The Front, a post-apocalyptic crafting shooter from developer and publisher Samar Studio, will officially launch into Early Access on October 11th, 2023. It will be available on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
According to the official Steam page, The Front is expected to remain in Early Access for “approximately 12 months”. Later on, the full version would introduce more content, improve performance, and even add modding options. You can watch today’s Early Access announcement trailer on The Front’s official YouTube channel:
The Front largely resembles many other games in this genre, both conceptually and visually. As a result, it’s going to have an uphill battle to win over fans of the genre. It primarily aims to distinguish itself with a sandbox tower defense experience combined with crafting and other essentials.
However, games like Meet Your Maker offer a much sharper angle for players who want a blend of shooting and base-building. It’s a stylized, slick game with responsive controls and a more inventive world than traditional post-apocalyptic fare. You can read our full review of Meet Your Maker for more details.
The MMO elements of The Front have the typical disadvantages and highlights. The graphics have suffered for this approach, but the devs have clearly aimed for incredible scope. And it does have a couple of interesting hooks, namely the NPCs and logical circuits.
Players will need to manage electrical systems to create automation and the like, which is a pretty neat twist that’s rarely found in this genre. Also, players will be able to “capture NPCs that assist the player in combat.” This should definitely make the world feel more immersive and strategic since the NPCs will be unique.
Hopefully, these types of finer mechanics will influence the larger features enough to give The Front a world of its own that feels lived-in and worthwhile.
You can read more about The Front, Samar Studio, and other upcoming indies by checking out the rest of our news section.
