Death and Survival

Death and Survival is an open world game developed and published by Blackaxe Studios. It is released in 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It was announced at E3 2019 and its open beta's announcement came several months afterwards. Set in a world filled with prehistoric creatures, the game features a plethora of dinosaurs and ancient beasts before time fighting for their survival. It takes cues from ARK: Survival Evolved, World of Warcraft, and several third-person action games to form a large open-world game where players can play as beasts of old in a battle for supremacy.

Plot
In another universe in the far future, Earth has been destroyed but humanity's legacy throughout the stars brought attention to their planet's rich history. Seeking to study what came before the humans, an unknown race of aliens constructed a multitude of small yet hazardous planets filled with creatures from prehistoric times. In these planets do the creatures fight for survival as they are keenly studied by ever-interfering extraterrestrials...

General and Survival
The game is played in a third-person perspective so the players could truly see their creatures in action. As a multiplayer game centered around the freedom of exploration, players can enter a variety of servers which in this game refer to as planets lore-wise. Each server can support at most 300 players with future updates allowing even more players to play simultaneously in a single server. This section will cover both the basics of the game and its main Survival mode.

Before entering the world, players can choose which creature they like to play as. The game has a large roster of beasts players can choose from. Creatures are divided into land and water ones. They are self-explanatory but there are a few creatures from both categories that can thrive on both environments. Despite having a ridiculous gap of small and big creatures, bigger doesn't always mean better here.

When the player enters the game as a creature, the main objective is to survive no matter what. Not every creatures are terrifying, monstrous beasts that act as apex predators. Some are small creatures that thrive under different conditions and some are peaceful herbivores. The latter can be turned into something else however, as the upgrade system states.

The game's upgrade system, known as the Evolution Tree, allows players to enhance their creatures' characteristics depending on their trait. For example, a large carnivore can have its bite force increased while a grazing herbivore can have its feeding capacity and endurance enhanced to stand another day.

Players progress through the Evolution Tree by leveling up. Creatures can level themselves up to Level 100 where they attain the Apex status which signifies their survivability. Remember, not every Apexes here are angry carnivores.

As the player survives the hostile environment day after day, their experience will grow and after leveling up they will gain Evolution Points. These points are used to progress through the Tree and they number the same as the next level they progress to. For example, a T. rex that has leveled up to Level 2 will gain two Evolution Points which it can use to choose whatever option the Tree has to offer.

A player can be considered victorious if he or she is the first one to attain the Apex rank. After winning, the player will be given an option to stay on the server or move to another to start a new career. If the latter is chosen, the creature the player attained Apex with will have the Apex mark on their interface which other players can see. Do know that the Apex rank only applies to the creature the player played as in gaining it.

In the new server, the creature's progress will be reset to Level 1 but the Apex status decorating its interface provides it with a boost in stats depending on how many servers they have attained Apexes in. For example, the creature will have a 5% stat boost if it has gained the rank in one server while those that attained it in four servers will receive 20% stat boost instead. The stats include:


 * Health: The amount of hits a creature can take.


 * Defense: The amount of damage reduction a creature has.


 * Stamina: The creature's extent of doing activities in a period of time.


 * Speed: How fast a creature can move.


 * Attack: How hard a creature can hit a target.


 * Resistance: How resistant is the creature to disadvantages. Upgrading this will immediately affect all resistance stats.
 * Elemental Resistance: The ability to adapt or shrug off incoming effects from the elements or the change in seasons and weathers.
 * Body Resistance: The creatures' resistance to status effects such as bleeding, poison and diseases, and stat reductions.
 * Size: The size of the creature.
 * Small
 * Medium
 * Large
 * Enormous
 * Gigantic
 * Passive: Passive effects that describes the traits of the creatures.
 * Special: A creature's special abilities that help them survive in the environment.

If the player's creature dies, their progress will be reset two levels back unless the creature happens to be in Level 1-10, or in the Beginner stage. When a creature's health goes down to 1% they will be considered mortally injured. In this state, they have an opportunity window of one minute to save themselves by eating their food sources.

If the creature managed to recover 10% of their health they have saved themselves. If they are outright killed before the window expires by their assaulter, then the player will return to the spawn screen with the option to respawn with the same creature but with two less levels or a fresh new creature with two extra levels. In other words, getting killed robs the star creature of two levels but grants those to other creatures they have yet to play. Mortally injured creatures have a brief three-second invincibility to help them out, though. If the killed creature happens to be an Apex, the killer will be branded Apex Killer and gets a 15% stat boost in that server while the Apex loses its rank. Luckily, Apexes don't lose their current level if they're dead.

