Abiotic Factor Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, GeForce Now, & PC)

With a name like Abiotic Factor, it makes you wonder what the story and gameplay might be about. Certainly something to do with sci-fi aberrations. Well, the premise doesn’t disappoint expectations. It’s your first day on the job at a scientific research facility. Suddenly, a containment breach causes you and up to five friends to be trapped underground. You’re forced to survive the paranormal and chaos from otherworldly figures. Portals appear out of nowhere, unleashing monsters and strange phenomena. Could your first day on the job get any worse? 

Some of you may have already had the pleasure of enjoying Abiotic Factor. It has been in Early Access for a year now. And throughout, Deep Field Games has been adding more engaging content. This has certainly been one of the most successful Early Access games. And past launch day, it just might be one of the best survival horror games out there. But what exactly does the story and gameplay entail? Is the playthrough worth it for you and your friends? Well, let’s dive deep into our Abiotic Factor to find out. 

Right Place, Wrong Time

Abiotic Factor begins with a particularly dumb security guard showing you around the GATE research facility. This is a parent organization with branches worldwide. So, you’re pretty excited to potentially become a part of something bigger than yourself. The somewhat outdated visuals may put some of you off. But they do have a peculiar charm about them. I promise, you do get used to them. Plus, onward into the research facility, you pinpoint close similarities to SCP themes. Fans of the paranormal and anomalous entities genre will certainly appreciate the dip into nostalgia. 

Things quickly click into place when the security guard runs off. Apparently, something is amiss. The doors shut, and you and your friends are trapped underground. This then triggers the main goal of Abiotic Factor. You’re tasked with exploring the facility, looking for an escape to the surface. However, this takes a while, leading to your chosen character requiring sustenance. You know, the normal food and water requirements every human needs to survive. Yet, Abiotic Factor has its quirks about survival gameplay. 

You don’t just feed and “water” your character. They also require sleep and, uhm, toilet needs. And the way you fulfill these requirements is via a fun, little minigame. For sleep, you’re playing a 2D sidescrolling platforming game, nothing too complicated. It’s just the right amount of challenge to seldom grow boring. And when you beat the game, your character will wake up well-rested. As for relieving themselves, you’ll need to empty your bowels and bladder at select facilities. Otherwise, your character will soil themselves and walk around all smelly. 

Funny and Scary

You’ll certainly get your fair share of laughs at some of the “accidents” that happen. In fact, Abiotic Factor has a clever way of infusing humor in a relatively scary situation. Some of the encounters with enemies can be pretty intense, while the portals can lead to some horrific places. But hey, one step at a time. You’ll want to prepare effectively for danger. So, you’ll often head out into the unknown, collecting useful resources. 

These can be anything, from office supplies to leftovers. Your food will come from the most unexpected places, whether shaking vending machines or cooking captured aliens, never mind the potential radiation. Over time, your collectibles will grow more “creative.” You’ll be able to craft all sorts of sci-fi gadgets to be used as weapons. You can increase your strength to haul fridges back to headquarters, and thus increase the shelf life of your food. 

Abiotic Factor has more depth than is immediately apparent. And most of it comes from the diversity of characters and weapons. At the start, you choose from six scientists, each “abled” in their own unique ways. Some have proficiency in cooking, others in building stuff. But the quirks go deeper, say, dry skin, and thus “losing water” quickly. Or asthma, and thus growing tired quickly. For negatives like these, you gain points you can use on more positive attributes. 

In Your Image

I presume most players will create characters who take after themselves. While it works just as any other strategy, you’ll quickly realize that Abiotic Factor has plenty of room to experiment. You’ll often return to tweak your character’s attributes, and in turn, enjoy a more dynamic playthrough. The overall strategy, though, would be to balance your strengths and weaknesses among your teammates. So, as one excels in brute force, fending off assailants, the other can focus on farming or cooking. 

And therein lies the beauty of multiplayer. Sure, you can venture into Abiotic Factor solo. However, the most fun lies in teaming up. You’ll find the maps are expansive enough to split up and explore fresh discoveries. The maps are diverse, too, enough to sustain each player fulfilling distinct roles. And when facing hordes of enemies, you can then band together to take them down. Back at base, it’s fun to design and decorate. You can design cooking and crafting stations, sleeping areas, and even a hangout space. Throw in some couches, and you can save stamina seated, chatting about your current supplies and carving out strategies. 

What Abiotic Factor basically tells you is bring your friends, and we’ll sort out the rest. And indeed they have, providing you with a fulfilling playthrough for every login. Any time you go out to explore the numerous rooms and floors of the containment facility, you run into interesting and strange phenomena. You always have something to bring back to base, however random, that you can craft into more useful equipment and gadgets. The crafting has a simple minigame as well, proving the process more engaging than usual. 

The Unknown

Something else lies out there, through the portals that appear out of nowhere. And as objectives grow more complex, you’ll have to go out and investigate. Each portal leads to a mysterious place, which I won’t spoil here. Simply Half-Life level designs that seldom fail to surprise you. And the enemies and resources you’ll find are a new, crazy bunch, constantly respawning and regenerating. No matter where the portals lead you, though, you always have to return to base as soon as you can. You don’t want to be caught out there having run out of stamina, thirsting, or hungry. Worse? Without enough ammunition or weapons to take on the worst kind of aliens. 

So, it’s grand that returning to base is made simple via interconnected portals. Every new world you discover can be traced back to base via a new, shorter pathway. This helps with backtracking as well, since you’ll often be forced to retreat when you haven’t fully explored an area. This is where Abiotic Factor’s Metroidvania concept comes in. As you discover new areas, you unlock new weapons and abilities. And in turn, these help you conquer other new areas. Worth mentioning, also, is that progression comes naturally. As long as you do things, you’ll progress. However, it’s more reliant on the specific activity. So, if you carry a lot of heavy stuff, you’ll grow stronger. If you sneak around, you’ll get better at stealth, and so on. 

Verdict

Listen, Abiotic Factor is loads of fun, solo, but more so with friends. You’ll put in so many hours and still only barely scratch the surface of all it has to offer. Better? You’ll want to head back in to explore anything you might have missed. It’s simply that entertaining, thanks to the labor of love Deep Field Games has evidently put into it. Since the story and setting are woven around a mix of the real world and strange paranormal phenomena, it paves the way for exploration and combat to go beyond the normal. 

As such, you’ll jump between portals leading to mysterious and alien worlds, where distinct enemies and resources lie. You can’t spend too much time in them, though, however intriguing, because of the need to replenish stamina, food, water, and rest. And the survival mechanics are, dare I say, fun. Sustaining your scientist’s wellbeing involves engaging minigames, coming up with unexpected solutions like alien meat, and hunting down fridges to store food for longer. It feels like a proper way of living that comes naturally and has purpose. 

And the weapons and gadgets are equally strange, and as such, vary widely in purpose and use. You can craft all sorts of equipment from office supplies and leftovers. And over time, your scientists will break out of their mold of looking through microscopes and actually take matters into their own hands. They will learn to fend for themselves, whether that requires growing edible alien food or fending off paranormal creatures. With friends, you’ll get lots of moments of laughter when your characters soil themselves or trip over a platform. You’ll enjoy each other’s company as you draw closer and closer to bursting through to the surface of the deranged underground facility you’re trapped in.