Rooted was one of the surprise hits of the Future Games Show held as part of the gamescom 2022. Quickly, comparisons to games like The Last of Us and DayZ emerged on social media and in the media landscape. But how much of these two hits is in the title, and should they fear the new competition?
The survival game Rooted garnered a lot of attention after the gameplay trailer was shown at the Future Games Show.
MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller took a closer look at the known information about Rooted and the comparisons to The Last of Us, DayZ, and The Day Before. Even before the release of Rooted, fans said the competition should worry. But does the competition really need to fear?
Keep in mind that Rooted has not yet been released at this time. We are compiling and evaluating the information that has already been released.
Rooted mixes Survival with Sci-Fi
What kind of game is this?: Rooted is a survival game being developed by Headlight Studios and is set to be released on Steam. A console release is not ruled out by the developers. There is currently no planned release date.
Rooted can be played solo or in cooperative mode with friends. In the latter, however, you must be careful about who or what you shoot, as the Steam page suggests, Friendly Fire could be an issue within the survival game.
This is the backstory: Rooted takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The story is roughly set in the year 2100 and features abandoned ruins and forests alongside sci-fi elements.
These gameplay features Rooted is expected to have:
- Typical survival elements like crafting and base building
- Occupation of abandoned buildings
- Map consisting of forests and an abandoned city
- Focus on PvE, later PvP
- Animals and humans as PvE opponents
- Map events that affect the world of Rooted
On Steam, you can additionally read the following sentence: “Whether made of steel or flesh, choose your opponent wisely!” This statement suggests that there could be opponents made of steel, such as drones or robots, in addition to humans and animals.
Rooted compared to survival giants
These games Rooted was compared to: In the comments on YouTube and social media, comparisons mainly arose with the following three games:
- The Last of Us
- DayZ
- The Day Before
Significant differences from The Last of Us
Animals instead of zombies: The comparison to The Last of Us (TLOU) is notably more sobering than the first glance at the trailer of Rooted might suggest. Although we see a character sneaking through abandoned places and collecting loot in third-person perspective, the gameplay should differ significantly.
Let’s start with the most obvious difference: The world of TLOU is filled with zombies. Those do not exist in Rooted. Your opponents are mainly animals and other humans. While the latter also play a role in Naughty Dog’s successful title, the absence of zombies weighs heavily.
It’s a big difference whether you are attacked by a limping hunk of flesh or a completely healthy bear. On top of that, drones or robots further deny any close resemblance to The Last of Us.
Open world and base building instead of story: Additionally, in Rooted, you wander through an open world where you must survive long-term and build a shelter.
The Last of Us neither offers an open world nor base building. Furthermore, Rooted is expected to be much less story-driven, which can also affect character connection and atmosphere.
If you haven’t seen the launch trailer for the remake of TLOU Part 1 yet, you can catch up here:
Similar setting to The Day Before
Commonalities with The Day Before: Rooted shares some commonalities with The Day Before, as both games are expected to have gameplay elements found in many survival games. These include aspects such as:
- Open world
- Item crafting
- Building construction
Additionally, both Rooted and The Day Before are expected to be playable cooperatively or in multiplayer.
Focus on PvE instead of PvP: An important difference between the two survival titles is the relevance of PvP. While Rooted focuses on PvE and wishes to introduce PvP because of community demand, PvP is a significant part of The Day Before.
Zombies in The Day Before: Similar to The Last of Us, NPC opponents are also a distinguishing criterion between The Day Before and Rooted, and again, it’s about zombies. In short: The Day Before has them, and Rooted does not.
Similar map design: In the trailers and images shown so far, it appears that both games follow a rather similar concept regarding map design. Both titles focus on an abandoned, post-apocalyptic city.
In addition to the abandoned city and buildings, there are also remote locations on the maps of both games that differ from the paved roads and multi-story buildings. For instance, The Day Before showed an off-road track in one video, while Rooted featured some dilapidated buildings in a more wooded landscape.
Possible differences in weapon behavior from DayZ
In DayZ, we see again very obvious differences from Rooted, but also some commonalities that are particularly found in genre-specific gameplay elements:
- Open world
- Item crafting
- Building construction
Abandoned open world: The design of the open world is not entirely unlike. Again, we see a post-apocalyptic scenario in both titles with associated abandoned towns and buildings as well as proximity to forests.
PvP and private servers: A difference is theoretically the importance of PvP and the presence of zombies in DayZ. However, both can be disabled on private servers. Whether DayZ would play like Rooted once it is released remains questionable.
The weapon behavior: One aspect that distinguishes DayZ is expected not to be seen in Rooted: the origin of military simulation.
DayZ originated from a mod of the military simulation ARMA 3. Consequently, the weapons in the survival game feel realistic and are rarely cutting-edge. However, Rooted refers to itself as a sci-fi survival, which also raises the possibility of fighting against robots and drones. If such weapons exist, Rooted could be uninteresting for a large part of the DayZ fanbase.
Summary of commonalities and differences
In the following table, we summarize the possible differences and commonalities between the games described above once more. However, we will only see if they are actually applicable once the game is out.
It is possible that Rooted will have a moving story or realistic weapon behavior, even though there are currently (as of August 2022) no details about this.
Do other survival titles need to fear Rooted?
No, titles like The Last of Us and DayZ do not need to fear Rooted. This is not because the trailer for Rooted could not convince, but rather due to the different player types within their own player base.
The Last of Us: The Last of Us focuses on a very different aspect than Rooted, and the release of the remake of Part 1 will not suffer due to the surprise hit of the Future Games Show. Here, open-world survival and base building stand in contrast to an atmospheric story – two completely different core features.
DayZ: The survival hit DayZ has created its own niche within the genre, focusing mainly on PvP and realistic weapon behavior. Since the release of DayZ, various survival games have hit the market, yet the zombie adventure has remained relevant.
The Day Before: Just like Rooted, The Day Before is also waiting for its release. Since Rooted focuses on PvE and The Day Before primarily on PvP, the two titles are likely to not interfere with each other upon their respective releases, as they target two different player types.
Conclusion: Interesting for survival fans, less so for story enthusiasts
Who is Rooted interesting for? If you like or are interested in DayZ, The Last of Us, and The Day Before because of the zombies, then Rooted will disappoint you – the survival game does without them.
The same goes if you expect a story at the level of The Last of Us. Even if there is a story, the survival gameplay could still take the forefront.
However, if you are looking for a game that combines shooter elements with an abandoned post-apocalyptic area consisting of forests and cities, then Rooted could be interesting for you.
Rooted is aimed at players who enjoy open worlds and try to secure their survival by building their own base or inhabiting abandoned houses.
As you search various buildings and can craft or repair numerous items for this purpose, Rooted likely possesses many features that survival game fans could wish for.
What do you think of Rooted? Do you believe the survival title will be a success, or do you prefer to wait for the full release? Feel free to let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments!
Another survival game that caused a stir at gamescom is Dune: Awakening. You can learn more on MeinMMO.
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