Team17 Digital‘s Protected is a post-apocalyptic strategy survival game that starts out slow and easy, but escalates in intensity when the food supply dwindles and sudden infections, radiation poisoning, and intruders make life difficult.
Protected, which was published in March 2016, currently free to download on the Epic Games Store until September 16, together Nioh: The Complete Edition. I tried Protected no high expectations (usually not a big fan of survival games) but it’s safe to say I was equally pleased and frustrated.
The first task is for you to create your family of five, including a pet (which can be a dog, cat, fish, horse, or snake) and each has its own pros and cons. You can also select the names, gender, skin tone of your familiar characters, and more.
More importantly, you can choose from a variety of traits and stats that play an important role in your character’s efficiency. For example, the “Practical” trait can help you create faster, while the “Proactive” trait allows your character to move faster.
Once you create your family, the game begins. You start the survival journey in your underground shelter and the game does not provide you with any knowledge about the reason behind the post-apocalyptic setting. However, judging from the radiation poisoning when you leave the shelter, it is safe to assume that there may have been a nuclear war. But in this game, the past is not something you should worry about, it is the terrible future full of uncertainties that will keep you on the edge.
A short tutorial on ProtectedBelow are the mechanics, which hardly explain what you need to do in addition to the basics of the game, including crafting, resource gathering, and food and water requirements. Additionally, it describes how going to the surface without a hazmat suit can cause radiation poisoning, how stress and trauma levels play a role in your family’s well-being, and that radio transmissions must always be answered.
The tutorial ends and you must take care of yourself and your family.
My first attempts at Protected It resulted in the eventual downfall of most of my family members in the game, as we used our resources hastily without regard for children. I sent them to the radiation to build a horse stable and fix our water filter without hazmat suits. In short, I initially found the game boring and repetitive.
However, over time I got used to Protected and what I had to do to survive (spoiler alert: my family in the game is still not surviving, and no, Vin Diesel was nowhere to be found).
To carry out daily tasks, updates, and creating new items, you need resources. The best way to find resources is to send your family members on expeditions, which costs water. You get water from rain or trade.
You can select two members of your family to go on expeditions and be sure to equip them with a gas mask. Otherwise, they will come back with radiation poisoning and you will have to waste a lot of medicine and resources to get them back to health.
The resources you get depend on where you send them. Expeditions to a gas station will allow you to earn fuel, while going to a nearby church or home will provide you with water, rope, nails, etc.
It’s also worth noting that your scouts can sometimes encounter NPCs in your path who can be violent, confusing, or friendly. Subduing them and taking all their things away usually works out well for you and your family.
While two members have left on the expedition, other family members can clean the shelter, update the water and oxygen filters, dig extra rooms, sleep, shower, vomit (yes, they vomit a lot), bury corpses. etc.
In essence, Protected It requires you to plan every move and manage your resources as if your life depended on it (it does).
The core mechanics of the game involve repetitive movements that may seem boring and difficult at first, but as you master your duties and return from an expedition with the resources your pixelated family needs to survive, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and joy, and this It comes from someone who doesn’t enjoy playing such survival games.
Protected is currently free to download on the Epic Games Store Until September 16th.