Sun-Scorched and Shadow-Bound

Little is known about Hello Sunshine, a survival game set across a scorching desert developed by Red Thread Games. The goal, as with many survival games is to scavenge for supplies, maintain your mobile base, and of course, foster the relationship between yourself and a massive robot who, at the start at least, cares very little for you. The only issue, it’s your only way of surviving the heat of the desert!

As you can tell, I was immediately captivated by how Hello Sunshine looked, and at Gamescom, I was treated to a hands-off presentation by the developers.

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Expect to see a lot of these two, one is the mascot, the other is your survival.

In the Shade of the Giant

As the presentation began, I meet a woman who appears to be the player character, whether you can customize your own character or not remains to be seen, but regardless, a towering robot awakens nearby as this woman tosses an empty bottle at it, clearly miffed that there’s no water to be had.

The very first thing I noticed was a health bar in the top-left corner of the screen and a gauge in the top-center displaying what appears to be the heat and thirst systems. It’s not long before I noticed that standing out in the open too long would deplete the temperature gauge, and alarmingly, that there wasn’t much shade around. Fortunately, the robot starts moving. While the robot doesn’t care too much for you, it will lumber toward a seemingly unknown destination, and you can use the shade it creates to protect yourself.

Along the way, I saw plenty of subtle hints telling me about the various areas along the way that you could explore, all of which were displayed via the in-game advertisement boards. An example of this was an ad board informing you to “Get your water here”. Paying attention to this and exploring near it, a bottle of water was found, suggesting that you’ll need to pay careful attention to hints such as these if you want to survive.

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The robot won’t wait for you, and you don’t want to get too far away from it.

Further on, I saw the robot make its way to Sunshine Solutions Global, which appeared to be a factory. Sitting outside the factory was a small humanoid robot that could be looted, and here is where I got my first glimpse of how gear works in Hello Sunshine. The gear in question was some Work Boots, and they had several stats on them, such as Stamina Drain, Heat Resistance, Cold Resistance, and Attack Resistance. As you may expect, it appears gear will play a big part in where you can explore and how far out you can go. While it looks like the factory can be explored further in the main game, the presentation skipped over this.

Heading down the road, more ads could be seen on the various boards, and this one had S-Mart on it, surely a supermarket, right? Traversing just past the board, was in fact, a supermarket. Approaching the supermarket, I saw a quest pop-up regarding recycling, and completing it would reward you with some currency. Although the supermarket had been picked full of most of its goods, there were a few supplies to be found, including containers to loot. More importantly, hidden in the back of the store was another piece of equipment, this time both a Work Hat and Trousers. I’m a big fan of games that reward my inquisitive mind, so I was glad to see that there is a reason to fully explore properly.

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The more you help the robot, the better your relationship with it becomes.

I got a glimpse of what could happen if you explore too far out, the temperature gauge was quickly maxed out and your health began to drain. Fortunately, there was another factory nearby, and the shadow by the wall was able to cool you down. Another facility lurked nearby, and another quest popped up, this time to reactivate a bomb. While I didn’t get to see this play out, I did wonder why I would need to do this.

Around the corner, there were some small robotic enemies, and it was here that I got a look at the combat system. At the time, there was only a wrench equipped, but I was told there is a bow that can be used later on as well. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but combat looked smooth, with weight behind every hit, and that was with what I presume was the first starting weapon. The enemies left some scraps behind in their defeat, required for crafting, so it looks like there is a reason to engage in combat.

The Midnight Scramble

After a while, day switched to night. I was told there is a proper day and night cycle in Hello Sunshine, but for demo purposes, this was sped up. At night, then, you have the opposite problem: the heat’s disappeared, but as you may expect, it’s now replaced by the need to find a heat source. The robot sat down on what looked like a charging pad, and I noticed that you could repair it for any damage it took throughout that day. I was told that repairing is directly tied to progression in the form of what level you are and this can be increased by completing quests. At level 2, this opened up the ability to set up camp.

This allows you to cook food for attribute enhancements (buffs), or to simply get some rest. Next to the charging pad is a rest stop that had various amenities, such as a 3D printer and a shower, how these play into the game I wasn’t clued in on. I did, however, notice that you can speak to the robot and interact with it. At first, it didn’t respond, but this can apparently change over the course of the game depending on how much you look after it.

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At night, the land becomes freezing, and the robot will charge. Use this time to build your mobile base.

That was it for the short presentation, but from what I saw, I was extremely impressed, especially the attention to detail and how atmospheric it felt. The sand particles drifting in the wind, getting worse over time and obscuring your vision, and the subtle hints scattered along your path all add to the world that Red Thread Games are building here. But, perhaps, the thing that stuck out for me the most was how alone you are, with your only chance for survival being a giant robot that you need to follow. The fact that its location is unknown to you, and that it had no interest in waiting for you, only added to that intrigue.

Hello Sunshine is an ambitious project that appears to be ticking all the right boxes for me so far. I look forward to getting my hands on this in the near future and really getting stuck into some of the systems on show here.