"Sewn Version of 'Horizon'? The New Game 'Wilderness Origin' from Aurora Studio is Coming | Game Product Observation"
Written by Liu Shiwu
On November 28, "Wilderness Origin" developed by Tencent's Aurora Studio was officially launched on the Steam platform (the planned release date will be announced soon). This is Tencent's second open-world doomsday survival game. In February of this year, "Wilderness Origin" obtained the game license, and it was previously temporarily named "Code: Rebirth".
Judging from the introduction on the Steam page, "Wilderness Origin" combines many elements such as an open world, survival construction, giant beast battles, and mechanical beast cultivation. It can be found from the released materials that some gameplay is similar to popular games such as "Monster Hunter" and "Palworld", with a strong sense of "patchwork".
The above picture is the poster of "Horizon Zero Dawn", and the below picture is the official website of "Wilderness Origin".
What makes players feel that this game seems familiar is the game's promotional cover - it is highly similar in style to the "Horizon" series of PS console games published by Sony. At the same time, in the first exposed trailer, the mechanical mounts that players ride and the mechanical BOSSes in battles, etc., also have a high style similarity to the giant mechanical monsters in "Horizon".
Wilderness survival has always been one of the favorite gameplay methods for console game platform players. "Dark Zone Breakthrough" by Tencent Cube Studio and "After Tomorrow" by NetEase Leihuo are popular games of this type. On the console side, masterpieces such as "7 Days to Die", "Ark: Survival Evolved", and "Rust" are also frequent visitors to the popularity list.
The publicly released "Wilderness Origin" is more like a combination of an open world and survival construction. And unlike most of the previously self-developed survival games in China, Aurora Studio has adopted a more realistic physics engine this time, making the construction gameplay more rich and realistic. Whether it is a solid fortress or a ingenious habitat, every beam, and every brick can restore the real physical rules, making the building beautiful while also being able to cope with environmental challenges.
Image source: The Steam store page of "Wilderness Origin".
Better art and engine technology make this game have a relatively high PC configuration requirement (as shown in the above picture). To achieve optimization on the mobile side and multi-terminal intercommunication, Aurora Studio may still need a longer time to ensure the gaming experience when the game is officially launched.
With the explosion of "Black Myth: Wukong", domestic game manufacturers, large and small, have also taken out their 3A or quasi-3A products under development. Most of these products still need several years to complete development and launch, but the market's confidence in Chinese 3A has reached a new height.
Aurora Studio, established in 2008, is one of the four major studios under Tencent Games. It has produced classic games covering different types such as "QQ Paradise Island", "Moonlight Blade", and "Light and Night". The team's development ability is at the top level in China.
It is worth mentioning that Aurora Studio once launched the competitive shooting "Battle Royale" online game "Ring of Elysium" in 2018. This game is developed using the QuicksilverX engine. At that time, it was also regarded by many industry insiders as Tencent's pioneering work in entering the Steam large-category games. However, this game did not pose a great challenge to games such as "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" during the same period and was shut down at the end of 2023.
Judging from the relevant materials disclosed this time, "Wilderness Origin" is not only the game with the richest gameplay under Aurora Studio, but also Tencent's flagship self-developed product to re-enter the popular console game category.
Liu Ming, CEO of Tencent Interactive Entertainment's International Game Business, said last year that Tencent Games is promoting GaaS services (Game as a Service). "Wilderness Origin", which is chosen to be "Free to Play", should follow the payment model of GaaS services and strive to become a long-term operational online game.
Of course, in the increasingly competitive game market nowadays, "masterpiece" is no longer an area that only large manufacturers can explore. For "Wilderness Origin", there are already many well-received similar games in the overseas market, and it is not easy to break the original pattern. The short-term breakthrough point may be on the mobile side. In China, the cross-platform survival game market still needs to be developed. If "Wilderness Origin" has high quality, good experience optimization, and is excellent in localization, this new game has the opportunity to become another phenomenal game.
This article was first published on "36Kr Games".