the classical sense than the newer DayZ, Rust etc one. Devs Teotl Studios – who you may know from The Ball – and Grip – of Unmechanical fame – are at pains to point out it’s not a sandbox jobbie. It’s a singleplayer, linear game in which you will be attacked not by creatures, but by a hostile environment, as well has having to deal with hunger and thirst. Man, that’s easy: eat fingers, drink wee. Survivalists these days, honestly – no backbone, that’s their problem.
Waves is a splendid game. I first encountered it at the Eurogamer Expo back when I was an RPS baby, and its frantic twinstick shooting and shimmering screen of colours immediately coaxed me into a spaced-out bliss zone. Last year, one-person dev studio Rob Hale launched a Kickstarter to fund a sequel, Waves: Arena Tactics. That didn’t work out quite as intended but Hale reckons that’s all for the best and has now released Waves [official site] into Early Access. You can see it in action below.