Lone Survivor

About Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor was made by Jasper Byrne over five years and released on PC and Mac in 2012 by Superflat Games. The Director's Cut added new areas, a new enemy type, three sidequests and two new endings, and came to PlayStation through Curve Digital, including a PS4 version. In 2022 the game was rebuilt in a new engine as Super Lone Survivor, for Windows and Nintendo Switch, with hidden areas, two new sidequests, new foods, enemies and combat tools, three difficulty settings, controller support and remastered audio with new music. The Director's Cut stays on Steam as a legacy version and is still sold on GOG.

A disease has turned the city's people into shambling mutants, and the man in the surgical mask may be the last one left in his apartment block. He is out of food, short of sleep and no longer sure how much of what he sees is real. You explore the building and later the streets in side view, searching rooms for food, batteries, bullets and odd items, following leads from a radio and voices on tape.

The creatures are drawn to light and noise. You can turn the flashlight off and slip past them in the shadows, lure them away with rotten meat, or shoot them with the little ammunition you find. The apartment is your base: you sleep there to save and to keep your mind steady, cook better meals, and can talk to a toy cat or look after a real one. Pills from the bathroom keep you awake or bring strange dreams, at a cost. How you eat, sleep, fight and treat the few people you meet shapes the story and which ending you reach.

Its pixel art and its music, by Byrne himself, give it a sad, dreamlike tone that owes a lot to Silent Hill. It suits players who want a short, thoughtful survival horror game where how you live matters as much as whether you survive.

How to play Lone Survivor

1. Explore the apartment block and the city in side view, searching rooms for food, batteries, ammunition and other items.
2. Return to your apartment to eat, cook and sleep; sleeping is how you save, and it keeps the survivor's mind steady.
3. Use the two-way mirrors you find to jump straight back to the apartment.
4. Keep the flashlight off when you can; the creatures follow light and noise, so hide in the shadows, lure them away, or shoot when you have to.
5. Follow the leads from the radio, notes and maps, and choose how you treat the people and voices you meet.
6. Play again for the other path and endings.

Tips

• The menus and the map do not pause the game, so check them somewhere safe.
• Reloading the pistol happens on its own and leaves you open, so count your shots.
• Drop rotten meat to draw creatures away from a corridor you need.
• Fixing the stove lets you cook better food, which keeps the survivor in better shape.
• Pills have side effects on his mind; lean on food and sleep instead if you want a clearer ending.

Questions