Tribal survival game Soulmask leaves early access with a new Egypt-themed DLC that's free for the next month

Soulmask: Shifting Sands' in-game visuals — (Image credit: Qooland Games)

A lot has happened in the world of Soulmask in the last week. The survival game where you oversee a tribe of independently minded individuals released out of early access with an update that developer CampFire Studio says represents "a complete reinvention of the game." This launch coincided with the release of an Ancient Egypt-themed DLC that basically doubles the scope of the experience. On top of that, CampFire is offering this DLC completely free to players for the next month. As I said, there's a lot going on.

Let's deal with the free DLC thing first. On its Steam page, CampFire says that "all owners of the full version of Soulmask can get [the] DLC free for the first 1 month." To be clear on how this works, anybody who buys the base game through April will get the Shifting Sands DLC bundled in for free. If you already own Soulmask, launching the game within the next month will automatically add Shifting Sands to your Steam account.

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Soulmask 1.0 Official Trailer - YouTube

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Shifting Sands also introduces several new types of vessel for players to build their mobile base on, ranging from a small wooden boat to a formidable Falcon-class airship, with an even bigger airship coming in the future (CampFire likes airships, apparently).

Whether or not you're interested in the DLC, the base game has received a significant overhaul too. The 1.0 version splits the game into three distinct game modes. There's a traditional survival mode, a "tribe mode" that focuses on expanding your civilisation, and a "warrior mode" that cuts out the core survival systems and makes Soulmask more of an action RPG.

Alongside this, the launch version adds a new tribe development mechanic that lets tribesmen pass on their talents via a building called the training ground, plus a new onboarding system that introduces players to Soulmask's many systems and concepts as you encounter them.

In short, it's about as comprehensive a 1.0 launch as you're likely to see. If you're yet to try Soulmask and are considering picking it up now it's finished, the base game is currently on a 10% launch discount, bringing the price down to $26 (£20). That discount ends April 23.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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