Surviving the Abyss News

Exploration:

• Narrative expedition events will auto-complete if the point of interest event has already been done.
  
• Close crew assignment window on send sub button clicked.
  

Input:

• Prevent Controller Inputs to handle issue where controller input was blocking WASD movement
  

Buildings:

• Fix for Submarine command O2 and Power requirements showing 0
  
• Prevent Sonar Beacons playing the power down sound when they expire
  
• Fix for Habitats becoming depleted when they shouldn't be, depleted Habitats removed from Marine Stabiliser listings.
  

UI:

• Fix for powerlines showing the Awaiting Construction UI when they shouldn't have been
  
• Stop Crew Assignment panel from appearing when clicked an object that is not a building.
  

Save/Load:

• Highlight all parts of Tunnels when O2 lens is active in a loaded game.
  

Mining:

• Fix for sparks effect remaining on when a Mining Sub goes idle.
  

Tech Tree:

• Correctly show 'Cost' and 'Building Function' panels for Attachment Modules in the Tech Tree.
  

Balance:

• Added research and material rewards to some early objectives
  
• Halved the cost of Power Lines
  

I tend to play citybuilders in order to design my own little world of bucolic hills or crisp modern architecture. Surviving The Abyss, meanwhile, is about building a habitat in a terrifying, inhospitable place: the deep sea. It's out in early access today.

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Surviving the Abyss is now available on Steam Early Access!

Before taking your first tentative steps into the darkness of the deep oceans, and taking on the role of Overseer, a word of caution is prudent.

The objective is in the name: survival, as simplistic as could be yet rich with potential. Deep below the ocean surface, forsaken from the sun and warmth, the only embrace you’ll find in the darkness is a cold one. Surviving the Abyss stands to be our most hardcore experience in the Surviving series yet. Your surroundings are an oppressive, hostile environment sure to test your wits and patience.

You’ll learn early on of this hard truth, the scarcity of resources apparent within the first few moments. The lights of your base illuminate the surrounding landscape but only so far, salvageable wreckage bordering the ceaseless darkness, promising reward if only you are brave enough to venture out and take it. You’ll need to explore, you’ll need to delve further away from the comforts of the HQ if you hope to survive long enough to accomplish your goals.

Take solace in the fact that you aren’t alone down here- your crew is loyal, so long as you operate with their interests in mind; however, you might not be able to meet their needs with the resources available to you. A leader must make tough calls for the greater good of everyone while balancing the success of your mandate in the depths of the ocean. What madness will begin to show when supplies are low, when the oxygen runs thin? Your job as Overseer is not one to take lightly, the smallest of mistakes may lead to catastrophic consequences and mutiny is always just a one difficult decision away. Your crew’s happiness and productivity hinges on how well you perform, at times sacrifices will have to be made for the sake of progress!

With the help of your crew you shall expand further, discovering what lays beyond the veil of darkness. As your lights push out into the coral-ridden horizon seeking more resources, you’ll learn that the Abyss is home to creatures beyond our understanding. You will need to conduct research on their physiology and DNA for your goals, but the ever-present danger of the Anomaly lurking just out of sight should be a constant thought on your mind.

It is your research facility, your crew, and ultimately your decisions on which success hinges. Conquer the depths below and seek out the truths that have laid beyond the reach of humanity!

1. Surviving the Abyss
2. Light, Dark, and Exploration
3. Population, Crew Vitals, and Cloning
4. Buildings and Grids
5. Crew Management
6. Resource Management
7. Environments and Biomes
8. The Anomaly

Dive into Surviving the Abyss today!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1254320/

Greetings Overseer!

Welcome back to the final Surviving the Abyss development blog. With the game releasing in Early Access next week, we wanted to take this chance to talk about the Anomaly.

Something lurks just beyond the safety of the lights. Sonar readings indicate the presence of something very large, but its exact nature and whereabouts are unknown. As you progress through the early stages of the game and expand the infrastructure of the facility, the Anomaly becomes ever more active. Distant, unfamiliar sounds signal its presence.

Eventually, a critical threshold is met, and the creature will directly attack the facility. Its motivation and its origin are entirely unknown, a mystery for you - the Overseer - to piece together through technological advancement and the discovery of clues through exploration.



