South Korea’s Smilegate announced the survival RPG adventure IfSunSets will launch globally in early access today for PC via Steam for $20.
I got a look at the game and interviewed the CEO of the indie game studio Polymorph, which made the pirate survival role-playing game, during the Tokyo Game Show recently.
IfSunSets takes place on the island of Luminora, and it has immersive day-and-night cycles, each offering distinct gameplay experiences. During the day, players must make the most of every moment as they explore the abundant island to hunt, farm, fish, gather resources, craft materials, build fortifications, and level up through combat against ancient bosses and cursed monsters.
As night falls, gameplay transforms from RPG adventure to survival horror, unleashing swarms of zombie-like monsters that relentlessly stalk the player in an undead invasion. Surviving until the morning becomes the sole objective once the sun sets, with every decision made during the day being essential to achieving this goal.
The game is still in development, but it looked pretty good when I played it. My favorite thing was swinging a huge pirate sword around and killing zombies by the dozens as they swarmed around me. It had a Pirates of the Caribbean look to me. I enjoyed that part, but the tables were turned as I fought a giant boss in the shallows.
“It’s a game where you can get rid of some stress,” said Byunghun Cho, CEO of Polymorph, in an interview with GamesBeat, speaking through a translator. “You are fighting through the horde.”
A 10% Early Access discount ($17.99) will be available until November 18. The debut release from indie studio Polymorph, IfSunSets’ early access period will include both single-player and online co-op, with English, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages supported.
“Our small team of eight is dedicated to building a polished game that provides something truly new within the survival genre.” said Cho, in a statement. “In September, we conducted a Playtest for IfSunSets and gathered valuable user feedback. Based on these insights, we will be incorporating various improvements and new content into the Early Access version. Key features and updates to be added in Early Access include the World Selection Mode, skill system improvements, night defense improvements, bug fixes and more.”
“We’ve ensured there’s a satisfying amount of content available at launch and plan to expand it further throughout Early Access,” said Cho. “We’ll continue optimizing and improving the game while prioritizing community feedback. Our aim is to expand both the depth and breadth of the experience to make IfSunSets truly shine.”
Early Access for IfSunSets, specifically, will feature five different game modes: “Standard mode,” in which zombies appear; “Safe Night Mode,” a world without zombies; “Custom Mode,” which allows players to tweak the world to their liking; and two additional modes—easy and hard—with zombies present.
The game has a big open world where players can collect mystical ores, Cthugha Stones, and uncover hidden secrets across the island. You can also build your own custom fortress with traps to stop invading enemies. You can increase your power by defeating the beasts and bosses across the island.
You can gather resources on the island to craft enhanced weapons and armor, and use various skills in action-packed battles to defeat enemies and level up.
Smilegate has more than a billion registered users to date, and its flagship franchise is Crossfire, one of the most successful shooter games in history.
Polymorph is a VFX creative studio founded with just two people in 2019 and based in Seoul, South Korea, with expertise in 3D content for films, TV, commercials, VR, and virtual humans. Now the company has eight people, and it has been working on the game since 2021. It is built with Unreal Engine 5.
The team started with a focus on creating a survival game, as that was one of the popular genres on Steam. Early on, they saw the game as having a dual-time period, with a daytime mode and a night mode. During the night, you have to fight zombie hordes. While that sounds like Dying Light, Cho said the inspiration was more like Seven Days to Die. A full release is expected next year.
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