🧭 Game Vision

"Survive not through power, but through knowledge, instinct, and adaptation."

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🌍 Overview

The Pleistocene Project is a brutal, immersive survival simulation set in the Ice Age. The player is thrust into an unrelenting natural world, with nothing but their wits, their hands, and the knowledge they gather. There's no magic, no tech, and no shortcuts—only the cold, hunger, and the distant sounds of predators on the wind.

The game focuses on realism, immersion, and environmental storytelling, aiming to capture the experience of what it might have truly meant to survive as a lone human tens of thousands of years ago.

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🧱 Core Pillars

Authentic Survival

Survival mechanics are grounded in physical reality: thermoregulation, nutrition, fatigue, and resource scarcity. Crafting is based on real-world prehistoric methods and materials.

Living Ecosystem

Animals and plants exist independently of the player. They move, breed, migrate, and interact with each other naturally. The world evolves whether or not the player is present.

Environmental Immersion

There’s no mini-map, quest markers, or overt UI. Players must learn to read animal behaviour, cloud formations, seasonal patterns, and track time by the sun.

Emergent Storytelling

There is no scripted narrative—your survival is the story. Each life is a unique tale shaped by weather, environment, and instinctual decision-making.

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🔁 Core Gameplay Loop

• Observe the world: Identify threats, resources, and shelter opportunities.
• Forage & Hunt: Collect food and materials; every choice comes with risk.
• Craft & Prepare: Build tools, weapons, and fire using primitive technology.
• Adapt: Survive through shifting seasons, unpredictable weather, and evolving fauna.
• Die & Learn: The player is expected to fail—but each life deepens understanding.

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🛤 Long-Term Goals

• Create a procedurally generated Ice Age wilderness that's ecologically rich and ever-changing.
• Deliver a survival experience that’s tense, rewarding, and completely free of hand-holding.
• Expand into co-op multiplayer for shared survival experiences.
• Offer historically informed content based on anthropological and paleontological research.

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Last updated: May 25, 2025