Project Winter from Other Ocean is a social game about deception and survival, set in a harsh environment. Learn more in our Project Winter review!

 

Project Winter from Other Ocean is a social game about deception and survival, set in a harsh environment. If you want a quick explanation of what that means, think Among Us but set in a harsh land where ice and snow are all around you, and you have to fight not only the weather and the low supplies but also the other members of the group since one of you will act as a traitor who must manipulate the others while trying to shift the blame around in order to not get caught.

Because of this, Project Winter is the type of game that relies heavily on social interaction, so you’ll have to communicate with other players so that you can work together as a team to solve the issues that are keeping you from staying alive. When you start to play, you’ll be assigned either to the survivors or the traitors. Only the traitors know who the other traitors are, so they’ll have to work together to keep the survivors from escaping while trying not to raise any suspicions about their true motives.

Teamwork is also key for survivors. If you try to do things on your own, odds are you’re going to fall to the harsh elements, to the wildlife, or by way of a traitor. As a survivor, you’ll be working on different objectives for the benefit and wellbeing of the entire group – yes, traitors included. Since you don’t know who you can and can’t trust, you’ll have to assume everyone is good until you start to experience the true nature of the traitors. Survivors will have to work on repairs, always in communication with other players to speed things up.

 

You’ll move your character with the left analog stick, interacting by pressing and holding down the X button. Your inventory can be checked with the D-Pad, and you can drop an item with the Circle button. To use an item, press the R2 button. You can eat something or use an item, but if you have an empty slot, you can punch with the R2 button. If you find a radio, you can press the R1 button to talk to other players who have a radio of the same colors. The triangle button will be for using emotes you can select with the right analog stick. If you’re near other players, you can use proximity chat with the L1 button. There’s also the option of the always classy text chat, which you can bring up by pressing the Touchpad on the DualShock 4.

Survival is key for Project Winter, so you’ll have to keep an eye on your health, your overall warmth, and your hunger. Health will decrease when you’re attacked by other players or animals or if you fall into a trap, and it will also decrease at a steady pace if you’re not warm enough or if you’re really hungry. Warmth depletes the moment you step outside of the cabin, with blizzards having a major impact on your warmth level, so be sure to stay near a fire or find your way back to the cabin ASAP! For your hunger, you’ll have to eat, but since resources aren’t plentiful, you’ll need to make every bite count. Grab some berries or meat, and satisfy your hunger so that you have a shot at outsmarting the traitors!

The cabin is a safe space in Project Winter. The cabin is where you can easily communicate with other players, relax for a bit as your warmth level recovers from the massive cold outside, and it also slows down your hunger for a bit. Players won’t be able to attack each other inside of the cabin, which is great news since it allows you to relax and unwind. You can cook in the cabin thanks to its stove, and there’s also a workbench to craft items to help you survive when out in the wilderness.

 

At the cabin, there’s a voting box that can be used by players to exile other players from the cabin, which can be useful when you think you’ve spotted a traitor in the group. There’s also a bounty board outside of the cabin where you can take on bonus challenges to boost your score, but you do need to know you will be penalized if you don’t complete the challenge. Oh, and when you’ve completed all of the escape tasks, you can use the radio in the cabin to call and escape from your current situation.

When playing Project Winter, if you’re matched with other survivors, you’ll have to work hard to gain access to bunkers that will contain resources that can be very useful for your survival. Repair tasks must be completed so that you can escape from the harsh winter all around you, so search around the map to find the repair consoles while you grab any items you find along the way. You can repair the power station, make the most of the cipher station, and even dig around at the right spots to find repair parts. You’re on a timer since you need to escape before the mega blizzard hits since it will destroy everything on its path.

If, on the other hand, you’re in the group of the traitors, you’ll have access to special traitor crates that can only be popped open by traitors, granting you traitor credits that can be used for sabotage while also boosting your stats. That’s the good news. The bad news? They’re extremely noisy to open, so they can end up alerting other players to your location and the fact that you’re a traitor! If you do your job and sabotage survivors every step of the way, you’ll get a traitor airdrop to reward you for your efforts.

 

The more you play, the more of the in-game currency you’ll receive. You can obtain survivor points for every game that you play, for harvesting resources, and for surviving through the whole ordeal. These can be used to unlock new items to customize your character. There are also winter artifacts that are awarded at a slower pace since they’re given to you by playing on a daily basis. If you want to speed things up, you can complete bonus challenges, but there’s still going to be a limit on how many winter artifacts you can obtain for each day that you play.

As for the trophies, this one has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy. The list includes 27 Bronze trophies, 17 Silver trophies, and 3 Gold trophies, with objectives such as exploring all of the map during a single game, playing ten games without killing someone, being the only one left alive in the end, chopping down 100 trees, destroying 75 rocks, harvesting 200 berries, knocking down ten survivors as a traitor, completing five bonus objectives, defeating two traitors in a game as a survivor, or crafting 20 items, to name some examples.

Project Winter mixes the deception and social interaction side of games such as Among Us while also adding some survival elements into the mix to keep things feeling fresh. It’s a fun online multiplayer game that will keep you busy for a while, and since you’ll be playing as a survivor or a traitor depending on where the game slots you, you will always be working towards different goals. Add a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, and you have a game that will certainly be entertaining.

Project Winter is out on PlayStation 4 with a $19.99 asking price. There’s also a DLC called Blackout that you can get for $6.99, which adds a new game mode with an interesting twist. The Blackout DLC adds the Conversion Mode, which gives traitors two new roles: the Demon and the Whisperer. The Demon traitor can possess survivors who have been downed to convert them to the traitor group. The Whisperer will stay close to the main group while passively converting survivors to bring them to the traitor gang. Survivors also get new roles: Medium, Hunter, Padre, and Yeti. On top of this, a new map is also added for the Blackout games. Oh, and the Blackout DLC also adds nine additional trophies for you to work on!

Disclaimer
This Project Winter review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Other Ocean.