Darkwood trailer teases impending Early Access scares

Can a top-down game be terrifying? If you're an RTS player, you already know the answer. Breaching a fog-of-war with a small, exploratory force, only to run head-long into a 20-unit Mammoth Tank assault? Pant ruining, let me tell you.

The Darkwood Steam page is already live, and sporting a "Coming Soon!" designation. As usual, the Early Access description explains the scope of this impending initial release. "The current version of the game is very playable," write developers Acid Wizard Studios, "with most of the core features implemented, but a lot of stuff still to come. The game is divided into chapters, and currently you can play through the first one. We're still in development though, so there WILL be bugs, missing features, and a general lack of balance and polish." The developers go on to say that people shouldn't enter the Early Access version if they hate spoilers, bugs, or just want a finalised experience.

Those that do want to jump straight in will find a free-roaming survival horror that blends elements from RPGs, roguelikes and adventure games. Darkwood follows a day/night cycle, with players scavenging and trading by day, and barricading against unknown terrors by night.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.