Prologue, the new survival game from Brendan Greene, the creator of PUBG, is out now in early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store. What looks at first like a stripped-down survival title quickly reveals itself as a cold, beautiful, and unforgiving test of navigation and basic human problem-solving.
At the center of Prologue is its world-building tech. Each run spawns a fresh, realistic-feeling 64 km² map dotted with cabins and one lone weather station, marked by a tall tower and a flashing red light. The stated goal is simple. Leave your starting cabin and reach that weather station. In practice, the trip is a slow-motion puzzle of terrain and weather that punishes shortcut thinking.
There are no minimaps or waypoint markers. Players must read a paper map, use a compass, and work out routes across woodlands, cliffs, rivers, and quagmires. Hunger, thirst, and body temperature are constant threats. Sudden blizzards can turn a clear route into a life-or-death slog unless you find shelter, build a fire, or dress for the cold. That scarcity of handholding makes every choice feel meaningful and every mistake expensive.
Prologue does not lock players into one way to play. Custom settings let people tune weather systems and survival parameters to their taste. For those who want to play the endurance game, there is an endless mode called Objective Survive that removes the weather tower goal and asks players to hold out as long as possible. If curiosity or photography is the priority, Free Roam bootstraps a new world for quiet exploration and learning.
A map editor ships with early access. Designers can import layouts that Prologue’s procedural system will transform into playable landscapes. It is a neat shortcut to building interesting terrain without handcrafting every ridge and river.
Prologue is an unforgiving loop by design. Your inventory resets on each run and the world is never the same twice. That resets the reward structure. Progress comes not from permanent gear but from learning to read the landscape and improvise under pressure.
Developer PlayerUnknown Productions has already outlined a roadmap that includes more cooking options, living waterways that freeze during extreme cold, and support for Steam Deck. In a previous interview with Brendan Greene, he revealed that the game goes deeper into the technical challenge of creating Go Wayback and the goals behind Prologue.
Prologue will not be for everyone. Its lack of base-building and the absence of permanent progression will frustrate players who want an endless campaign of unlocks. It will delight those who like being put in a cold landscape with a map and a single objective and told to figure it out. Either way, it is an uncommonly focused survival experiment from a developer known for large-scale multiplayer.
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