Image via Sagestone Games
In my experience, there’s a good bit of overlap between fans of cozy games and the survival genre. It makes sense when you think about it, as survival games offer much of the same satisfying grind that we get from farming sims. They often come with a lot of crafting, cooking, and building. However, there’s also the whole “survival” element that can make these games intimidating for newbies and those looking for a more chill vibe. That’s where games like Delverium come in, offering a customizable experience that lets you toggle the difficulty. This option makes for a cozy-optional survival game that lets you decide the penalty when you die. And for me, it turns out to be just the right formula for a game I didn’t want to put down.
Delverium is a pixel-art, sandbox survival adventure for 1-8 players. When you start the game, you can toggle the survival settings and difficulty for your world, so you decide how easygoing it will be. As you explore and build up your base, you also realize this world is hiding secrets just waiting to be uncovered. It’s the perfect blend of open-ended grind and engaging lore that rewards your exploration.
Key Details
- Developer: Sagestone Games
- Publisher: Sagestone Games
- Platforms: PC via Steam (Early Access)
- Co-op: Yes, both local and online
- Price: $12.49 (with 20% discount at launch)
- Review Code Provided: Yes, for PC via Steam
Customization Lets You Enjoy the Grind Without the Punishment
I’m a big fan of survival games in general, but that doesn’t mean I’m good at them. In fact, I tend to get killed off pretty often in games like Valheim, and it can get pretty frustrating. That’s why I was pleased to see that Delverium lets you customize your challenge level. When creating your character, you can choose the death penalty from an array of options. Lose all your coin, your item inventory, suffer character permadeath or… nothing. Yes, you can set Delverium so there’s no penalty for death except getting kicked back to your spawn point. That means you can craft a truly cozy survival experience where combat doesn’t come with stakes, or you can set the highest stakes imaginable. This will help Delverium appeal to a wide array of survival gaming fans, and in my case, it let me have the cozy survival experience I yearn for.
Like many sandbox survival games, Delverium doesn’t do much hand-holding. You get thrown right in, with one NPC who gives you an early goal to work towards. Beyond that, you set your own objectives for the most part. Despite the lack of a tutorial, the controls and gameplay are intuitive enough that it’s easy to settle into the groove. Your general goal is to explore, and to do that, you’ll need to upgrade your armor, weapons, and farm so you can survive the depths. Along with the overworld, there’s a vast underground realm to explore. In that way, it reminds me a lot of Core Keeper, and I do mean that as a compliment.
If you like the build, craft, farm, cook grind, Delverium is going to deliver. You can even raise animals, and I’m slightly obsessed with the fact that you can get new critters for your farm by just scooping them up in your net. Few things have delighted me quite like the first time I used my net to scoop up a baby chick and take it back to my base. Many of the mechanics are like this, offering multiple uses for your core tools to keep things simple yet satisfying. Your sword can also serve to harvest crops, and you’ll use your pick to mine and make new tunnels in the depths. As you explore, you’ll also uncover new clues that not all is as it seems in this new, pixel art world. Notes and records will reveal something strange is afoot, adding more rewards to seek out as you explore.
Delverium Skips a Few Survival Staples, But I Kept Coming Back for More
If I have one complaint about Delverium‘s early access build, it’s that a few of my favorite survival staples don’t seem to be in play. Your character doesn’t have a hunger or thirst gauge, for instance. Instead, food serves mainly as a way to heal when you take damage in combat. That’s all well and good, but I like the realism of having to make food for my character as part of that daily survival gaming grind. Similarly, you don’t have a stamina bar or suffer ill effects from being out at night. In terms of leaning into a cozy survival vibe, this makes a lot of sense. But I did find myself wishing these options were part of the customization offered at the start, because weirdly, losing my inventory when dying isn’t cozy to me, but the risk of starvation if I don’t cook my next meal is.
Even with a few features I found myself missing, I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen from Delverium‘s Early Access build so far. It’s got all the core gameplay goodness I look for in a sandbox survival game, with intuitive controls and satisfying rewards for exploration. The pixel-art graphics look great, and the game progression feels pretty natural. As you explore, you come up against areas that prove the need to level up your equipment, creating natural goals that unfold as you uncover more of the game’s map. I can definitely see myself losing many more hours to Delverium, and feeling good doing it.
Final Score: 9/10
Whether you are a longtime survival game fan or a cozy gamer curious about the genre, Delverium has something to offer you. Thanks to its flexible settings, you can tweak the difficulty to suit your playstyle. And with multiplayer available, you can create a cozy base with your friends or go it alone, per your preference. Even in Early Access, the game feels polished and ready for action, and I look forward to seeing where Sagestone Games takes it from here.
**Bonus Action was provided with a PC copy of Delverium via Steam for the purpose of this review**
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