In Survival, players can also make alliances known as packs (for carnivores) or herds (for herbivores). Different creatures can team-up to get the Apex ranks together as long as their diet is similar. Insectivores and omnivores can join both packs and herds. There can be ten players at most in the groups. The more same creatures there are, the more experience they gain. Unique packs and herds consisting of different creatures of the same diet yield their own rewards in the form of three extra Evolution Points the moment the group grows. When a group wants to settle down and make it clear that they're not messing around, a territorial mark can be formed by either urinating or leaving trails. If all group members die, the area is vulnerable to other groups' taking

Combat is quite dynamic thanks to the many forms of creatures featured in-game. From powerful bruisers with strong muscles, elegant creatures with a weaponized body, to even poisonous creatures capable of killing even the strongest of predators. Each and every creatures in-game differ from each other even by the slightest bit. They are categorized into several classes:
 * Hunter: A class consisting of primarily medium-sized predators with a balanced affinity for hunting down equally large or smaller preys. Some even specialize in killing larger prey.
 * Runner: Despite their name this class' membership does not exclusively include skittish herbivores. In fact, this category also features smaller carnivores in addition to sleeker and more slender creatures.
 * Titan: Large creatures that are both docile and vicious. Consist of tanky creatures with big bodies and great strength. Usually the most intimidating creatures to be seen.
 * Hybrid: They're not good at specializations but they sure can survive many things. Perhaps the most diverse class of all due to its composition of the rest of the dinosaurs and other non-dinosaurs.

Marine creatures are also playable in this game and they still retain their land counterparts' classes, even the Runner. Marine creatures can traverse all forms of watery bodies from seas to rivers at the cost of losing special buffs. That doesn't mean they can't contend with land animals though, as some creatures can adapt in both land and water.

In combat, the wide variety of creatures in this game means that nearly none of them fight the same as another. Herbivores even have their own light in this matter as they have their own ways of defending themselves. And if a player has no mercy, he/she can execute a mortally injured creature. No exceptions, every creature in-game can execute one another in unique ways.

In all the modes in-game, there are a variety of biomes the creatures can spawn in. From the depths of the ocean to deserts and tundras, creatures can freely travel to different biomes to explore more. Disadvantages exist however, as different creatures from different biomes move to other places that are unfamiliar with them. For example, a Mammoth from the tundra biome and colder parts of the world moves to a tropical forest. Due to its lack of tolerance to heat it will receive a debuff in stamina.

Aside from the different biomes, seasons also present challenges to the creatures. As seasons change from dry summer to biting winters, creatures must move from landmass to landmass to find a better living space and food source. Although AI-controlled creatures allow player-controlled creatures to get easy meals for carnivores, competition is still strict as the amount of those AI creatures reduce as time passes by. If creatures stay in their habitat that has changed its season, expect a few disadvantages to follow until the season passes.

Creatures can also find boss creatures and defeat them to gain massive amounts of experience. These bosses roam the harshest of lands and can only be beaten by high level creatures but before they reach Apex. Bosses are unplayable whatsoever. They are present among different locations throughout the World, usually in challenging environments.

In an update, weather effects and diseases are added to present a greater challenge to the game. Diseases were indeed present in the initial build but they're only present in specific creatures. Out of natural causes or wrong dietary options, diseases can occur within creatures and they may even spread. Diseases can be contracted by both AI and player creatures and they can be deadly, especially if some of them are contagious.

As an example, eating the rotten corpse of a creature may cause the eater to be poisoned, lowering all stats and increasing health depletion over time. If a creature happened to contract a new and horrifyingly enhanced version of the bubonic plague, expect nearby creatures to have shorter lifespans. The current list of diseases and natural afflictions available are:


 * Food Poisoning: Mentioned above. Contracted when eating a rotten corpse or dangerous mushrooms for carnivores and herbivores respectively. Increases health depletion over time and decreases health regeneration. It's not contagious but it sure will be the most common killers of greedy creatures. Or unfortunate hungry plant-eaters.


 * Bubonic Death: Legendary killer, times a thousand. This is a rare disease but when it hits an entire ecosystem will hinge on its balance. It can be found in dead organisms but unlike the usual Food Poisoning, a creature doesn't need to eat to get it. Stumbling upon a long-aged corpse in a dank and unhealthy environment will present this threat to any passing creatures. A creature's health and stamina will rapidly when it "explodes" and when it dies the plague will spread upon creatures in the surrounding area. They will suffer the effects and as long as other creatures don't move out of the death wave, nobody survives this. Marine creatures are also lucky, as long as amphibous creatures don't move in to spread it.


