Known as one of the top open-world survival games, Facepunch Studio’s Rust first made its mark on the gaming world in 2013. This initial version, called “Legacy,” was an early release that showcased exciting but ruthless gameplay, and despite its basic graphics, caught on quickly in the gamer’s community. An official version of the game was launched in February 2018.
Rust offers an intriguing plot with stimulating gameplay and a few different modes to test your skills. It begins on a captivating island where you must embark on your journey in the wilderness, ward off danger, and collect any and every item you can – simply to survive.
The game has multiple servers you can join with the option of hosting your own, too, and is available on PC (through Steam) along with PlayStation and Xbox.
So, what is Rust really all about? Let’s find out:
Rust Game Review
The Rust Plot:
You begin the game asleep, without any clothes, on the coast of a far-off island, and once you wake up, you have only one main goal: do anything you can to survive. After a certain period, the map will clear, and you will spawn on another island.
Somehow, your only possessions include a highly durable rock and a trusty torch for the dark. Using these items, you must navigate through the map, collect more materials, gather food items, and even fend off unfriendly players to stay alive. On this mysterious island, if you die, you will spawn again and start from scratch.
Rust fans have different theories about how you end up on the island in the first place. Some claim it’s a Hunger Game’s inspired science experiment while others propose a wipeout of humans leaving only a few behind on the island.
Suspenseful, Stimulating Gameplay:
As soon as Rust gameplay begins, your character will wake up on the island without any clothes and an inventory with a rock and torch. Course through several terrains including land, water, and mountains, day and night, and changing weather conditions by foot. That continues until you find yourself something to travel on like a vehicle, horse, or even a hot air balloon or boat.
When you first see the game screen, you will notice inventory – a compass at the top, and a few bars at the bottom of the screen. Open the map for an overview of the entire world along with points of interest. It also shows your location and if you respawn, where you died last time.
Using your good-for-everything rock, you can break and collect different materials, like wood from a tree, that are stored in your inventory and further used to create objects. The Quick Craft option in the inventory lets you create things like fire, tools, weapons, a house, and even furniture depending on the things you have gathered. You can also use food items from the inventory to eat directly or cook on a fire. The bars account for your character’s health, hunger, dehydration, feeling too cold, or if your character gets wet from rain or going in the water. Watch out for warnings such as low health or starvation – you will need to find bandages or eat something, respectively.
When you’re exploring each corner of your environment, you’ll also come across many other players. Approach someone and make friends by using voice chat to communicate – you may even learn a thing or two from an experienced player. However, not all of them will be friendly.
Your rock will come in handy to get rid of, or brutally kill enemies that try to attack you. Once you kill another player, you acquire his materials. However, if another player offs you first, you will respawn, and your inventory will reset.
You can also die or get wounded by dangerous objects like going through barbed wire or animals like wolves throughout the maps. Try to turn the tables and kill wolves instead for food – just remember to build a nice big fire to cook it.
The Four Main Game Modes
Rust has four main game modes: Vanilla, Survival, Softcore, and Hardcore. The default is Vanilla mode, which Facepunch advises not to use. Instead, use Survival, which is essentially the same thing with a different name.
Softcore mode is like Survival, but with a few changes to make the game easier. For example:
- The maximum team size is four players
- You will always respawn in a safe zone
- and your character will not lose all loot when you die
Hardcore gameplay is tougher than the previous two because it limits many features. The map is not visible, there are no safe zones, no compass, there is only a local chat instead of global, and you cannot mark people as friends or enemies. However, as of November this year, Facepunch decided to shut down all official Hardcore servers.
Smooth and Fresh Graphics:
The newest 2020 Rust version has smooth, crisp, and realistic graphics and animations with fine details in terrains, trees, water, buildings, and more. But the game didn’t always look that way.
The initial 2013 Legendary release of the game showed somewhat crude and choppy graphics and animations without including much detail in the environments. It was clear that developers chose to focus on other aspects of the game rather than graphics. Needless to say, it still got the job done.
Rust graphics have shown a lot of improvements since the first version. Significant! For example, doors were made of a slab of metal without proper animations for opening and closing. The latest version has very realistic, detailed doors with smooth opening and closing animations. Additionally, now trees move with the wind whereas they were static before, and you can spot waves forming in the water.
Is Rust Worth the Hype?
The game continuously keeps you on edge, where you try to explore a new world and survive. But is it worth it for all the gamers out there? If you are into an aggressive, extremely competitive game with an added element of crafting, Rust is for you. However, if you prefer a mellow gameplay environment or get squeamish at the sight of realistic-looking blood, you should stay clear, since you’d see a lot of that. Overall, it’s an enticing open-world thriller available on multiple platforms. Exactly how much is rust? The PC version, only through Steam, comes at $34.99 – but it’s up to your gaming style and preferences to decide if it’s worth it.
Rust is available on Steam
*The content of this blog post was written by a paid freelancer.