The Forever Winter release date, gameplay features, platforms, and more

The Forever Winter, an upcoming extraction looter-shooter, is coming to Steam on September 24 as an Early Access release. In an increasingly crowded PvE extraction niche, this debut offering from Fun Dog Studios will distinguish itself by putting the player near the bottom of the food chain. Instead of outgunning the big bad, you're just a survivor trying to get away with whatever you can scavenge.

Announced in February 2024 during the annual IGN Fan Fest, The Forever Winter has already arrested the attention of many extraction-shooter enthusiasts. If you're unfamiliar with the title, we'll share all the essential details in this article.

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What kind of game is The Forever Winter?

The Forever Winter is an extraction shooter game in the same vein as 2022's Marauders. In this genre, your main goal is to scavenge resources, fulfill critical or optional objectives, and hopefully escape to safety in one piece.

You're better off being a loot goblin than a hero in this gritty, fallen world. As a lowly scavenger, you try your best to navigate war-torn battlefields populated by giant AI automata, rival factions, and zombies. Death has big consequences, as you'll lose all the items in your inventory if your squad gets wiped. However, but you can stash items permanently for some gradual growth.

The Forever Winter will have five characters on release (Image via Fun Dog Studios)

To sell this 'Small Fish In A Big Apocalypse' fantasy, The Forever Winter boasts a dynamic encounter system. You're not the center of the world, but someone on the periphery trying to survive in its dreg heaps. Its radiant subroutines continue in your presence or absence, as enemies will focus on their own agenda and fight each other. You're incentivized to roll with the punches and outwit the system. Hence, stealth is a viable strategy to succeed.

That said, the game heavily features confrontational gunplay a la Helldivers 2 if the occasion fits it. It's not a full-fledged power fantasy like many looter-shooters, but there is an in-depth progression system with character classes, dozens of weapons, and mods to experiment with builds.

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How much is The Forever Winter?

The Forever Winter Early Access will be priced at $27. According to the Early Access announcement trailer, there will be no direct in-app purchases, but some skin/cosmetic bundles will be released later. The developers also promise no pay-to-win mechanics or conveniences; your gear has to be earned through luck or skill.

According to its Store Page, the game will still retain its $30 price point at the full release in the future.

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Will The Forever Winter be on consoles (Xbox and PlayStation)?

On release, The Forever Winter will only be available on PC (Steam). No Xbox or PlayStation release has been planned yet, but the developers are not entirely opposed to the idea. Depending on the game's success, console availability might be on the distant horizon.

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Will The Forever Winter Have an offline solo mode?

Even though it's meant to be a co-op experience, The Forever Winter sessions will be p2p lobbies hosted locally. This means you can play solo, and also theoretically play offline by hosting your own local server. When solo, your team will be populated by AI buddies to help your junk run.

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Will The Forever Winter have PvP gameplay?

The Forever Winter will have no PvP on launch. It is unlikely that any PvP encounter system will ever make it to the game due to both lore and gameplay reasons.

The Forever Winter won't have any PvP (Image via Fun Dog Studios)

Many extraction shooters like Dark and Darker use a PvPvE system to ramp up the tension and complexity of an otherwise straightforward goal. The Forever Winter is instead PvEvE, where the tussle between in-game AI factions will provide this spice of life.

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Does The Forever Winter have a full release date?

No. The Forever Winter is releasing on Early Access on September 24, 2024, but any concrete full-release window has not materialized yet. The Early Access will last an indefinite amount of time, per the game's Steam Store page.

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The Forever Winter Trailer

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