 * Jungle Fever: The lush tropical rainforests scattered around the World contain a surprise disease that affects old and young creatures alike as well as those with low resistance. Most creatures who are hit by the fever are those with low stamina at the time and the disease is not a contagious one. It's not lethal on its own, but the lowered stamina and resistance as well as a slight reduction in defense can practically make victims even easier victims for others to prey upon. Cured when a creature moves in to a more stable environment for some time. If afflicted for too long, the creature will be forced down to sleep for quite some time.
 * Drainage: Spread via leeches. Leeches can be easily removed by bigger creatures but their last present is their worst trait. Leeches inject trillions of micro-organisms into the creature's body which slowly but steadily consume the host. The host's stamina will decline in unexpected times, feeding and drinking yields less bonuses, and the host will suffer from the elements more than before. Removed by eating and drinking, a lot.
 * Degeneration: A few creatures in the World can directly afflict this, including playable ones. This affliction considerably weakens the speed, defense, and strength of a creature to expose the victim. Victims will find themselves unable to fend off threats with the same amount of ferocity they had and take more punishment from external sources. It is a deadly affliction but one that lasts for seven seconds depending on the inflictor's might.
 * Heat Stroke: Creatures unable to cope with the intense heat of an environment are subjected to this lethal burning affliction. Stamina depletion is increased as long as this effect persists and the victim naturally expends its stamina at a prolonged rate. Victim begins to take damage when stamina runs out the same time as it knocks out. Desert-adapted creatures are immune to this affliction but those that are adapted to snow will be hit the greatest by this affliction.
 * Hypothermia: Heat Stroke's cold counterpart but with a chilling twist. Creatures afflicted by this will be slowed down no matter what they are while smaller creatures are outright frozen to death if they're not strong enough. Stamina depletes slower but attack goes down, as does defense. Fail to exit the cold place and death is assured.

Purchases
The game has two forms of currencies attained in unique ways. The first one is Death Points (DP) and the second is Survival Points (SP). They act as microtransactions but they are easily gained. Death Points are gained by frequently dying. Face it, a player's creature will die nevertheless. After their deaths players are rewarded DPs according to the original level their creature died at, times a thousand. If an Apex (Level 100) dies, the player will be rewarded 100,000 DPs. Survival Points are gained by surviving, the amount of SPs gained according to how long the player has survived. After surviving for five minutes into the game the player will be rewarded five hundred SPs. Survive for another five minutes and they will gain more SPs and so on. These currencies are used to purchase different things. Death Points are used to purchase skins regardless of what creatures the player has. Survival Points on the other hand are used to buy new creatures themselves. Do not worry, each and every basic creatures in-game has the same cost of 30,000 SPs. Secret creatures are free, though.

Locations
In Survival, the game is set in a small world resembling Earth in a unique state similar to its modern and prehistoric incarnations. For the Alpha and Beta stages of the game, the World is pretty limited until its expansions in further updates leading up to the launch which now ends up with the immersive planet the game has. The World is filled with exotic biomes in both land and sea with their own attractions. From harsh deserts of the Permian, the swamp regions of the Carboniferous, to the lush grasslands of the Eocene.

