DISCLOSURE: This game was reviewed on the following platform: PC! In addition, the game’s in an “Early Access” state, and was reviewed accordingly. – Check out our Review Policy page for more information.
Years ago, everyone’s nightmare consisted of seeing four distinct tags that constantly made its presence known on the Steam store, and I’m not talking about Steam Greenlight, that was a whole different kind of mess. We’re talking early access, survival, open world, and crafting. Today those tags resurface and presents us with Smalland, a survival game where you play as Smallfolk, small soldiers who struggle with finding a cure for the local noblewoman.
Now some rather loud people who happen to be adept with a keyboard have already compared this title to other games like Grounded or Valheim, even going as far as saying that these two entities may have shared a bed with each other one too many times. But we’re not here to put any one of the three next to each other, they’re different games with very different settings, plus there’s also the fact that one of these three is already a finished product.
Regardless, the game has been doing numbers on Steam and it’s only been a week! Let’s see what Smalland has to offer, who knows, maybe it’ll get a spot in your library after all!
Character Customization
When you start a new game, you’re thrown into the character customization screen. You’ll be given a lot of options for customization choices so if you’re the kind who enjoys seeing themselves in the game they’re playing then we’re already off to a great start! For others, you’ll probably just breeze through this once you find out that you’ll be wearing helmets later on.
Tutorial System
After a foreword from King Valdemar you’re finally given free rein to move around the cave system that you and your people live in. In here you can already start gathering resources and talk to wooden owls called Effigies that will go over the basics as you progress through the game’s tutorial phase.
Along with that you’ll also be able to talk to other Smallfolk who will be more than happy to share a bit of dialogue with you. Some of them don’t really have much to say apart from a single line of text but people like Herne will definitely fill you in on what you need to know. It would be wise to talk to as many Smallfolk as you can as they will slowly grow less in numbers the further you head out into the Overland. That and they also provide plenty of information to the story, here’s hoping you like reading.
Right now the only possible issue that you might have with the tutorial is how they don’t really point things out for you. For example, when you gather resources it doesn’t automatically end up in your inventory, instead you have to look down and manually interact with it a second time for it to go to storage. Your mind will be put at ease however once you find out that the game doesn’t really play multiple animations just to harvest a single resource.
Some people might be a fan of this, others might find it inconvenient, but for what it is at the moment it works just fine. You’ll get used to checking your surroundings eventually as you’re never really safe in the first place once you walk out into the open.
Visuals
Speaking of safety let’s talk about graphics, the game is pretty to look at when the sun hits you in the right places. The weather and lighting changes a lot as well from cloudy to downright stormy where you have to shelter yourself from the elements, there’s also small chance of snow depending on the area you’re in.
Naturally the lighting changes along with all of this and it works pretty well with the game’s cartoony aesthetic. It does have a tendency to stutter a few times so be sure to have windowed mode off to have the best experience.
Gameplay
Given that it’s a survival game, you’ll need to manage your health, stamina, nourishment, and temperature levels. There’s plenty of resources to go around so you’ll have no problems with satiating your hunger, it’s a not a post-apocalyptic setting and you’re almost the same size as a golf ball so you’re kinda easy to feed!
Stamina is easy to keep up with as well, it all boils down to not being greedy and being able to back off when you’re in the middle of a fight that you won’t be able to finish. Animations are pretty limited at the moment though, it’s quite easy to notice that your swings don’t really have that much variation to them after you go through a few fights.
Resource gathering is quite easy to do thanks to your spider senses, this can help you spot collectible materials and nearby enemies that will definitely make you feel all sorts of uncomfortable mid-combat. Now that I’ve mentioned resource gathering, let’s take a look at building, crafting, and an overall summary of the progression that the game currently has!
As you break free from the tutorial, the first order of business would be to build a shelter. Word of advice, take the high ground and save yourself from becoming someone’s dinner overnight. You also want to get this done immediately as your other crafting tools will eventually break down if they’re not placed inside of a structure that has a roof on top.
For crafting you only have wooden and crude tools to work with at the start, all of this ties in to the progression of course so your first few hours will be a bit of a slog, but you’ll get more tools and other toys to play with once you plop down a workbench and talk to a few more people for recipes. Eventually travelling will be made easier, food will no longer be a problem so long as you’re not a picky eater, and at the end you won’t even need a mount or a grapple gun to get around the overland! How? That’s for you to find out once you get the game!
Verdict
For what the game has and what the devs plan on adding for spring it’s definitely worth a buy. The world will keep on expanding, more features will get ironed out along with the bugs that may get in the way of gameplay, metaphorically speaking of course. Not bad for a game that has all four Steam tags that can easily make your head spin. If you fancy yourself the Entomologist and have no fear of bugs then Smalland: Survive the Wilds will definitely be right up your alley. Or was it treehouse?
Smalland: Survive The Wilds Review
Summary
Getting lost in the wilderness while fighting creepy crawlies is the closest I’m ever going to get to dealing with them personally in real life! If this is enough to have Smalland double as a horror game then you would be happy to know it that comes with Arachnophobia mode to help combat your fears. Try the game out, see what scares you! Now if you’ll excuse me I have some fumigating to do.
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