Dungeon Siege and Valheim had a baby, and it’s really addictive
Let's get our survival on!
Ever wanted to play Dungeon Siege 2, but with Valheim’s survival mechanics mixed in? Me either, but I’m really glad I gave Beyond the Map a shot. It’s my pick for the Steam Next Fest demo of the week so far, so let’s dive into some details.
Beyond the Map Shows Heaps of Promise
The survival crafting genre has seen an influx of unoriginal and, quite frankly, boring entries of late. Everyone seems keen to stick to a formula and just pump out another generic title. Beyond the Map, while it still mostly sticks to the formula, has a lot going for it.
Firstly, the Dungeon Siege-style gameplay and combat are weirdly nostalgic, and the crafting is simple and fun. The skills system, however, is more akin to old-school Diablo, where you need to secure skill tomes from enemies to learn new abilities.
The premise is simple. You wash up on a beach, gather resources, and build a base. You then upgrade your kit to the next tier and repeat. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and it’s hard to explain what makes Beyond the Map better than many recent survival titles I’ve played. Maybe it is just the weird sense of nostalgia.
Maybe it’s the simplicity of it. You can just about switch your brain off and have some good old survival fun. It’s almost… cozy.
The progression feels good, though, and personally, I can’t wait for the full release.
You can play the Beyond the Map demo until at least Monday, 16 June, so get cracking if you want to try it out and wishlist it in anticipation of the early access release, which should be somewhere in Q3, 2025. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, it already feels very nicely polished.