The darkness is its domain, where the Anomaly can exact its will with impunity. Once it becomes active, all buildings outside of the light are in danger of its tendrils, which seemingly emanate from above and below the research base.

When your base is cut off from communication with your superiors, it rests on your shoulders alone to protect the crew, persevere with your mission, and find solutions to the dangers you face. The Anomaly is an ever-present danger to the base and its inhabitants. Day-to-day operations are punctuated by the fear of what it might do next. Will the crew return from their expedition? Will the base survive if plunged into darkness? How long can the light protect everyone?



It is not something that can be defeated (yet), only endured. Thankfully you can detect its approach by monitoring seismic activity so you can prepare your stockpiles.

To protect the base, you can research UV-mode which changes the wavelength of the light emanating from the towers, capitalising on the creature's aversion to light. The ultraviolet light partially repels its attacks; however, this doubles the fuel consumption across the base to keep the lights functioning in this manner. This reinforces the importance of your resource-gathering infrastructure but you must also look after the morale of the crew during these attacks.



We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has followed along with these developer blogs. We’re releasing into early access on January 17th, and we’re really excited to share what we’ve been working on with you.

We also can’t wait to hear your feedback and suggestions, as we’ll be taking this into careful consideration when balancing, bug fixing, and designing the next features for Surviving the Abyss. From all of us on the team, we hope you enjoy diving into the game from January 17th!

Greetings Overseer!

Today we are talking a little more about exploration and the different environments of Surviving the Abyss.

To survive, you must explore. Exploration is a key theme of Surviving the Abyss, and as such it will reveal the hidden world around the base, with rare wildlife, new resource deposits, abandoned structures, and many other wonders and oddities discoverable in the darkness. Exploration will also provide subtle hints of the world's backstory, letting you piece together the events and context of the world above.

[h2]Environments and Biomes[/h2]
There are a variety of biomes throughout the map, each with unique characteristics. Each biome has a unique aesthetic and accompanying features that can be utilised for the survival of the crew and for advancing research. The types of resources, Points of Interest, supported wildlife, and other factors vary between biomes - something that you must harness to take full advantage of your surroundings.

When you discover a new biome (by placing and powering a light tower within the biome, or by sending an expedition submarine there) you will learn some of its attributes, which can be viewed in the biome information panel.



Seagrass Dunes: specifically chosen as the location of the research facility, this biome contains a variety of basic resources to support the growth of the base. Small deposits of standard building resources are present throughout this biome, with large concrete and coal extraction points also available. Various wildlife are also present within the starting biome, particularly low-potency varieties of generalist genome species.

Coral Reefs only cover 0.1% of the world’s ocean area but support approx. 25% of marine life. Expanding here will give you access to an abundance of common species, allowing you to expand your general workforce with ease once your cloning infrastructure has been established.

Expanding into the Kelp Forest will give you access to the first advanced resource resources, allowing you to make vital upgrades to your infrastructure. Additionally, the kelp forest has habitats that contain rarer species than those found in the seagrass dunes.



Dark Glows are areas of abundance, containing both advanced building resources and fuels, along with a variety of habitats. The only standard building resources present here is quartz, which is available from both small and large deposits. The biome is primarily populated with the rarer large metal deposits.

Basalt Columns biome is rich in building resources, containing each in some quantity, this area however only provides a small number of coal deposits, with no advanced fuel to be found. Due to the natural structures formed by the columns, some areas can be quite restricted for building.

The Active Volcano biome is an area with exceptional fuel resources, containing large quantities of coal and oil. This biome has little to no building resources due to the corrosive waters that are present as a side effect of volcanic activity.

[h2]Points of Interest (POI)[/h2]
While exploring you might come across several objects scattered around different biomes. These points of interest can consist of anything between a cave system that you can explore and capture new fauna or a sunken ship that you can investigate for research data.

If a POI has been discovered in the darkness through sonar scans, you can issue an expedition submarine and crew to explore it. If the expedition has been completed successfully a flare is dropped, and you can interact with the object, by investigating it and gathering any potential resources or materials.



As you navigate the treacherous waters and progress through the narrative, you will find ‘key points of interest’, vital to your progression through the game.

Next time on Surviving the Abyss:
In the next developer blog, we’ll discuss The Narrative and the Anomaly. See you next time!

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