While all you Subnautica fans have an exciting sequel on the way, here’s a freshly revealed survival game that ticks a lot of the same boxes while adding its own spin on things. While you won’t be diving down to depths quite as extreme as Subnautica, the absolutely stunning The Last Caretaker will take you on an open-world, ocean-bound adventure that involves plenty of environmental puzzles, a home base on a boat, flashy FPS combat, strange enemy creatures, and a rather unusual end goal – growing humans, packing them into a rocket, and blasting them off into outer space.
It feels like the survival game genre has never been as popular and crowded as it is right now. Despite the intense competition, there’s a constant stream of newcomers. Now entering the fray is The Last Caretaker, the debut game from small Finnish studio Channel37. In this survival FPS game, you become a Caretaker, a sweet little robot with a big purpose – save humanity. After humans left the Earth to live among the stars, they left behind legions of Caretakers who would protect Seed Vaults – stores of embryos that would be the key to keeping humanity going in their new galactic era. It’s also a Caretaker’s job to, when called upon, take these embryos, grow them into actual people, and then shoot them up in a rocket to join the colonies up in space. However, as the name of the game suggests, you are now the last robot left – no pressure.
As mentioned, The Last Caretaker is a seafaring adventure. In this oceanic realm, you’ll explore open waters in your trusty boat, which acts as your home base. You’ll have to upgrade, repair, and power your boat in order to reach every corner of the map. Scattered across the ocean you’ll find lots of locations built on oil rig-style platforms. While the humans may have left long ago, you won’t be alone, as a host of bizarre creatures will stand in your way. Luckily, you’ll be able to find or build weapons to gun them down, but be warned – ammo is in short supply and must be crafted from scrap materials you find.
While the biological protagonists in most survival games typically have parameters such as hunger, thirst, and temperature that you need to manage, things are a little different for your robot Caretaker. Alongside your health bar, your main limitation will be power. Every action you perform drains your Caretaker’s battery life, and you can even use yourself as a walking power station by plugging yourself into weapons, machines, and gadgets to power them up. You’ll also find battery cells and generators where you can replenish your own energy too. Of course, those human survival factors will still be relevant, as you’ll need to find food and water to nurture and grow your incubating earthlings.
In fact, the game’s intricate and realistic systems of resources, power supplies, cables, pipes, and machines is what impressed me the most about it when I got the chance to see some pre-reveal gameplay. Everything is interconnected and contextual. Power never appears out of thin air – oil-fueled generators, solar panels, turbines, or batteries must be present. Cables and hoses have limited reaches but can wrap around the environment. Pieces of junk can be lobbed into machines that grind it down to create materials. From firing up fabricators, to solving environmental puzzles, this physics-based, systemic network is a great asset to The Last Caretaker.
Despite watching footage from an early build, I have to say that this game looks great too. Given you’re always surrounded by the ocean, it’s only right that The Last Caretaker has excellent water effects. The dynamic weather events are very atmospheric. Interiors have a 1980s and ‘90s tech vibe. The interface of computer terminals resembles what you find in Fallout. It all marries up really well.
The Last Caretaker is aiming to launch in early access in summer 2025. You can wishlist it on Steam right here.
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