New trailer and playtest for Into the Fire out now

Do you ever see something and think, “That’s cool, why has no one thought of that before?” You probably don’t also swear and remember you’re supposed to be writing about the studio’s last thing, but you’re busier than a man with three sausages and two hands. That’s the case with Starward Industries for me, as the studio’s last project is the adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s The Invincible. A really interesting adventure game that I keep getting pulled away from, yet Starward Industries’ next thing is just as interesting, probably more so to some people. Revealed yesterday, the studio’s Into The Fire has a new trailer for Steam’s PVE Survival Crafting Fest.

“Starward Industries, the studio behind the critically acclaimed story-driven sci-fi adventure game – The Invincible – has just released a brand-new trailer for its upcoming single-player cataclysm extraction survival game, Into the Fire,” notes the press release. “Alongside the trailer’s debut, the developers have also launched a new round of playtests on Steam as a part of [the] Steam PvE Survival Craft Festival, giving players another opportunity to enter the cataclysm zone and experience the game firsthand.”

If you’ve somehow missed this, Into the Fire is just one of those really fun ideas that you wonder why no one else thought of it first. I’ll let the press release speak to what to expect and why you should be excited: “Set in a world devastated by a mysterious volcanic cataclysm, Into the Fire combines the tension and unpredictability of extraction games with survival mechanics, base development, crafting, exploration, and rescue operations. Instead of competing against other players for the best loot and survival, the main objective is to save as many lives as possible.

The latest playtest expands the game with animal rescue, new gadgets and weapons, and lore-driven quests that reveal more about the island and its history. Players will be able to explore these additions and provide feedback to help Starward Industries refine the game’s core extraction, rescue, and survival systems.” So effectively, you are the first response team into a hellish natural disaster and have to carry people out. It gets better because you aren’t just running into fires and carrying people out; part of it is to build up a base camp to unlock better things to fight the fires and progress to more rescues.

“Each playtest is an opportunity to show more of the systems that make Into the Fire different and to develop them together with our players,” said Michał Obłoj, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Starward Industries. “This time, we are expanding the rescue experience with animals, giving players new gadgets and weapons to experiment with, and introducing quests that uncover more of the island’s story. We want every expedition to feel dangerous but also meaningful. The question is not only what you can bring back, but who you can save.”

The fact that more people aren’t already talking about Into the Fire excitedly is a shame on the industry as a whole. You can go over to Into the Fire‘s Steam page and hit “Request Access” to… request access (it is in the name) to the playtest until the 7th of September. So next Monday, at the time of writing. If you can’t tell already, I am extremely excited about Into the Fire, and if it interests you at all, wishlist it and talk about it because it is the type of thing I want to see: New, creative, and interesting ideas.