By Elvis Walden
My initial impression of SOS has been confusingly fun. As in I enjoy it but I’m not sure as to why I do. It’s this odd mixture of Survivor, the TV show, and the Walking Dead.
You’re on this island against 15 other contestants basically on a TV show. The live voice chat at times allows for some interesting dialogue between you, the viewers, and the other contestants. The developers have even given you emotes to go along with your voice chat. As the match is beginning the game allows the contestants to have four seconds or so to say their one-liner like on Survivor.
Once the match starts I am transported to this remote island away from the other contestants. No tutorial and no hints. I am learning as I go. It is important to note that it is early access and as such things like tutorials may be in the works.
When you come across the other contestants you can team up or you can fight to the death and take their supplies. The idea is to find a relic and a flare gun to escape. I have played several matches and while the concept is the same, I have had people work with me, fight me, or even turn on me in the last second.
Now for the most interesting thing, in my opinion, about SOS is that your viewers via stream or Hero.tv can assist you in supply crates. They can help decide what you get. The more viewers you have the greater success of your supply crates. Your viewers even have the opportunity to “sabotage” the enemy crates by giving them inferior selections.
Back on this island, there are these ancient creatures, monsters if you will. I’m not sure if they’re there to protect the ancient ruins or if they are there to just be a menace. If they manage to land a few attacks on you, you can get infected. As the infection grows you can fight it back with glowing mushroom caps you find around the island. The first time I was infected it was a nerve wrecker. Again, no instructions as to how to cure it or fight it. My screen began to grow dark and these black lines grow across your screen.
There are two types of monsters that I have seen so far. The smaller ones are quick, pretty common, and easy to take down. The larger charcoal colored ones are a challenge. If you run as a loner like myself in these matches you will have a tough time taking this type down. They attacked quickly with a good amount of damage.
This game has been an exciting roller coaster of fun, weirdness, backstabbing, and alliances. This game is heavily geared towards streamers especially those with a larger audience. Regardless of any advantages or disadvantages that may or may not bring I actually do enjoy this game in either solo or team play. It is definitely in its own genre. It’s hard to say where it fits.
It’s this survival, FPS, adventure, action, TV show-esque genre. I recommend SOS for the laughs that can occur in these short and quick matches. I’m not sure it is something I would ever be heavily competitive in, but I can see using this as a fun way to interact with my stream when I am just looking to take it easy.
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