Miscreated 1.0 beta (english)

Apocalypse, again.

A few years back one could go through the Steam and find loads of survival-crafting games. Back then many people noted Miscreated, though I never got time actually to test it. Price tag being one reason. Miscreated is a surviving crafting game with a hardcore twist. The scavenging is made more interest with dynamic weather and other players competing on same resources. While the game was released 2014 to Steam Early Access the progress on development has been slow sided, and December 2018 version 1.0 tries to find a new lift for the game.

Game information

Name: Miscreated 1.0 beta Publisher/Developer: Entrada Interactive LLC (2013)
Platforms: PC Type: Survival, Survivalcraft, Multiplayer
Age ratings: n/a
Reviewer: Rami Sihvo
Pictures and links:
Trailer
Mutant Infested, Post-Apocalyptic Miscreated Survival is Back!
Getting base started in 1.0

From the perspective of the gamer?

“Survivorcraft” recipe is a rather simple one: Find junk, update your equipment and found the base.
For the added difficulty the game tracks hunger, thirst and accumulated radioactivity. One could drink from the toilet, but unclean water adds to the total radioactivity. Other players are not a sole source of danger, but mutant monsters can now appear on the packs. Nature seems so hell-bent on the hardcore side as well - acid rain, snowfall, and flash heat can make one's life difficult. CryEngine depicts rather believable piles of junk, dirt, and skeletons. Some Fallout-cliches can be expected.






The player is in a total loss at the start, so the learning curve is rather steep. I started from a forest in the winter and dark with little idea how to play the game. While wiki can help somewhat many tricks need to be learned the hard way. The stuff respawns to buildings depending on the server settings. Some players are cautious, some friendly but mostly combat is avoided (unless the server reset is imminent).

Many Steam Greenlight-games weren’t so great so Miscreated gathered lots of positive interest back at early alpha phase 2014 but steadily declined after that. The current game is much different from the first one, though the problem was earlier that half-finished game overpriced itself with 25 dollar price tag. Players wished for faster, but things happened in the slow place. Current base building option has waited long and surely.

There is content, but the game could have been so much better. Although I am left to think what kind of endgame this kind of game would have? Version 1.0 tries to be definitive version - lots of junk, weapons and 400 blocks for base building. The attachment of the blocks is sometimes a bit hard, but the 1.0 version is still far better than alpha versions of the game.

So, is the game ‘worth of it’? It’s nice. One could play it with friends, but I think the biggest obstacle for it is still the price tag which was 22.90 euro for a single game. The developers tell that they will continue developing the game and indeed, the 1.0 is still marked as ‘beta’.

Perspective of the ratings?

Finnish age rating system treats disaster movies with the 12-age rating. Miscreated doesn’t try to be vomit-inducing violence but more like a thriller where the most significant fight is to find food. Fighting happens but isn’t depicted as overly violent.

PEGI age ratings would argue that any violence against ‘humanlike’ enemies would result in age rating 16. In practice this covers the mutant zombies, so the age rating wouldn’t be hard to find for that system.

However, it should be mentioned that Miscreated requires perseverance and attention. The game is slow-boiling at times, something that teens could find boring. So suggested age rating would indeed be closer to 16 as well.

Parents and game education?

Apparent benefits of survivor craft-games are not readily apparent. While one can think Minecraft as survivor craft, the most significant fame has been created by the freeform mode of the said game. That said, the social aspects of Miscreated are the most important ones. One doesn’t stand alone and universal agreement to help fellow survivors is something that should be honored. You don’t put a multiplayer game on pause. The game is one of those who takes several hours to get feeling that you managed to do something. One raid to the nearby settlement or building the farming equipment. Although, I am left to ponder the survivor crafting gaming with the family...