Dread Hunger Gameplay Preview

Dread Hunger is a survival crafting game taking place in the harsh arctic environment. You have to survive while hunting for food, finding fuel to keep the fires burning during the harsh nights, and exploring the terrain whilst fighting off savage wolves.

The game starts you off on a ship anchoring in a safe harbor. You select the mission you want from the map room, put your one singular coal into the engine, and set sail for your destination. Once you get there, you are left on your own to survive. You can also pick a role to play on the ship. Each role has their own passive bonuses.

I picked the chef and the chef has a bonus to cooking speeds, which makes sense. I also start each level with a butcher’s knife to help break crates into wood for crafting and fires. You also have one serving of stew to help fill your hunger meter one time. Once it’s gone, it’s up to you to scavenge food on your own.

As you explore the land, you can kill seals and wolves to obtain meat. The seals may also have blubber while the wolves have a chance to drop sinew. There are rocks and wood lying around on the ground that can be used to start fires. Chests and crates can hold tea leaves, metals, and other materials used for cooking and crafting goods.

There are day and night cycles in Dread Hunger, with the night cycle being potentially very dangerous. It gets very cold at night and you have to maintain your body temperature by lighting a campfire or by finding and lighting a stove. You can also find caves and other habitats and use fires there to keep your body temperature up.

When playing the campaign, you will have a certain mission objective to complete, such as blowing up a wreck that is blocking your ship from progressing. The game feels a bit slower and methodical than other survival crafting games as resources are scarce and spread apart and you have to hunker down during the cold night phases unless you have a lantern and buffs from certain foods.

Overall, Dread Hunger is a pretty decent survival crafting game. It’s not heavy on grindy farm but focuses more on survival aspect. You could say it’s a pretty chill game…because of the cold…ok I’m out.