An indie studio from Berlin is currently working on a new survival game on Steam that will let you fight for survival in the Teutoburg Forest. A concept that might work well, but the graphics leave players skeptical.
Which game are we talking about here? Lost Legions is a new survival game on Steam from the indie studio Tarock Interactive, based in Berlin. There is no release date for the game yet, as the developments are still in the pre-alpha phase.
On the official Steam page, it states that Lost Legions is a historical exploration and survival game set in a handcrafted world that you can explore with up to 4 players. It will be played on player-hosted servers.
A first trailer already gives you a glimpse of the setting and the world of Lost Legions, where some might feel at home:
What is behind the concept? In Lost Legions, you take on the role of a Roman soldier fighting for survival in the Teutoburg Forest after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. You are thus located in the year 9 AD in a forest in ancient Germania.
You have the choice between four playable characters, each with their own background. All NPCs in Lost Legions are also supposed to have their own detailed backstories and personalities.
As a legionnaire, you are not surprisingly not well-received in the Teutoburg Forest and lose everything you have due to a German ambush. After that, you must first learn to survive on what the forest offers you. As typical for a survival game, you will need to gather, chop down trees, and hunt to craft your initial weapons, gear, and tools.
Some of the core features of Lost Legions:
- Multiple biomes with different animals, resources, and challenges.
- Fights are based on your equipment and should therefore be carefully prepared.
- You use different weapons with unique attacks, evasion maneuvers, and blocks.
- You build Roman war camps or conquer enemy villages to redesign them according to your vision.
- You receive new recipes from equipment left behind after the battle.
- You can rescue NPCs and recruit them as new legionnaires. You can then send them to gather resources or discover interesting places.
In Lost Legions, you can expect an engaging story about betrayal and the struggle for survival. Topics such as colonialism and imperialism are to be addressed.
“Concept 10/10, Animations 3/10”
What criticism is there? Even though the concept and setting sound quite promising and could certainly work well, there is currently some criticism regarding Lost Legions. Especially under the trailer (via Tarock Interactive and IGN), one reads many comments criticizing the graphics and performance.
Here, the animations are particularly noted, and less the graphics of the environments or characters themselves. The character’s movements are said to look unfinished and not fluid. One user mentions that simply running with the character drops the framerate.
In general, many users simply note that the graphics look unfinished. “Is this pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha material?” asks user Alice.59. Since Lost Legions is indeed in the pre-alpha phase, it is not so unlikely that the graphics can still change and improve significantly.
User seanduncan9722 rates the concept with a 10 out of 10 but the animations only with a 3 out of 10, noting that they urgently need to be revised. In their response, the developers write: “[…] We are in the pre-alpha phase, so there is still a long way to go until release. Fortunately, animations are easier to improve than the concept.”
The developers seem to take the reactions seriously and may work on better animations in the future. Whether and how they succeed in doing so will remain to be seen.
The release of Lost Legions is still a long way off, but you can already look forward to the following games this year: 8 new survival games you can look forward to in 2024
