God Save the Smalland!

When I first saw Smalland: Survive the Wilds I, like I assume many others thought it was just a Grounded spin off or something and I didn’t give it much thought. As I have mentioned on the podcast, my wife is a huge fan of the survival games and we usually play them together. When I had finally joined her server, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Smalland is only similar to Grounded because they both take place from a miniature perspective in a big world.

First and foremost being a survival game means that Smalland is going to be difficult. Be it angry ants, some searching wasps or even frogs much of nature wants you dead. And its quite easy to inadvertently find yourself pissing off some wildlife, but thankfully Smalland launches with a bevy of options that players can use to tailor their perfect experience. My wife enjoys the grind but hats being randomly attacks so she uses the passive mode which makes every creature neutral until they are attacked; this includes the dreaded eight-legged bosses, spiders. Speaking of spiders, just like Grounded before it Smalland also has an arachnophobia scale for those that can’t stand the little buggers.

MSRP: $34.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99

The story in Smalland sees players create their own character from a rather generous buffet of options. Players take control of their small fae creature as they are beginning to try and live above ground. Before they can make it though the convoy is destroyed by a wasp and now the player will need to survive in the yard. Players will scavenge for resources that can be identified easily by using the characters antennae with a touch of a button. If you don’t play these survival games you just don’t understand how much of a GOD send this is, being able to quickly tell what is harvestable and what is just scenery…oh man looking at you ARK 2. (if it ever comes out) Using these resources players will build bases where they can craft better armor and gear to take on some of the harder areas of the map and progressing the story.

Smalland has a lot of things going on for it, one of the big things is the focus on verticality. Bases can only be built in ‘Great Tree’s’ but before players can begin constructing, they will have to claim the tree. This means climbing to the very top of the tree by jumping from the fungus growing out of it. Once at the top players will find a flat area that provides safety from all the nature that wants to eat them. Each tree comes with a little gnome butler who will run the elevator as a safe and quick way for players to get back and forth from the forest floor.

Players will find plenty of wildlife to see and more than likely run from on the forest floor. Luckily there is a plethora of weapons from bows to swords and axes that can be crafted to fight. Not only thought but as players collect and craft, they will earn XP and can tweak their stats with each level. With that progress means being able to build and use better equipment such as the ability to tame ladybugs or birds and build mounts to ride them. If Smalland had a glaring issue it would be the lack of a fast travel system, as of this writing there is no quick way to move about the map. In the early levels it will be slow going for players, but I promise once you get a bird it will make getting around a lot easier.

I have played a lot of the current survival games including Grounded and I got to say that Smalland: Survive the Wilds ranks really high on the list about it. The amount of polish was surprising to see from such a small team and the number of systems and size of the map are just proof that they have wizards over at developer Merge Games. Smalland even simulates the 4 seasons and the storms that come with them and these are some visually impressive parts of the game. I loved every rainstorm, just the peacefulness of it…at least while I was in my base. If you enjoyed Grounded or are just a fan of a good survival game, I highly recommend Smalland: Survive the Wilds

Review copy of game provided by publisher.