Final Fantasy XV vs The Survivalists
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV is the latest installment of the main Final Fantasy franchise. In this game, you get to play as Crown Prince Noctis as he embarks on a road trip across gorgeous landscapes and bustling towns in the fictional world of Eos to reclaim his homeland from the grasps of an eternal foe. With a group of colorful characters-slash-friends in a pretty cool- yet expensive-looking car, you'll get to explore every inch of the incredible open world. But of course, you can also alight from the vehicle to walk instead. Similar to previous games, Final Fantasy XV features thrilling, action-based combat that allows you to channel the power of your ancestors as you hack and slash your way through throngs of enemies with your companions by your side. There are also magic and team-based attacks that you can employ in your battles.The game has a rather differnent feel and tone to it this time around, but it still retains the epic-ness that makes it a worthy sequel in the Final Fantasy franchise. The game is currently available on consoles, but for PC gamers, you might still need to wait a while before you can get it on Steam.
The Survivalists
The Survivalists is a survival-themed adventure game focusing on exploring a vast archipelago filled with hidden secrets and treasures as well as mysterious temples and dangerous terrains. The goal here is not only to make a life for yourself by recruiting and training the local monkeys to help with your many mundane chores, but to find a way to crack the mystery shrouding the archipelago and possibly find a way to finally escape!The Survivalists has a sandbox-style, survival-themed gameplay, which means that you’re expected to gather plenty of resources from the environment, use them to build a base of operations… or even multiple outposts and bases… and make sure you’ve got plenty of protection ready for when the local hostile tribesmen attack you, which they do from time to time.
The map here is simply amazing and if you just love exploring, you’ll find the island-hopping experience here pretty satisfying… that is once you’ve got your raft built. Of course, being set in the tropics, there isn’t a whole lot of different biomes to discover, though there are volcanic and swampy areas that are more dangerous than the normal terrain. Even the sea contains dangers and you’ll do well to avoid the ravenous sharks that are looking for an easy meal.
The best and most interesting part about The Survivalists that really help it stands out from all the other generic sandbox survival games is the fact that you can “recruit” monkeys on the island to help you with any mundane tasks. This encompasses all tasks that can be easily replicated by the monkeys. After all, monkey see, monkey do!
That being said, training your monkeys is, unfortunately, also the most frustrating part of the game. Unlike games with macros, you can’t really save the tasks you’ve taught your monkey as general macros that you can then use whenever you need the same tasks done sometime in the future. Instead, every time you need your monkeys to do something, you’ll have to teach it all over again… which frankly speaking is very annoying.
All in all, The Survivalists is as addictively fun as it looks. Being a survival-themed sandbox adventure, there is plenty of stuff you can craft, items to gather, loyal monkeys to train, and bases to set up as you slowly and steadily explore every inch of the massive archipelago. However, the game isn’t without its flaws and I personally think that the game could have made the monkey-training part a bit more convenient and less annoying for the player.