Klei's next game will make a side-scrolling survival crafter out of Oxygen Not Included's detailed fluid and heat physics
Oxygen Not Included by way of Noita, kind of. (Oxygen Noita Included?)
The world of Oxygen Not Included is getting a little bigger, with developer Klei announcing Away Team, a side-scrolling survival crafting platformer and exploration game starring an adorable little Duplicant who gets separated from the rest of their colony.
The announcement came alongside a trailer showing off some signature cute animation shorts of a lone Duplicant accidentally going to space on their own alongside gameplay of the dupe hopping around, building a base, and sucking up materials to survive with their signature vacuum... gun... thing.
It'll turn the game's signature simulation of temperature, convection, and the states of matter into a more hands-on experience, as you'll have no one to blame but yourself when you overheat the world and evaporate all the drinkable water into scorching mist. The building seems a little more relaxed than standard Oxygen Not Included, though: Not everything's locked to a grid, and there are images of diagonal ducts, pipes, and wires.
"Water flows and evaporates, fire requires oxygen to burn, and every tile simulates thermal capacity and conductivity. Use the simulation to your advantage to build a dynamic base, or ignore it at your peril," says Klei's description. "Oh, and maybe a little oxygen is included."
Still, the core of what makes ONI so interesting is definitely here. There's gases mixing, liquids dripping and spraying, and combustibles, uh, combusting. Violently. And with terrible effect as a desperate little duplicant sprays water at the onrushing fire in a desperate attempt to survive.
Which is all to say that this looks a lot like a Klei survival game in the vein of Don't Starve because I'm sure this thing is just going to be outright, brutally unforgiving at times.
The announcement was made as part of Klei Fest 2025, which is happening right now on Steam in case you'd like sales on Klei games.
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You can find Away Team on Steam, where it doesn't yet have a release date.
If you're interested in more, Klei streamed Away Team on its Twitch account last week.
Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.
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