The first person shooter, or FPS, has been at the core of action games for so very long, so as gamers have seen what feels like every iteration of what could be in the genre. Inter Pixel Arts, while not the first to do it, believes wholeheartedly that same fun play style can be renewed by changing the aesthetic on its head.

With the look and feel popularized by Minecraft with block style worlds, including characters and weapons, it’s a definitely a new look, and one might think this wouldn’t lend itself to that combat heavy genre but that person would be wrong. We have seen something like this before in Blockstorm but while that focused on the multiplayer arena, Block Survival is a fusion of the FPS, and a survival game in the vein of ARK.  You play as an adventurer thrown into a new world with insane islands that you must navigate and survive. Each island is completely unique, and has an incredible cast of enemies like mummies, soldiers, wizards, pirates and pretty much everything else in between. It’s always interesting to see something new around the corner, and then kill it immediately.

While having traditional survival elements, like crafting, food and health management, and combat, the game does feel like this was a side note since the crafting is very light, and recipes are everywhere. Not to mention, while there are different bars for health and hunger, since all you do to regain health is to eat food, it fills up both bars so I can’t figure out what the point is in having both. So, if survival is secondary, then the combat must be prominent, and in that way the game shines with a vast array of baddies, and very interesting environments that could be admired on their own, without needing to play through. However, you have to level up to gain speed for movement, and this really does hamper what could be a really great experience. I’m not expecting lightning fast DOOM or anything, but it takes a long time to level up, and slow combat in an FPS is just a real mood killer.

Combat can be fun for sure, but even when there aren’t any enemies, Block Survival has the greatest quality of just being FUN. It’s an adventure through and through, and with just the little bit of story sprinkled in between levels with some comic panels gives it enough flavor to fit the great landscapes and crazy monuments. The difficulty curve is almost perfect, with letting you find a way around things you can’t deal with yet for now, or letting you go hog wild in a hailstorm of bullets. With a decent soundtrack to keep you engaged, it’s a feast for the eyes and the soul, and while it’s not breaking any technical or design boundaries, it is deceptively addicting, and with such a small price tag, it’s easy to pick up and have fun.