UFG Goes Hands on With The Culling!

It’s dangerous to be out in the open. Even though there are only five of us left, one wrong move could cost me my life. I’ve already lost a lot of blood taking down that masked freak. How the hell did he get a gun anyway? At any rate, I’ll need to find a better weapon. This knife isn’t going to cut it. Ha…to think, I can still make jokes after all I’ve been through. Crap, someone’s coming. Gotta hide. Stay claim. Wait till he passes you and then stab him in the back. If you’re lucky, he won’t turn around and skewer you with that huge spear he’s carrying…

Setting aside my arguably vain attempt to be compelling, my “narrative” isn’t that misplaced. Though my time with Xaviant’s The Culling wasn’t exactly filled with moments of deep reflection after taking someone’s life, tensions ran high with each and every match. The premise: sixteen contestants are dropped onto a remote island and given twenty minutes to kill each other using whatever they can find.  There’s no story to explain what’s going on beyond this being a strange gameshow; an announcer viewing the events via cameras stationed throughout the island will call out each kill as it happens. That said, the why doesn’t matter as the game is 100% devoted to the experiences offered by the battle royal modes found in survival titles. It’s all about killing or being killed and it’s great because of it.

The best way to elaborate on said greatness would be to describe my first match. After being grouped with a bunch of players, and sitting through a loading screen, I “awoke” in a large metal cage. The only thing I could see was the bright light piercing through the holes at the top of the walls and a timer counting down to my release. My character’s heavy breathing would punctuate the silence as I watched the seconds tick away (he was just as nervous as I was). Once it hit zero and the walls fell away, I immediately started looking for something to defend myself with. Not more than a minute went by before the announcer called out the first kill. Based on his description, someone had stabbed someone else in the back while they were scavenging for supplies. Which was the thing I was trying to do at that very moment – I’m not going to say that I started to panic, but the anxiety was overflowing.

Thankfully, I was able to find some rocks to craft a weapon. Taking time out to complete the tutorial was smart. Still, it was fairly simple to create something worth using. All I had to do was pick up a rock and hit the left trigger while looking at another. From there my character would go about squeezing them together before his hands vanished below the screen. When they returned I had a stone knife. Walking around a bit more allowed me to discover a tree branch. Using the knife and the branch, like the rocks before, I was able to make a spear. Now we’re talking. As I started to relax I heard an explosion followed by the announcer’s gleeful rant. Two more players had been killed.

You would think that items like rocks and tree branches would be abundant on a tropical island. Nope. While they aren’t akin to unicorns in rarity, they can be hard to find. Especially when you’re trying to keep a low profile while you search for weapons; it was easy to overlook an item when you’re constantly checking for danger. A long trek and a few announced kills later I stumbled upon a large building. Inside was a bunch of lockers, one of which had a cross bow. As I picked it up, I caught the glimpse of another player in my peripheral. Because of his close proximity I wasn’t able to bring the bow up to take a shot. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway as I didn’t have any arrows. He swung his axe at me, knocking the bow out of my hands before following up with another swing. I pulled up my spear to block his second attack at the right moment to knock him off guard (thank you tutorial!). I then went on the offense.

Based on his sporadic swings he seemed worried; he wasn’t blocking my attacks or pushing me to lower my guard. At one point he decided to give up and turned to run away. He didn’t make it very far thanks to his low stamina after all of his failed attacks. I brought my spear up and threw it, killing him as hit flew into his back. I got lucky. Still, I was happy to have survived my first encounter with another player. Walking up to investigate his body, I was sad to see that he didn’t drop any items. I did get F.U.N.C though, a type of in-game currency. It can be used to call in loot drops, regenerate life at health stations, and unlock special loot crates; definitely a necessity  for getting the upper hand on coming conflicts. Around nine minutes into the match and the announcer tells us that a kill switch has been activated in the middle of the island. I guess some players had rushed to that location because a few more died shortly before someone pressed it. All of a sudden a mountain of poisonous gas started creeping towards the center of the map. Forgoing my dropped cross bow, I made my way inland to avoid a quick death.

As I made my way towards the center, I somehow ended up on the edge of a cliff. Looking up into the sky, I could see a leaderboard of sorts; it was a list showing the remaining players, the dead players, and who eliminated them. There was only five of us left. I took a moment to celebrate my longevity. A second later an arrow flew by my head. Panicking I jump off the cliff, taking some damage on the way down before running towards an arena. Looking back I could see someone approaching with a sledge hammer. This isn’t going to end well I thought. As he got within the walls of the arena, he was hit in the back of the head with an arrow. There’s only four left now. I figured I would be able to make it if I hid and launched a sneak attack on someone as they fought off another player. Making a break for the outer wall on the opposite end of the arena, I ran into I guy equipping a book bag. It allowed him to carry more items at a time. That didn’t really help him in this case. I had already struck him twice before he could pull his knife. Just then a stick of dynamite landed at our feet. And then there were two.

As I sat at the spectator screen, I saw that I had been rewarded for my efforts. A new pair of pants would be deposited into my account once the match was over. It didn’t really make me feel better for losing but it was cool not to leave empty handed either. Leaning back in my chair, I reflected on my experience. It was thrilling to say the least. The fear of running into someone without adequate weapons during the first few minutes of play was palpable. I don’t think it was because I was afraid of dying. It was more so that I didn’t want to be one of the first killed, forced to watch everyone else play – the good news there being you can quit after you die with no penalties. After I got my bearings and my spear, things changed. It was exciting to hunt while being hunted, not knowing if someone was going pop out from behind a tree wielding a chainsaw.

There are a few areas of concern, but being an Alpha*, they don’t really matter. I mean, yeah it would be nice to have more craftable items or more abilities (besides attack, block, push, and throw/shoot). And the place holder set pieces and animations are just that, place holders. That said, the game never crashed and there were only a few glitches. Visually it wasn’t half bad either. Bottom line, I think Xaviant is on to something here. Even at this early stage of development, The Culling stands out as a unique experience in the survival genre**.

*Though this was a sharing of my experience with the Alpha, the game is now available via Steam Early Access. 

**Yes, I know about H1Z1: King of the Kill. Though similar, the Culling is more like a shooter. It’s fast paced with streamlined mechanics. H1Z1 is features more of the normal survival elements, large groups of players, and zombies. So…yeah!