I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival isn’t a new game, but it is coming out of early access on November 13th. This release puts this review in an interesting position. Despite it coming out to full release soon, as of writing, it’s still early access. So, we’ll be treating it like all preview games and not giving it a score.
So, let’s talk about what you can expect from a game that promises a cozy apocalypse. In I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival, you’re mostly looking at a building sim. You’ve woken up in a future dystopia with only the scrap metal and shreds of human invention left behind. You’ll have to gather resources, build machines, and fend off alien worms that have come to steal delicious electricity.
When the game opens, we get a view of Cosmopolis. It’s a skyscraper city that has been lost to the sea. Focusing in on one specific rooftop, we find ourselves waking from a cryopod with no other humans around.
Why is the cryopod on the roof? I couldn’t say. What I can say is that you immediately jump into the game and start collecting and building things. You get a basic tutorial as you go, but it’s fairly simple. To be fair, a lot of it is straightforward. I’ll talk a bit later about the things that weren’t so obvious and could have used more explaining.
Cosmopolis seems to be a place that was thriving in the tech industry to a dystopian level. The first machine we meet is a fridge named Earl. Earl used to be a human until he was digitized into the fridge.
I guess you could say Earl is a really cool guy…
Normally, this brings feelings of horror, but Earl was quite pleased to volunteer. His only disappointment is that he wasn’t put into a food processor.
Strange doesn’t really begin to cover it.
In terms of gameplay, it’s a pretty classic setup. You gather resources, build a workbench, and then let the tasks list and workbench prompts guide you.
If you’re not paying attention, this is where you’ll find your first bit of confusion. Your blueprints aren’t held in your workbench, they’re in your journal. To be fair, this is how I got the workbench, but muscle memory yeeted that fact out of my mind.
Don’t forget to check your journal; it’s integral for progression.
The second thing that’s frustrating is that if you’re confused, you either need to tinker until you figure it out or look online. Your tasks are simple lists that don’t expand on anything to point you in the right direction. Hell, even the workbench wasn’t giving me anything more than “need level 2 to make this.”
Helpful.
I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how to upgrade my workbench. I checked everywhere and finally gave up and went to the internet. Maybe I’m just blind, but I did not see the tab at the top of the workbench that said to upgrade it. To be fair to the devs, it was right there, but… I just wasn’t seeing it and with nothing else to guide me, I was left to my own stupidity to lead me forward.
You’ll slowly build up a collection of resources and machines, juggling some fishing and even drone exploring.
But, is I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival actually cozy? Yeah, it kind of is.
I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival has a difficulty slider that they call a cozy slider. It’s nothing more than a glorified easy button, but hey, I play on easy mode at every available chance, so I’m happy.
And, honestly, if they wanted to rally the cozy gaming community, it was a wise choice. In normal mode, you have to worry about food levels and the worms attacking you. In easy mode, I didn’t have to worry about anything except my own business.
Truly, the cozy mode is just that simple. The game doesn’t have to be the easiest in the world as long as there are options catered to the gamer wanting a more relaxing gameplay and I feel like I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival delivered.
It’s not my favorite game ever, but I still found some enjoyment in it. I just wish there were a bit more safeguards for someone who is stuck. Something as simple as an info icon that tells you more about where something might be found would have saved me quite a bit of time.
All in all, if you like city builders, you’re probably going to like I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival. And, with the new update coming out, it’s a pretty good time to try it out. If you’d like to give it a try, you can get it on Steam for $19.99. Otherwise, you can check out one of our other reviews; Amber Isle.
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