Abiotic Factor

An extraordinary survival crafting game that combines SCP horror, Half-Life nostalgia, and brilliant design. This is the new genre gold standard.

Introduction

After 78 hours of co-op play through Abiotic Factor's early access, I can confidently say this is one of the best games I've played in years. This is, without question, the best game in its genre. The mix of survival crafting with an SCP-inspired setting, Half-Life aesthetic, and horror elements creates something truly special. You're in an underground research facility where containment failures happen on your first day at the job, and you have to piece the mystery back together through an ever-captivating plot with genuinely masterful voice acting and writing.

Absurd Amounts of Content

Going into this game blind, it's genuinely absurd how much content and depth exists here. Multiple times we thought we were approaching endgame, only to realize we weren't even 20% into it. And this is still early access. As someone who typically isn't into super long games, I never felt exhausted or wanted the game to end. I was happily surprised at every point where a new big area opened up and I knew there was more to experience. Coupled with the captivating story and the amazing setting and mechanics around different areas, I never felt bored or tired for even a second throughout the entire 78 hours.

Progression That Feels Like Christmas

The progression in this game is unrivaled. Between the amazingly creative and absurd item combinations and the joy of getting a new item that unlocks new recipes, it genuinely feels like Christmas morning. I can't remember the last time a game made me this excited about discovering new items. This has to be a result of the genius progression system, where the game rewards you by making your life easier after you've gotten used to some tedious mechanic. It feels like a series of quality-of-life upgrades that keep building on each other.

The Recipe Discovery System

Discovering recipes is a genius simple minigame that perfectly fits the setting. You're a scientist, so when you pick up certain new items, they give you an "idea." This idea is a small minigame where you try to piece together this vague concept by selecting items from a list and putting them in slots until you figure out which items exactly form this recipe. The brilliance is in thinking about which items fit together to make something like a fishing rod when you're using items found in offices and underground facilities. You're not crafting with raw ores or traditional materials, you're combining staplers, desk legs, duct tape, and office supplies to create survival tools. It's absolutely genius and reinforces the game's identity at every turn.

Level Design That Rivals FromSoft

I have never said this before and I don't say this lightly, but this game's level design rivals that of FromSoftware games. The way the game areas connect together and the amount of times you unlock a door and realize how game-changing the shortcut you just unlocked actually is. How many times you feel like you're so far into an area until you push a button and you're suddenly in a very familiar place right around the corner from where you started or where your base is. The level design is just magic. That interconnected world feel where everything loops back in satisfying ways kept me constantly impressed.

Minor Frustrations

There was one area, Manufacturing West, that felt like too much of a difficulty spike. It caused lots of deaths and frustration compared to every other area, which was well balanced for the items we had access to at that point. The enemy AI, especially human enemies, felt lackluster throughout. They don't pose interesting tactical challenges and their behavior patterns are pretty basic.

The leg breaking mechanic became annoying at times. Falls from height break your legs and slow you down significantly. While there are trinkets that help with this, they felt like they should nullify the problem entirely but instead just made it slightly better. There's no way of getting rid of it completely without sacrificing armor sets, which felt like an unnecessary frustration given how vertical some areas are.

Verdict

Abiotic Factor is an extraordinary achievement and the new gold standard for survival crafting games. Deep Field Games did the impossible and made not just one of the best games of 2025, but genuinely one of the best survival crafting games ever created. The captivating story, brilliant progression, genius recipe system, and incredible level design combine into something that transcends its genre. The minor issues with difficulty spikes, AI, and the leg breaking mechanic are just that minor. They don't diminish what is otherwise an essential gaming experience. I genuinely believe that once they iron out these few small things for the 1.0 release, they'll create one of the all-time greats. But honestly, Abiotic Factor is already pretty close to that status. This is a must-play game.