Please Remain Calm: Life in Bunker
Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor
It’s the end of the world, at least for the surface.
Life in Bunker is a new title from indie developers Flox Studios. Taking on the oft ignored genre of “underground construction and personnel management,” Life in Bunker allows players to attempt a 500-year exile below the surface of the Earth. Potential bunker managers will need to address the dangers of underground life, such as power management, oxygen levels, food concerns, and the odd Moleman attack. While the game is still under construction, we were allowed to play an early build to get a taste for this upcoming title.
The first thing to know about LiB is the learning curve. It is steep and fast, and that is an issue the developers are addressing. You need to realize that your denizens of the deep are just people, and they will age rapidly. If you are not careful, they will reach retirement age long before their replacements can be grown and aged into workable citizens. When we first started playing, we lost early and we lost often. Our generators broke down due to ill repair, which caused our toilets to back up, which led to disease, and we didn’t have a doctor to speak of, and the the Molemen attacked…it was a mess. However, and this should be stressed, it was actually pretty fun.
Developers Alex Prokhorov and Anton Pozdnyakov used a familiar tool set to create something new. Anyone who has played Dungeon Keeper will find the perspective intuitive, and the mechanics only take a few minutes to understand. There are a few bugs to be worked out, such as the resource prioritization and general dweller AI. This is not going to be a Fallout style vault, at least not yet, but it can be a fun and quirky adventure that burns away a few hours. In this early stage, with so much yet to be developed, we don’t want to heap any praise or criticism too heavily upon Flox Studios. Suffice to say, we are intrigued and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
We had the opportunity to speak with developers Alex and Anton, and they were kind enough to answer a few of our questions.