GB Feature: NEO Scavenger Review

Those of you who have been on the fence about whether or not to spend some time with Blue Bottle Games’ post-apocalyptic roguelike NEO Scavenger might want to check out our new two-page review to help you lean one way or the other. A taste:

The world in NEO Scavenger is made up of a large hexagonal grid. Some of the grid locations contain ruined or abandoned buildings that you can scavenge for supplies, and others contain forests or fields where you might be able to hunt for game or pick berries. During each turn of the game (which seems to represent about an hour of time), you’re allowed to perform up to five actions. Moving from one grid location to another counts as one or two actions (depending on the terrain), and each scavenging attempt counts as an action as well.

Scavenging is interesting. When you find a building that you can scavenge, you’re allowed to pick some equipment or abilities to improve your luck. For example, if you take a lighter with you, then you increase the number of things you can see, which increases your chances of finding loot and also increases your safety. But if you select the Strength ability, then you can move items out of the way and dig deeper, but while this increases your loot chance it also increases your chance of getting injured.