Monstrum 2 turning roguelikelike survival horror multiplayer
BOO!
After trapping us inside a derelict cargo ship for the roguelikelike first-person survival horror of Monstrum, developers Junkfish will next cordially invite us and our pals to a rotting seafort platform where more a monster will try to hunt us down. Or, if you play the monster side of this equation, congratulations, willing idiots are delivering themselves for dinner in Monstrum 2. Bon appetit! The Scottish studio announced their first-person survive-o-escaper sequel today with the big fancy feature of 1v4 multiplayer. Once again, squishies will be trapped in a rusting procedurally-generated hellmaze and try to escape while the monster tries to clobber 'em, only now the monster's a person. And man, we know, is the real monster.
Horror games of this sort have proliferated since Monstrum first entered early access, back in January 2015, but they've tended to be more rigid. In the first Monstrium, humans can escape the ship by finding/repairing a life raft, helicopter, or submarine, needing to gather different tools for the different goals. The monster could be one of several, each with quite different abilities, so at the start of a game you don't even know what's hunting you. What a terrible moment of discovery. Sounds like Junkfish are leaning into variety with the sequel too.
"There are countless solutions to the ever-changing obstacles in Monstrum II," they said in today's announcement, "whether you're using scavenged items to access hidden routes; brutally smashing through destructible objects; climbing the environment to ambush your prey; working cooperatively with your fellow survivors to reach important equipment, or going solo and hiding to gracefully avoid detection."
I'm glad to see them take a second crack at this. Ye olde Monstrum's procedurally-generated levels lacked personality and a sense of place, making it often boring or confusing to explore, so I hope Junkfish do better with their Mother Base-style sealand. Their concept art (which is about all we have to see so far) shows some inserting variety between tatty crew quarters and mysterious high-tech labs. I'm defs up for more to do as we plot our escape too. I do still hope it has singleplayer, as niche multiplayer games can be hard to actually play unless your pals are in or they really blow up.
If you're curious, Marsh Davies had a look at Monstrum in early access for us way back when.
Monstrum 2 is coming to Steam around the end of 2020. Promise you won't prank me but pretending to be the monster.
