DRAGO Entertainment has recently released a brand new demo for their brutally cold Winter Survival. With it, we got a look at the newest additions to their unique sanity system.

In most survival games you must take care of your hunger, thirst, energy/stamina, and sometimes temperature. However, in Winter Survival, you also have to overcome the psychological effects that surviving has on your mind, adding a deeper level to the survival experience. Neglecting your needs will affect your mental well-being, and when it reaches 100%, the sanity system will activate. The next time you rest in a bed it throws a negative effect at you like 25% less max health or temporarily burns out parts of your adaptation tree which is this game’s version of a skill system. In order to rid yourself of these effects, you must complete challenges such as walking 5,000 steps or killing two animals, it will tell you which one you need to do when you wake up.

Not only do you have to deal with these temporary effects, but you also get to choose a permanent symptom. We got an early look back in the prologue last year, when you were able to choose between seeing imaginary animals or non-existing roadblocks that disappeared as you got close.

During this demo, we get to see new options to choose from, while some of the old ones have been tweaked as well.

First, Coimetrophobia which is a fear of graves. There are multiple graves dotted around the map. With this symptom, your stamina will deplete when you’re near a grave. The closer you get, the faster your stamina will decrease.

The Delusional Predator will make you see phantom wolves. These will appear throughout your journey and look just like the real deal until they jump at you and disappear. 

Similarly, the Delusional Prey will add ghostly deer and rabbits, making hunting for food more difficult.

What do you think of Winter Survival’s sanity system? Let me know in the comments.