Serum’s Survival Horror Took Inspiration From Fallout And BioShock

Highlights

Survival game Serum introduces unique substance mechanics in a post-apocalyptic world filled with mutated creatures and toxic fog.
Influenced by Fallout and Bioshock, Serum offers players special abilities through serum injections for survival.
Game Island plans to add DLCs and co-op mode to Serum, which has been in early access on PC since May 23, 2024.

If this world just isn’t enough for you to try and survive in, why not add on a survival game to really ramp up the odds? In Serum, a first-person survival/crafting action game, players must endure a ruined world of destruction, masked by a toxic fog, the only way to live is to take doses of serum to fight against mutated creatures.

With titles like Sons of the Forest, Icarus, Valheim, Frostpunk and Don’t Starve paving the way in the survival genre in more recent times, Serum hopes to create its own route with its unique substance taking mechanics as well as its world exploration, crafting, and building systems.

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Speaking to Game Rant in an interview, director and Game Island CEO Michal Ojrzynski discussed Serum’s biggest influences when initially developing the survival title. Although Ojrzynski said that Serum wasn’t a blueprint for any other game, even though its players likened it to The Forest due to its environments, there are similarities with a few popular titles that slipped into its development process.

“We have a couple of biomes in Serum, and one of them is similar to that. If I were to name some that we took inspiration from, I would point to Fallout, that post-apocalyptic atmosphere and vision of the world” Ojrzynski continues. “The second one I also have to mention is the BioShock series. If you watch the trailers and play a bit, there are some similar mechanics related to injecting a substance, the serum itself, which in part gives players the special abilities to help them survive in the world. Those are the main ones.”

“There were many ideas, especially related to the skills that the serum is supposed to give to the players. We had many “crazy” ideas for skills like fireballs, freezing effects, and such. We also had some ideas for throwing weapons attached with chains, something like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.”

Due to the timer that the protagonist has on their arm in Serum and how, if it gets to zero, they die, Ojrzynski said that players saw a lot of similarities between the game and the movie In Time, starring Justin Timberlake. “There’s something to it, I suppose, but believe it or not, the movie didn’t directly influence the main idea” stated Ojrzynski. “When people played Serum though, they noted the similarities between them. While there might be something there, it’s not like I watched that film beforehand. I already had the idea.”

Currently, Game Island is working hard to keep Serum’s early access, which has been available since May 23, 2024 on PC, polished and running well, but the studio does “have some DLCs in mind for later. For future stages, we’re planning co-op” Ojrzynski revealed.