PlayerUnknown’s new survival game Prologue: Go Wayback! is running a free playtest
One of the most popular games to date, PUBG, was created by Brendan Greene who then went on to set up his own studio called PlayerUnknown Productions. The studio's first project called Prologue: Go Wayback! was unveiled last year (in 2024) as an upcoming hardcore survival game that heavily emphasizes body temperature. The game is currently free to play for those who join the official Discord server and request a key.
The closed beta playtest for Prologue: Go Wayback! started on May 7 and will run till May 14. Those interested in checking out the early stage game can hop on over to the official Discord server and get a key through the #playtest-signup channel. PlayerUnknown Productions is offering both Steam and Epic Games Store keys.
Speaking with Epic Games Store recently, Greene and Creative Director is Scott Davidson shared some details about Prologue: Go Wayback! and it laying the groundwork for a much bigger project. The game uses machine learning for landscape generation and is set in a forested wilderness. It heavily focuses on body temperature and that ties in with other survival metrics. “When your hunger and thirst go down, you lose the ability to regulate your temperature, so your temperature is going to drop faster," said Davidson.
Unlike other survival games where players can craft a campfire, Go Wayback! will involve a more detailed process for lighting a fire. “You have to start with pieces of paper and cardboard, you light those with some sticks on top. Then the sticks catch light, and then you can put logs on top, and then the logs will burn over time. And then you just keep feeding the fire with a couple of logs, and it will keep going and keep giving heat, and the heat is retained within structures,” Davidson explained.
Work on Prologue: Go Wayback! will further the development of Project Artemis, the more ambitious project by PlayerUnknown Productions, said to feature an Earth-sized map. Using “Guided Generation” as the team calls it, Go Wayback! and Project Artemis will use a mixture of procedural generation, machine learning, and handcrafted art.
