Serum recently just hit the marketplace from the talented team at Game Island. We saw this game launch as an early access title through Steam, so you can give it a playthrough now while the developers continue working on the project. Here, players get a unique survival game set in an apocalyptic world. You’ll find yourself quickly shrouded by a toxic fog requiring you to carefully navigate the world and the perilous dangers that are hidden away. But you won’t just get by through using brute strength here. Instead, the game introduces serums for players to use, slightly increasing your chances of survival.
Recently, we had the honor of interviewing Michał Ojrzyński, who is the Game Director and CEO of Game Island. During our discussion, we had the chance to get a little more insight into Serum and what players can expect if they haven’t already picked up the game. Hopefully, these answers will clear up any burning questions you might have had.
Gameranx: How would you describe this game for someone who is just coming across Serum?
Michał: Serum is a dark adventure survival game with a very unique time based gameplay mechanic in that players rely on crafting a Serum to help them survive. The constant threat of survival against time is what propels the player to explore further into the game.
Gameranx: Could you tell us some of the inspirations behind Serum?
Michał: Even though we drew inspiration from sci-fi and horror sources, we cannot stress enough that Serum stands on its own as a unique experience. The combination of Green Hell and Alien Isolation vibes have been mentioned in relation to the games overall atmosphere of Serum, but it’s far from those titles in terms of gameplay. Survival and discovery are key motivators in Serum in the players search for answers, all the while we are reinforcing that core game mechanic of players utilizing what they can find and craft in the game world to propel that initiative.
Gameranx: Looking back at when this game project was first pitched, has anything changed significantly since then compared to the build you’re about to release?
Michał: Being early access means much can change in the course of development based on the wants and needs of the community, so being flexible to address things important to them is essential as we continue to enhance the gameplay experience and overall balance. During the playtest phase we discovered that it was necessary to improve the intuitive way that the crafting UI operated, and therefore we made significant changes to the UI to improve how it was used and made it less confusing. It is likely that this will undergo further tweaks since we want it to reduce that learning curve and help new players onboard the game easily so that they clearly understand the way the UI works.
Gameranx: From my understanding, you can brew and inject multiple combinations of Serums. These are not only a means to delay death but also enhance abilities. Could you give examples of a Serum mixture that could aid a player?
Michał: In the game we have obstacles such as vine walls which impedes player access to certain areas, to defeat this players can utilise an ability called Tether which is primarily used to temporarily ensnare creatures, kind of like a wizard spell that wraps something in vines. Using this ability will smash through the vine walls. Other abilities include things like invisibility, kind of like an active camo which can be used defensively or offensively depending on how you want to utilise it.
Another ability will boost speed for running and another provides the ability to perform a two handed smash on an opponent if you want to deal a big first strike in combat. The abilities are designed to help the player overcome some of the more aggressive creatures and scenarios in the game. The Serum can be found in living things within the game world so there’s an aspect of experimentation there as well since some mixtures can produce side effects. Overall though its a toxic world that has both positives and negatives for the player depending on how they adapt.
Gameranx: Do these Serums also trigger negative effects on the player?
Michał: Using serum in general creates a Wilding effect, we thought it was important to balance the way Serums react with Adam so that there are risks to using it. On the one hand they are essential to his survival, but on the other hand they cause a side effect and you’ll gradually see mutation degrade the physical representation of Adam’s arm as he continues to use Serum. This is why the absorber at your base is essential, it’s a form of purifier that eliminates those side effects, a kind of healthy reset if you will from the toxicity of serum.
Gameranx: What can players expect from Serum during this early access period, and how long are we planning to stay in early access?
Michał: Serum will be in early access for the next few months, we’ve released 3 patches to address some of the early niggles that players were having across things like storage, pause game and inventory management and those were implemented quite quickly. Quality of life improvements and bug fixing will continue. We still have co-op mode and a new canyon biome to introduce later this year plus additional languages and another tweak to the main UI in-game as well.
Gameranx: This was just announced for PC through early access, correct? Are there potential plans of seeing this game land on console platforms later on?
Michał: Never say never, of course console is always a long term goal for many developers that launch a product first on PC, but that will be something we evaluate once the PC version is finished, since co-op is still to be added later this year, we need to be happy with that game mode before considering porting to other platforms.
As mentioned, Serum is now available. Players interested in trying the survival game can do so through early access on Steam. Likewise, you can view a trailer of Serum embedded above.
