Survival games have been living up to their names lately – not just surviving but thriving this year – between Palworld’s bonkers success, Sons of the Forest’s 1.0 launch, and Enshrouded’s unbelievably in-depth building. But another new entrant is continuing the streak.
Soulmask impressed many with its 40-hour Steam Next Fest demo and the recently-released early access version lives up to the hype. For the uninitiated, Soulmask drops players into an open sandbox to do your typical crafting and scavenging and surviving, alongside managing a ballooning tribe.
What sets Soulmask apart is the titular mask that lets you possess literally any NPC you find in the game to, errr, borrow their talents and skills. More masks unlock as you progress, allowing you to gain special abilities from the “ancient heroes” that walked before you. Don’t feel too bad for the possessed NPCs, though – you can then adopt them into your clan before, y’know, putting them to work in automated production lines like Palworld. Or you can simply befriend the ones you like since each tribesmen comes with their own personalities, from “bloodthirsty warriors, dexterous hunters, and ingenious craftsmen. . . and even a drunk lazy alcoholic.” Seems like a riot.
The unique concept rocketed Soulmask to massive success after its early access launch on May 31. The game sold over 100,000 copies in under 31 hours, developer CampFire Studios announced in a recent blog post. “In just 4 hours since launch, we reached the Top 2 on the global bestseller list, and after 8 hours, we climbed to the top 1 position for paid games worldwide! Meanwhile, we achieved the Top 1 spot in paid game sales in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, and Brazil.”
Steam user reviews paint a similarly optimistic picture as the game sits at a ‘Mostly Positive’ rating based on over 1,400 reviews as of the time of writing. Many reviews praised the game’s polished early access release and ambitious ideas, along with the villager recruitment system that somewhat alleviates the survival game grind that can wear some players out.
Soulmask is normally available on Steam for £25/$27 with a nice introductory offer available until June 6.
Otherwise, why not check out the other best survival games to play right now.
