Game Island has released the highly anticipated story-driven survival game, Serum, where you will have to hunt, farm, fight, and create a variety of serums to stay alive in the toxified biomes. The developers also revealed their upcoming plans for the game for those who are interested in playing with friends.
You play as a man named Adam, a father who became a test subject to gather enough money for his ill son’s medical treatments. However, on the final day after your last surgery, you find yourself not waking up in a hospital bed but in the sewers on the ground. You quickly find a radio and make contact with one of the scientists you know. He explains that you are at what they call “Ground Zero,” an old research facility that is mostly abandoned after some experiments went wrong and the area became contaminated with a deadly toxin.
You are immune to the blight for as long as you have the cure running through your body. The surgery they performed on you earlier was to install a timer in your arm, which shows how long you have until you need another dose of the cure. Over the course of the game, you can add different abilities to the serum, which will help you overcome the many challenges you will face. These abilities can be as simple as restoring your health or giving you resistance to certain types of attacks. In comparison, others give you superhuman abilities like a double jump, super strength, or a magical spell that grows thorny vines to ensnare your enemy.
Hunting, farming, and foraging are as much a part of this game as in any other survival game. Unlike the others, however, you don’t harvest animal parts or farm crops for food. All these resources are used to create various serums or as biofuel to power your base.
This base is known as the central node, as it is located in the middle of the test site. Here you can craft new items, recycle any item you find into base resources like metal or cloth, farm a multitude of plants, and cleanse your body from the negative side effects of the serum. This, in turn, also removes all other buffs you gained. Over time, you will upgrade each facility that the base provides to create better gear and serums, or grow more herbs.
The central node is also home to a cable car system connected to all neighboring biomes. You will have to activate it on both sides before you can use it. This isn’t as simple as it sounds, as you require a key card, which is locked behind puzzles and many enemy encounters.
The combat in this game consists of few damage styles, such as slashing and blunt. There are multiple types of ranged and melee weapons to use. The unique twist the game brings to the table is that you can add serums to them. These can add extra damage or status effects when you hit an enemy. The roster of enemies consists of infected humans, bugs, animals, and large boss monsters.
If you want to know what’s in store for the future, the developers have released a short roadmap of what we can expect. Their top priority is to fix any issues the game has and revamp the UI. Additionally, we will also get achievements as well as support for more languages. In the next updates, we can expect combat traps, the third biome which will be the canyon, a dry and arid place that is home to many new challenges and a new boss to fight. Game Island also revealed they will be adding up to 4 player co-op, and it is expected to release with the 2nd major update.
Serum has entered Early Access on Steam.
What are you most excited about the game? Let me know in the comment
