South Korea smiling gate announced survival RPG adventure If the sun goes down will launch today worldwide in Early Access on PC via Steam for $20.

I took a look at the game and interviewed the CEO of the indie game studio Polymorphicwho made the pirate survival role-playing game, during the Tokyo Game Show recently.

IfSunSets takes place on the island of Luminora and features immersive day and night cycles, each offering distinct gameplay experiences. During the day, players must make the most of every moment by exploring the abundant island to hunt, farm, fish, collect resources, craft materials, build fortifications, and progress by fighting ancient bosses and cursed monsters.

As night falls, gameplay shifts from RPG adventure to survival horror, unleashing swarms of zombie-like monsters that relentlessly stalk the player in an invasion of the undead. Surviving until morning becomes the only goal once the sun sets, with every decision made during the day essential to achieving this goal.

The game is still in development, but it looked pretty good when I played it. My favorite part was swinging a huge pirate sword and killing zombies by the dozens as they swarmed around me. It reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean. I enjoyed this part, but the tables were turned when I fought a giant boss in the shallows.

“It’s a game where you can release some stress,” Polymorph CEO Byunghun Cho said in an interview with GamesBeat, speaking through a translator. “You fight through the horde.”

A 10% early access discount ($17.99) will be available until November 18. The first release from indie studio Polymorph, IfSunSets’ early access period will include both single-player and online co-op, with English, German, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional. Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages ​​supported.

“Our small team of eight is dedicated to creating a polished game that offers something truly new to the survival genre.” Cho said in a statement. “In September, we conducted a Playtest for IfSunSets and collected valuable user feedback. Based on this information, we will integrate various improvements and new content into the Early Access version. Major features and updates to be added in Early Access include world select mode, skill system improvements, night defense improvements, bug fixes, and much more.

“We’ve ensured that a decent amount of content is available at launch and plan to expand it further throughout Early Access,” Cho said. “We will continue to optimize and improve the game while prioritizing community feedback. Our goal is to expand both the depth and breadth of the experience to really make IfSunSets shine.

Early Access for IfSunSets, in particular, will feature five different game modes: “Standard Mode,” in which zombies spawn; “Safe Night Mode”, a world without zombies; “Custom Mode,” which allows players to modify the world as they wish; and two additional modes – easy and hard – with the presence of zombies.

The game features a large open world in which players can collect mystical ores, Cthugha Stones, and discover secrets hidden across the island. You can also build your own custom fortress with traps to stop enemy invaders. You can increase your power by defeating beasts and bosses all over the island.

You can gather resources on the island to craft upgraded weapons and armor, and use various skills in action-packed battles to defeat enemies and level up.

Smilegate has over a billion registered users to date and its flagship franchise is Crossfire, one of the most successful shooter games in history.

Polymorph is a VFX creative studio founded with just two people in 2019 and based in Seoul, South Korea, with expertise in 3D content for films, television, commercials, virtual reality and virtual humans. The company now has eight people and has been working on the game since 2021. It is built with Unreal Engine 5.

The team started out by focusing on creating a survival game, as it was one of the popular genres on Steam. At first, they considered the game to have a dual time period, with a day mode and a night mode. During the night, you must fight hordes of zombies. Although it sounds like Dying Light, Cho said the inspiration was more like Seven Days to Die. A full version is expected next year.