Fade to Silence. Survival got serious

Fade to Silence is a new survival RPG developed by ‘Black Forest Games‘ but published by ‘THQ Nordic‘. It has already come out as early access on the pc but it’s coming to Xbox One and PS4 2019. If you thought survival was harsh in the last game we wrote about (The Wild Eight) then wait until you see this. Let’s take a look.

In Fade to Silence players control Ash. He’s got his own issues but now has way more ever. Ash is tormented. We don’t know by what though. He’s a natural leader and is able to get very different groups of people to come together. Ash plans to build a sustainable base for I’m and the other survivors. Protection against the harsh environments. This will mean that players need management skills as there are others survivors who need to be found and watched over in a sense.

The Other survivors in Fade to Silence have strengths and skills of their own. No one is useless. For example Ryme known as ‘the sneak’ is as her name suggests very sneaky. Able to move silently, unnoticed and avoid detection. This should alert players that stealth will be needed at some points. Ezra (name from the Bible) is known as ‘the alchemist’. again you can guess why. it has been said that he’s spent decades working on his potions and perfecting them. Expect a wide range of effects incoming. Gani is called ‘the survivor’. She is calm, a thinker and has huge determination to reverse the planets current state. Offers wise advice and will open your eyes to your faults. So basically listen to her. Rhys, known as ‘the investigator’ is an interesting one. Always studying the corruption and learning for a way to use it as an advantage. His studies have caused some strange side effects. He’s either got special insight into the eclipse’s power or it’s damaged him. There are more characters so keep that in mind.

Now onto the danger in Fade to Silence. Since this is a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland, expect a lack of food, resources, light and expect the freezing cold. Players must venture out into this dangerous area in search of resources, materials and more. Each venture is risky and can be your last. You can upgrade your equipment and weapons but that requires, more materials and items. Upgrading is quite important here. Now there is a bigger threat… a certain unexpected but constant event… a blizzard! if this blizzard catches you when you aren’t ready then it could end you. Everything is worse during a blizzard.

If you though all of that was bad, then wait until you hear about the monsters. Games like this need to compete with the creativity and action of other games to gain interest so off course they will add dangerous natural monsters to spice things up. In Fade to Silence players will face different kinds of monsters. For example the Ripper is a melee enemy who always gets close to you to slash you up with it’s claws. It’s attacks are slow but deadly enough to kill you quick. Hellvines spawn from corrupted grounds and attack whatever comes within range. The Feeder strikes fear in survivors as it’s very durable and resilient. It has a long range tongue that can drag you in, right in front of it’s jaws. This enemy is powerful. The Stalker will follow players, waiting for the moment to strike. It’s attack is very fast and you must get close for the best chance to finish it off. There are many more monsters and they are a serious problem. We like that the developers have displayed a good amount of information concerning the game, characters and monsters. They are one of the few who did this right.

We checked out some gameplay. There is a lot of stuff to do in Fade to Silence. You can hunt animals and skin them, collect raw meat, which has to be cooked, even use their bones as material. Use a bow and arrow, blade or even branches to attack enemies. You can even travel around on a sleigh pulled by dogs which does look cool; however your dogs fear the corruption as well. They will not move into a corrupted area. They will actually just stop in their tracks. Survivors can assist you in defending a camp from a monster attack. Players must watch out for one monsters that may be a problem. It’s called the Inner voice. It will speak to you, give you ideas. Do not let it corrupt you.     

Overall Fade to Silence seems like a good game. The graphics are very good and the sounds are good too. The environment looks quite realistic in many ways. The snow is done well too. The areas are clearly distinct from each other it’s clear what area you are in. The monsters look cool but we hope they are strong for the sake of difficulty. The developers ‘Black Forest Games’ have done a good job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what this game has to offer. Now Fade to Silence may be a serious survival game but it’s all calm when compared to the seriousness of… the ‘Earth Walk!’