Miasmata is a unique survival adventure that has you attempting to cure yourself from a deadly disease that has infected your body. The only thing that stands between you and your death is the scientific knowledge that you hold about the plant life that is scattered around your remote island location which requires you to explore and craft your way to a cure.
Miasmata is one of the most unique and impressive adventure games released in recent years and even more impressive when you factor in the small development team behind this indie Windows title. Set on an island known as Eden players take control of the scientist Robert Hughes is stranded on the shores of this landmass that features a number of rivers, inlets, hills and valleys which combined with the abandoned outposts, statues and ruins creates distinct landmarks for you to map.
Given your objective requires you to explore nearly all the locations on this map to acquire the necessary plants and fungi with the right medical properties exploration is at the heart of your Miasmata adventure. To assist players in this goal you’ve got a compass and map that helps you track your current location, the places you’ve been and the plants at those respective locations which utilises a realistic triangulation mechanic. While you are the only human on the island there are remnants of an indigenous civilisation that lived on the island long ago. Overtime players will discover they are not the only living thing though as some sort of creatures stalks their progress and may end up killing you before the plague infection does.
Other threats to the player include dehydration, fever and fatigue that requires different actions to be addressed from water to sleeping and taking basic medications. In total there are over a dozen such medications that are produced from the environment and offer a mixture of temporary benefits, permanent benefits which return your strength and serves as a side objective to the main cure to assist your progression. Both these permeant boosting medicines and this main cure require you to mix and match two ingredients.
This is where the laboratory elements of Miasmata come into play with the various wooden hut laboratories scattered on the island providing you the necessary tools to synthesis your cure. This includes the examination tray and microscope where you can examine and slice the item which adds its details to your game journal, the synthesis equipment that lets you create medicine from plants and a linked system of specimen storage bins to store your discoveries for later.
While it is a race against time to survive players that do stop for a moment to take in the scenario will be treated to high quality lighting, plant design and realistic water that the sun bounces off to create a realistic island landscape. Not only are the environments visually attractive but small details like the sound changing based on the terrain you are walking, animals that react to you and the realistic inventory of items that add a lot to the discovery experience.
Summary:
- Unique survival experience as you play a scientist trying to cure themselves from a plague.
- Explore the large island of Eden which contains a number of varied biomes and landmarks.
- Collect plants and fungus from the environment to create medicines and ultimately the three substances for the cure.
- Utilise the abandoned laboratories spread across Eden and the scientific equipment to achieve your objective.
- Fight off dehydration and the creature that stalks your progression as you explore and experiment.
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Review Platform: PC
