Average Playtime: 2 hours

Near Death

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About

After your plane crash-lands in Antarctica, you find yourself stranded and alone at an abandoned research facility in the midst of a deadly blizzard. Plunged into utter darkness, temperatures 100 degrees below zero, and conditions far too harsh to allow for rescue, you must explore Sutro Station and and use the tools at your disposal in hopes of escaping and finding your way home.

Not a survival game, but instead a game about surviving, Near Death pits you against an incredibly cruel opponent: Antarctica. Never more than a few minutes from freezing to death in the darkness of polar night, you must reclaim the station from the elements and fight for your life in a terrifying environment that’s more like another planet than the world you know.Features

  • A fully explorable Antarctic research station with seamless open world navigation over an unforgiving landscape.
  • Unique gameplay and innovative player tools suited to the harsh realities of a frigid, dark continent. Mark your way with light trails in zero-visibility storms, melt frozen obstacles to explore the base in search of much-needed supplies, create pockets of warmth with a personal heater, and more.
  • A dynamic weather system that utilizes snow, wind, temperature, and lighting to create a multitude of Antarctic conditions ranging from blinding whiteouts to brief moments of calm.
  • A real-time temperature simulation that freezes and thaws the environment room by room based on exposure to the elements, building layouts, the base’s power system, and your own ability to establish safe areas with makeshift repairs.
  • Discoverable blueprints and upgrades that enhance your capabilities and increase your ability to withstand the cold.
  • An original score of haunting ambient music that amplifies the isolation of Sutro Station.
Platforms
Metascore
70
Release date
Developer
Orthogonal Games
Publisher
Orthogonal Games
Age rating
Not rated
Website
http://neardeathgame.com/

System requirements for macOS

Minimum:
  • OS: OS X 10.10
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 2.00 GHz or AMD equivalent (64-bit processor required)
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 with 1GB memory (or AMD equivalent)
  • Storage: 1 GB available space

System requirements for PC

Minimum:
  • OS: Windows 7 (64-bit OS required)
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 2.00 GHz or AMD equivalent (64-bit processor required)
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 with 1GB memory (or AMD equivalent)
  • Storage: 1 GB available space

System requirements for Linux

Minimum:
  • OS: (64-bit OS required)
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 2.00 GHz or AMD equivalent (64-bit processor required)
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 with 1GB memory (or AMD equivalent)
  • Storage: 1 GB available space
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Last Modified: Apr 23, 2023

Where to buy

Steam

Top contributors

Sinkler

1 edit
121
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Near Death reviews and comments

"In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option. I'm going to have to science the s**t out of this."

I've described Near Death to some people as an excellent video game adaptation of The Martian; a story of a scientist alone in an incredibly lethal environment, fighting against all odds and incredibly poor luck to stay alive. It's definitely scary, in fact many other readers have tagged it as a Horror Game. But for once, it's really really cool to have a horror game in which camp-enthusiasts are not encouraged to laugh in jest at the weirdness of the tentacle-faced monsters you face. Near Death's only opponent is the cold - temperatures below 100 degrees celcius, and winds that have the power to turn a sprint into a 1-foot-per-second crawl.

Progress in the game involves a long series of fetch quests through the facility's many buildings. Any room without a total vacuum seal against the outside is freezing cold, meaning that sometimes your progress through buildings may have to be taken in steps, and some rooms have such large breaches that you'll need to rush your looting to avoid freezing.

The game is actually quite brutal just in the challenge of getting between buildings. Mercifully, you have a compass, but even with that, it's very easy to lose your bearings in such total darkness, and even high winds reducing your speed. You can redeem yourself by planning ahead and crafting light / rope poles to make return trips easier, but even these can go wrong. More than once I made a stupendous trek through the snow, found the building, got inside, only to find out that through my desperate run, I ended up at the wrong building (or, even, the back door of the building I had left from).

Sometimes, I thought "F*** it. The doors here are frozen over?? This turnout feels unfair. I want to give up. Kill me so I can go back to my last quicksave." But...something about the theming of the situation made me reconsider. I thought about moments in The Martian where Mark exhibits just about the same feelings. It made me want to turn those situations around. I knew I wouldn't reach the building I was aiming for, but I kept going, kept trying to recover my goals, because a person in this real situation wouldn't get a second chance. I certainly did die a few times, even playing on Easy Mode (I first tried Hard Mode, but found myself rushing so much to get warm / not waste kerosene I actually missed an important tutorial message - Easy still gave me much of the intended feel of the game)

Near Death is very short, so buy it if you tend to not have enough spare time to finish off most games in your Steam backlog, since you could very likely easily binge through it in one gaming session. I felt like it was unique enough and well-executed enough to be worth my time either way.
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«Underrated»
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Product received for free The most important Information can be found right here and my in-depth Review can be found on my Website: http://polygonien.de/2016/08/youre-as-cold-as-ice-near-death-im-test/"Near Death makes it clear from the very first Minute that it is about naked Survival goes and although the Setting at first May be reminiscent of John Carpenter'S Cult Film The Thing, it doesn't take any Monsters or wild Animals to do so. Instead, the Developer relies entirely on its mute star, meaning not the Pilot, but the irrepressible blizzard, and the same is getting stronger and stronger as the game progresses. ... Near Death may seem simple compared to "real" survival games and the rather linear Setup is certainly a Thorn in the Side of many genre fans, but for them it's actually not made either. As in the 2012 Insider tip Miasmata, the survival mechanics here are not a pure End in themselves without a real Goal; rather, they are supposed to introduce you to the Protagonist, to make her Isolation and the Danger palpable. ... Sure, at 3 to 4 Hours, the Trip to Antarctica is not long, but from the first to the last Minute it is an intense, exciting and unusual Adventure, which is always worth the €15 requested. In addition, thanks to an Update, you can now try your hand at more extreme Conditions. "
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Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Hmm, the Game is interesting, granted. The Setting is relatively fresh and unused, as well as offering countless Possibilities to be expanded. Unfortunately, however, there are also some negative Aspects that have now been so noticed in my Passage. Personally, I am particularly bothered by the constant wobble of the Camera in the game. Of Course, this may come closer to Reality than a rigid Perspective, but this is a Piece of Software that is supposed to be Fun. If you make it so realistic, the fun of The Game is lost, then I Think you are doing something wrong. In addition, the Playing Time is pulled extremely in the distance, through the Fact in the Snowstorm To move forward more and more slowly. Clearly you can stretch Ropes if you have enough, but what is the point of doing that? This always seems strong according to the Developers ' too few Ideas to fill their Game with enough Content for longer sessions. It is a Pity, as I said, that the Approaches are very cool. Finally, I am still extremely often annoying in this Version and excessively high Volume. At all Corners and Ends you will find floating Rocks at the set Limits of the Map or even from time to time in between. I have already regulated The Volume completely down and yet it was too loud for my Taste. By The way, watch Movies or YouTube and I flew out the eardrum at the smallest Setting. It only helped to make Music whole and to adjust the Volume for the Software separately in the Windows. But that's what the Controllers are actually in the Game for, so you shouldn't have to do something like that. Apart from these negative Aspects, I can still make a Recommendation for People who like to gamble Walking Simulators and Are not averse To survival games. The Cold is a treacherous Opponent that you slightly underestimate and suddenly everything is too late. The Game Mechanics are otherwise also very catchy and quickly mastered. A little came up With Memories of Firewatch and Left 4 Dead 1/2. Collecting And dragging Items under Danger, because it awakened one flashback or another. In any case, I am curious to see if there is anything to come and others will take an Example. There would be some Scenarios where you could accommodate such a Game well.
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