I Am Future Preview

I Am Future is not your typical survival game. Sure, whilst the post-apocalyptic world is undoubtedly fraught with danger, there's something more important than just staying alive — building your dream apocalypse home amidst the chaos.

The latest title from developer Mandragora, I Am Future, puts you in control of a red-haired survivor who awakes atop a skyscraper roof in the densely flooded and overgrown Cosmopolis. Fresh from a lengthy hibernation, the survivor is confused about the world's state and who he is. From here you guide the hero, and with the help of some AI bots, you’ll adapt to the basics of surviving in this environment. So you begin to explore the desolate and devastated city rooftops, gathering resources and scavenging for food and supplies.

I know it's the apocalypse and we have to make do, but that seat must be awful for your posture.

You’ll have to make sure you’re fully sustained with food and water, as your sustenance meter will dwindle slowly throughout the day, taking your health along with it. I Am Future does a fantastic job of easing you into the different aspects of surviving, pointing you in the right direction to develop self-sustaining sources of food, as well as developing better harvesting tools. The game provides tasks for you to follow to get yourself set with the gameplay loop. However, it's worth noting that these tasks don’t need to be followed strictly. The objectives are conveniently displayed in the top right corner of the screen, allowing you the freedom to explore the unlocked areas of the rooftop at your leisure. Unlocking further parts of the roof you start on means having to learn how to overcome obstacles and locate parts for upgraded machinery and tools.

You’ll be led to new mechanics as you progress, such as fishing in the flooded waters for both parts and food, tending to your gardens, and dismantling objects for spare parts. Many of the items you see lying around can be broken down into resources, with furniture and trees being transformed into planks and other seemingly useless bits of rubbish being able to be turned into plastic. It’s not all calm resource collecting and building, however, as when nightfall arrives, the creepy crawlies come out to cause chaos. Glowing green caterpillars will spawn from the toxic plant beds that you’re unable to destroy just yet, spreading around the roof to turn into smaller toxic plants. You can destroy these ones luckily with a craftable spray, however, if you’re fresh out, you can also just give them a good old-fashioned smack at the cost of draining your health.

The end of the world and there's still a redhead with a guitar...

Visually, I Am Future employs a sort of gentle cell-shaded side that lends itself well to the calm atmosphere of the game and coupled with a relaxed guitar-focused soundtrack, the title cultivates a beautifully discordant atmosphere against the apocalyptic backdrop. Maybe I’m looking too deeply into it, but it reminded me that sometimes you need to take a break from the chaos and focus on self-care.

I couldn’t get enough of I Am Future’s preview build, and with a tantalising cliffhanger just as the game world begins to open up, it has me counting down the days until launch. I see myself getting lost for hours in the comfortable loop of collecting resources and expanding my little apocalypse paradise base. Fire up a podcast in the background or the latest season of the show you’re bingeing on your TV, grab your tools, and get to work. When the world is falling apart all around you, sometimes all you need is a good game and a refreshing beverage to de-stress and catch your breath. I Am Future heads out of Early Access and into full release on the 8th of August 2023!