I thought this sci-fi mystery looked cool, but my interest dropped when I realized it’s another multiplayer survival-crafting game

The story teaser for Blind Descent seemed intriguing. It’s presented as a log from a scientist on Mars whose communications are being blocked by alien technology. He’s discovered a whole lost world under the surface of the planet, finding his way through the red vines that blocked his progress after being infected by a mutation-causing plant.

If you’re the kind of person who hates it when a scientist just straight-up touches alien stuff I can see that sending you spare, but otherwise it’s an atmospheric intro to a mysterious sci-fi game. And then I went to the store page and found out it’s a multiplayer co-op survival game with crafting in it.

There’s a screenshot showing a crafting menu where someone can combine stone and wood to make arrows and a stone dagger. The amount of fatigue this gave me is absurd. I know there’s a huge audience for this stuff out there, but I have no idea why. I feel like I got my fill with Don’t Starve and every one of these since has seemed less essential than the one before.

Then there’s the fact it’s another four-player co-op game. I haven’t been able to get my friends together to play our Daggerheart campaign for weeks—the odds of convincing three adult humans to buy another early access survival game are slim to none. The store page says you can play solo or with friends, but I’m pressing the doubt button on whether that’ll actually be fun. I stupidly played Abiotic Factor on my own and had a much worse time than my pals who played it together. I’m sure it’ll possible to go it alone, but I don’t think I’d enjoy it.

Anyway, if you are one of the thumptysquillion people with a bottomless appetite for this kind of thing, Blind Descent promises its symbiosis system—through which the alien ecosystem reacts to your fiddling with it—makes it unique. You can check it out on Steam when it launches into early access this year.