ANGST: A TALE OF SURVIVAL Dares You To Face An Unforgiving Winter

Try to survive...for as long as you can

Welcome To The Hopeward Hollow

May You Stay For A…Long Time

ANGST: A TALE OF SURVIVAL (stylized in all caps) puts you in the snowshoes of a bearded unnamed protagonist, who awakens in an old cabin in the middle of a frozen taiga. With your failing memory, you are only able to remember that a massive snowstorm swept you unconscious. And another strange feeling washes over you—it’s like you’ve done this before. Not just once or twice, but many times before…but you can’t remember a thing. Discover what really happened to you, and who you really are, while trying to survive the harsh and unforgiving winter wasteland of The Hopeward Hollow and its limbo-like world.

Brace yourself and brave the snowy wilderness in Hopeward Hollow. Scavenge for resources across various biomes full of mysteries and with their own unique characteristics, crafting essential tools to upgrade your homestead, clothes to keep yourself warm, and weapons to arm yourself with against the hostile wildlife. Hunt wild animals, set up traps, and fish by the water to keep yourself well-fed and with energy as you traverse the frigid world, picking up bits and pieces of not only your identity, but of the world’s hidden past. In the game’s vast open world, hidden treasures from the distant past await you, providing answers to your questions.

Surviving in a nearly desolate Arctic-like land requires you to grow stronger as well, as the elements will continue to be unforgiving. With the game’s roguelite mastery progression, players can upgrade their nameless survivor with new skills and crafting recipes, which can be learned by extending their survival streaks. The longer you stay alive, the more you get rewarded. These abilities and recipes can be unlocked in a non-linear fashion, so feel free to tailor your survival builds to your playstyle! Maybe you’d prefer a stronger melee build to beat down the wild animals that have their hungry eyes on you, or perhaps you would like to be part of the shadows, eliminating all opponents swiftly and stealthily from a distance. You can also focus on getting the crafting recipes first to make your home even more homey than it ever was. As long as you survive, anything goes!

You Are Not Alone, In More Ways Than One

ANGST is not only a challenging survival game, but it will also feature a gripping tale. After all, you are a mysterious survivor, without even a name to themselves. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the world isn’t as much of a no-man’s-land as you initially thought it would be. Encounter and engage in conversation with curious locals and entities that subtly react to your choices and actions. However, beware—some of them provide guidance through The Hopeward Hallow, while others are out to make sure that you will not see the light of the next day. It’s up to you to see how your story plays out…or ends.

If the NPCs aren’t your cup of tea and you want someone with a more permanent presence, online co-op mode is also available! Invite a friend (or friends) to play, then survive, and explore together through a procedurally generated map. Two or more heads are better than one!

The Studio’s First Premium PC And Console Game

Cherrypick Games is no stranger to the video game industry. The Poland-based indie development studio has been part of the scene since 2014, marking a decade-long career in the mobile game sphere. With 23 self-released mobile projects garnering over 30 million downloads worldwide, they now decided to take a big step into something they haven’t done before.

“Cherrypick Games enters an exciting new era,” the company’s CEO and head of Product Strategy, Martin Kwaśnica said on their official website. “While fellow studio co-founder Michael Sroczyński and I have previously worked in the PC and console games market, Angst: A Tale of Survival is Cherrypick Games’ first premium title, designed from the ground up for multiple platforms. We are excited to show PC and console gamers what the Cherrypick Games team is capable of with this original title.”

The central team behind ANGST is composed of a small, but tight-knit team of 10, who are giving their all into the game, their collective passion project. “This isn’t just another game for us. It’s the culmination of everything we love about storytelling, immersive worlds, and gameplay that challenges players to think on their feet. We’re creating something we hope will stand out, something you’ll want to dive into again and again,” they shared in their first dev log posted on Steam.

ANGST’s Origins

In the dev log, the team shared that while brainstorming, a ton of concepts flew around the room, one of which was an idea about a character traveling through time. That certain concept stuck to the team, and after refining it through long and thorough discussions, they decided—that’s a cool idea! But…there’s something missing. “That’s when it hit us: What if we mix survival with roguelite mechanics? We love the survival genre, but we also know how many awesome survival games are out there. We decided to pursue an idea to add something fresh, a mechanic that would tap into the hero progression and enhance this layer of gameplay. We decided to add a roguelite twist. The result? In our game[,] death becomes part of the journey.”

Next on the agenda was giving this time-traveling survival roguelite game a title, which proved to be a task easier said than done. The devs struggled with this one, exploring several ideas, such as ‘Remain’, ‘Somewhere’, ‘The Nowhere’, ‘The Cabin’, and ‘In The Hollow’. Then, the word ‘Angst’ came up and was written on the whiteboard…and it clicked!

“Angst is a word borrowed from the German language, and according to the Cambridge Dictionary: angst noun /æŋst/ - a feeling of great worry about a situation, or about your life. We believe “Angst” is another powerful word that, when thought or spoken aloud, feels as unsettling as its meaning. It evokes the experience of struggling to survive alone in a freezing forest, with mysterious entities lurking in the shadows. Angst turned out to be exactly what we were searching for.”

Inspired By Other Dark Atmospheric Games

The team shared with Gamespot back in July 2024 that the game can be viewed as “‘Don't Starve meets Dredge meets Hades’ in terms of the genres and tone it's aiming for.” They also added that ANGST will prioritize exploration rather than just simply leveling up and getting stronger in combat. If you’re a fan of any of those dark atmospheric games, then ANGST definitely deserves a spot on your wishlist.

Angst: A Tale of Survival will be released in Early Access sometime in Q1 of 2025 on PC via Steam, and will arrive later on consoles and mobile devices. There is no information as to what consoles it will be coming out on as of writing, but we’ll be sure to update!

Be An ANGST Beta Tester Today!

We're looking for 100 Beta Testers! 🛠️

If you want to be among the first to try our game, join our Discord and select the "Join Game Tests" role. Our devs will reach out to you with more details 👇https://t.co/TfKzbDAqFq

Your feedback is incredibly important to us! pic.twitter.com/NVJ4oLSsM3
— Cherrypick Games (@cherrypickgames) September 10, 2024

In fact, Cherrypick Games is looking for 100 beta testers for the game! Interested players can join the game’s official Discord server as linked in the embed above, and select the “Join Game Tests” role to be notified for more details.