Blackout is a Oregon Trail style narrative based survival game that sees you making tough decisions as you attempt to keep alive in a post-apocalyptic world where all the electronics have been destroyed.
As in The Oregon Trail, Blackout sees you guiding a group of survivors through a previous route, filled with danger. Unlike The Oregon Trail though, the events in Blackout aren’t randomly generated so you can learn from your mistakes for future playthroughs.
It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where a mysterious wave of energy wiped out every single piece of electronics. The world is in disarray, with survivors resorting to scavenging and stealing from others, but there is hope – some strange lights have been spotted in the skies in the distance and many have taken them to be a sign of their salvation.
You have three survivors which you need to keep alive as they make their way towards the lights in the sky. Each survivor has their own specific uses, such as scouting ahead or squeezing into small gaps, and they all have health, hunger, energy and happiness levels that you try to keep up.
The current build of Blackout features around 10 minutes of play and sees you starting off on your journey towards the lights. As you proceed you will encounter events, such as a woman whose child needs help or a seemingly abandoned campsite with provisions you can raid, and you need to decide the course of action to best serve your survivors. It’s a harsh world and helping others can be risky, but can often help you in the long run.
It’s an interesting game that gives you some tough decisions to make, and the fact that it’s not randomly generated makes it feel like more of a narrative focused experience than the likes of The Oregon Trail. A long and dangerous road well worth travelling.
UPDATE: This Beta Is No Longer Available