Duckside is a challenging survival game with wings

Rust and DayZ are the two juggernauts that people normally think of when they think about survival games. Trying to compete with them is a tall task, but tinyBuild Riga went into this project with a plan. It was a plan that few could have expected. Imagine Rust or DayZ, but you're a duck. It's an idea that sounds absurd on the surface, but in an odd sort of way, it works. Shacknews recently jumped into the world of Duckside and saw the potential for this survival romp.

Duckside doesn't take long to present the player with everything that's familiar with survival games alongside the game's main gimmick that sets it apart from its contemporaries. Duckside takes players into the great outdoors, starting them off in a forest landscape, surrounded by trees, hills, and lakes. Players are instructed to try out the crafting system and, already, things start to feel off the rails. The idea is to peck at trees and bushes for common items and use them to craft weapons and other items. The general rule-of-thumb for this game is not to overthink things. Don't worry about how a duck is wielding a bow. It just is.

The general rules of survival games are in place. Take the various resources across the world and use them to build shelter. Place a sleeping bag nearby to respawn, but focus mainly on building a place to call your own and then protect it from raiders. So far, so Rust-y. Where Duckside begins to set itself apart is through its traversal.

Duckside's main way to get around is to fly. Not to put a fine point on it, but you're a duck in this game. Ducks can fly and the flight mechanics in this game are pretty solid. A simple press of the space bar takes players into the air and the flight controls are surprisingly elegant given this game's early state. More than anything else, it was just fun to fly around and explore the nearby surroundings than it was to engage in fights over food with other players.

That's partly because the rest of the game needs some more time in the oven. Aiming, whether it's during combat or when trying to collect resources, isn't totally precise. It takes a minute to realize where you're supposed to stand to pick items off a corpse or chop away at a tree. These are things that can be refined over time, but for the moment, it could use some improvement.

Outside of that, Duckside is a delightful experience, mainly because of the aerial component. It's not just that you can fly and see the world from above, but it also adds an intriguing dimension to PvP combat. Beware of flying arrows, because you're likely to run into at least one player who will be looking to practice their sharpshooting on a flying target. It won't take long for them to ruffle your feathers.

It'll take some time for tinyBuild Riga to refine Duckside to a point where it's ready for release, so for now, the team is focused on occasional playable betas. One of those betas is kicking off today, so those interested in getting a first-hand look can head over and sign up today.

These impressions are based on a Steam key provided by the publisher. Duckside is coming soon to PC.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?