Procedurally generated Alaskan survival game The Wild Eight–think The Long Dark played from an isometric perspective, plus online co-op–is about ready to begin fending for itself in the harsh wilds of the Steam marketplace. HypeTrain Digital and developer Fntastic (formerly Eight Points) will launch the PC game on February 8th via Steam at a price point of $19.99.
However, contrary to a previous commitment just two months ago that The Wild Eight would come out as a full release, the tough decision has been made to instead launch the game in Early Access. While that may trigger alarm bells for some players–especially those already leery of Early Access projects–the developers are promising to update the game every two weeks, with a current target to be out of Early Access in three months. The Early Access phase will be used to balance and bug fix, add more side quests and objects, implement a more advanced combat system (namely a shooting mechanic), improve the map and UI, and finish support for new languages as well as Linux and Mac operating systems.
The Wild Eight has a Steam page up if you’d like to add it on your wishlist. Below you can also check out the most recent gameplay video providing an overview of the core mechanics.