Despite how relatively big it is, there was a certain location that's inaccessible to players. It's known as the Doom Island and it's the main setting of the Battle Royale mode. Doom Island itself is an entirely different map made for the particular mode. Although so, the second DLC update has allowed players to access a smaller and modified version of it. More maps will be added to the game, and so will new worlds.
 * The World: A planet approximately the size of Mercury, the World is an artificial planet filled with fabricated plant life and a multitude of biomes. Despite its similarities to Earth, the planet logically shouldn't even exist. Oxygen levels are okay for mammals to breathe in but they're high enough to sustain insects to the point they can reach their Carboniferous sizes. A semi-supercontinent lies in the middle with large islands filled with spectacular locations surrounding it. Creatures of prehistoric days roam this world as its creators conduct their twisted survival experiments and no one knows how they built this planet.
 * Doom Island: An isolated island kilometres away north of New Pangaea, Doom Island is a large island of its own and takes the place of the North Pole itself. Defying the laws of nature, Doom Island isn't the exclusive cold region its "predecessor" was but it's still the northernmost point of Earth. The Island simultaneously has four seasons going on for it in four giant parts of the forest. Combine that with the fact that hollow grounds exist beneath the surface with an unknown creature lurking beneath it and Doom Island lives up to its namesake. As it is the World's equivalent of the North Pole, a yet-to-be-revealed island also exists as its South Pole.
 * Void of Darkness: The Void of Darkness is what it exactly is: the deepest point of the World's oceans located at the edge of the world. The Void's depth is so great even water beasts with adapted eyes have trouble seeing things in there. Its pressure is also challenging, capable of instantly killing unprepared creatures within seconds. Oxygen breathers have no hope there and aquatic reptiles and fish will have to stay away from it. Those who managed to survive the pressure and darkness however, will be faced with perhaps the greatest aquatic danger of this planet.
 * The Peak: Despite being shorter than the Everest, the Peak is the highest mountain of the World. Unlike its deep counterpart, the Peak actually sustains quite some life especially creatures of the Ice Age and a good amount of flyers from the Age of Dinosaurs. It is a deathly cold place for common creatures and only resistant beasts can enter it. If the terrifyingly low temperatures aren't enough, thunderstorms are also quite common in the Peak and when they happen, silhouettes of a gigantic bird flash through the dark skies.

Game Modes
Aside from Survival, there are other game modes to keep players entertain. These game modes obviously take place in other planets / servers and they can be set according to the host's will. Each and every one of these game modes yield at least a single secret reward in the form of creatures or skins. Marine modes available for most modes.
 * Battle Royale: A unique spin on the popular genre. This mode invites 100 players to play as certain dinosaurs with sizeable bodies depending on the server settings (small, medium, large) in a battle to the death. Due to the mode's nature a few herbivores are unfortunately unplayable in this mode. Unlike Survival's setting in a small planet, this one takes place in an island normally inaccessible by players in the main game. Players start at Level 10 in this mode and when they die they can respawn. The game's main objective is to get as many points as possible by killing others. After a while, fossilized beacons will spawn in advertised locations and players must race to attain it in order to get bonus points for several seconds before the mode's time expires. The player with the most points win. There is absolutely no team-based combat here and players have to fight for themselves. Marine version available.
 * Deathmatch: Assemble a team composed of creatures of all sizes and diets to compete against other groups to attain victory. This mode is similar to Survival but with more competition in it. The main objective of this mode is to reach the endgame by eliminating all other groups via raiding and constantly evolving. Creatures get twice the experience here and all of them are playable. Even the smallest creature can be a benefit to a group. A dead player cannot respawn but they can support their team by utilizing the observation camera. With this, dead teammates can communicate with the surviving teammates via in-game text chat or third-party voice chat to identify incoming hostiles and other tactical info. The last group standing will face the final boss of the mode down to the last man.
 * Sandbox: Not exactly a mode, but players can enter this server to create their own world. Obviously it's not the size of Earth but it can be set according to the player. The server's host will be able to create and set their own worlds with different landmasses, biomes, and seasonal changes. After completing it the player can upload it to his / her own server (completely free), available for other players to play in. Only for Survival and Deathmatch.
 * Undead Hunt: This mode plays similar to Battle Royale, but with the fact that there is one zombified creature. The zombie can take form of anything the player choose to become. The zombie has a 200% stat boost and the boost will be split between the amount of zombies present in the server. That means two zombies in the server will each have 100% stat boosts and so on. The zombie may be impossible to kill by the other players but they are still mortal. The zombies periodically lose a certain amount of health and they can die out of "starvation". They are also not immune to disadvantages such as being slowed and even poison. Players have to wait out for their deaths or outright kill them for five times before the zombie turns everyone into its own kind. After wasting each zombies' spawns (five) the living creatures will be crowned victors and awarded the undead skin for whichever creature they played as.
 * Tournament: With their own unique and different game modes, tournaments offer new and old players various events that refresh and extend the game's life with a good amount of rewards and new features. More will be added to this section.

Creatures
For the complete list of playable creatures, see the links leading to the classes of the game: For bosses and other unplayable creatures, click on this link to view them.
 * /Hunters/
 * /Runners/
 * /Titans/
 * /Hybrids/

DLC Content
Periodically, extra contents that can be downloaded will be available for the game's players. Both paid and free ones will be added in the future and they consist of many things from new maps to new creatures. For more on this, click on this link.

Poll
What do you think of this game? Cool! Okay, I guess? Heh. Which class would you play as? Hunter Runner Titan Hybrid