Once in a while, somebody actually innovates on a style. There are a thousand League of Legends clones on the market (I see you, Bang Bang), however to my thoughts, there’s just one recreation that actually took Riot’s age-old MOBA system and revolutionized it. That recreation is Supervive, an action-heavy, lightning-fast top-down brawler that shakes up the style by including verticality and the occasional high-speed practice. I performed it in numerous types forward of launch, and I as soon as claimed that it might be the sport that lastly crammed the LoL-shaped void in my coronary heart. As my curiosity in Riot’s behemoth hit an all-time low at first of this 12 months, Supervive regarded primed to be the sport that my companion and I might play all evening, each evening. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case.
When it was first revealed, the hype round Supervive was electrical. You had Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp singing its praises, with Twitch titans like Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont taking to the Sky Realms and actually showcasing what the sport may do. You had Clayton ‘Captain Flowers’ Raines and Isaac ‘Azael’ Cummings-Bentley commentating creator cups, which starred a number of the purple website’s greatest names. Coupled with a stellar reception, it appeared like Theorycraft was set to present Riot a run for its cash when Supervive lastly launched – it was positioning itself as considered one of 2025’s greatest hits.
And, at a look, Supervive nonetheless seems to be well-liked. 84% of just about 13,000 Steam opinions are within the inexperienced, with current entries clocking in at 82%, or ‘very constructive.’ It is a stable rating for a multiplayer indie recreation in a world the place one thing new seemingly seems each single day. The onerous numbers, nonetheless, inform a distinct story. Having peaked at 47,913 gamers at its early entry launch, Supervive’s Steam depend has been in freefall ever since. 1.0 reeled in a peak of simply over 15k concurrents again in July, however in current weeks, that quantity has did not crest 1,000. Whereas Theorycraft has been busy remodeling a number of the recreation’s less-popular programs, together with the much-maligned Armory, some have expressed considerations about its future. Is Supervive lifeless? Is it shutting down? I ask government producer Jessica ‘Safelocked’ Nam these actual questions.
“I feel it is actually onerous proper now,” she laments. “We got here out swinging with the open beta, and we have been actually honored and excited by the very fact there was a lot curiosity in Supervive. Individuals see the factor that we’re attempting to make.” Reminiscing about her time each enjoying and creating League of Legends, she remembers that “there have been issues I used to be craving and that I noticed gamers wanting, and it boiled right down to extra company, extra freedom in play type, extra visceral fight. We have been like ‘this can be a method we may differentiate and provide you with a number of the most satisfying endgame teamfights that you can presumably expertise.’ I feel folks noticed that and thought, ‘gosh, that is superior,’ however then it is like, at the present time, is that sufficient? We have had plenty of conversations about that, and I feel for without end video games, it is not sufficient.
“You need to have that eventfulness, you need to really feel like the sport is alive, you need your folks to be enjoying it,” she continues. “There’s obtained to be new content material, there’s development, there is a sense that once I come again, there’s one thing for me to have interaction in. However we’re additionally a small firm – how will we deal with these wants in our without end recreation? For a deep, aggressive recreation, you actually need to be rewarded to your time funding – you need to get that reciprocal ‘hey, it was price it.’ I feel that, as an indie startup, we’re grappling with the concept of ‘how will we face that problem and rise to that event?’
“Proper now, we’re wrestling with it,” she says. “Once we have been reflecting on all of it, we [realized] we have been attempting to deal with too many wants without delay; we have been attempting to broaden it a lot that we have been stretching ourselves too skinny, from each a bandwidth and route perspective. Supervive is a aggressive recreation, however it additionally has features of exploration. We’re attempting to concurrently serve the aggressive participant base and people which might be extra informal. Once we have been attempting to deal with the wants of those two teams – and there is clearly a spectrum of curiosity, they are not completely separate – we discovered that the route was a bit muddy to us, and I feel it felt muddy to gamers. Fixing that downside turned a very powerful factor for us – as a substitute of stretching ourselves too skinny, what if we hard-committed to a degree of view and served one core a part of the participant base? Would we take a wager on that? That might be a threat, and is that threat price taking? I actually wrestle with that.”
It definitely does really feel like a threat, particularly when the sport’s participant depend has continued to dwindle. Chopping out some options to refocus on a selected participant sort could, in the long term, lure new of us in, however drastic adjustments may spark rigidity amongst these nonetheless invested. I ask Nam for her perspective on Supervive’s present participant depend and the viability of sustaining the sport going ahead.
“I feel it is necessary for [the player count] to be increased than it’s proper now,” she says. “It varies from recreation to recreation, however the form of this recreation necessitates a better participant depend. Virtually talking, it is a battle royale – it has a number of groups, excessive participant depend classes, then there’s matchmaking concerned. Whenever you couple all of these issues collectively, it creates a better requirement for a participant base, so matches are actually aggressive, and also you’re operating into gamers which might be round your ability stage. There’s a minimal, however it’s fuzzy. I would say proper now, it is a little bit taught to stick with it proper now.
“There’s clearly issues you are able to do to the matchmaking algorithm, however there is a restrict – sooner or later the maths stops mathing. We have been cognizant of that, too. We have requested ‘what are the endemic issues that the battle royale faces?’ Are gamers asking ‘what may I’ve completed higher?’ and we expect that, to a level, gamers aren’t asking that query sufficient – they’re sweating and so they’re overwhelmed. We imagine that there is alternative to do higher there in order that that query comes naturally, and the extra that occurs, we imagine the sport will likely be extra retentive, sticky, and thrilling. Then, regardless of the place it’s proper now, can we construct off of that to steadily develop over time? So long as we will see the place we may go, it is well worth the funding. If we did not have concepts, it’d perhaps be a distinct story, however there’s some scaffolding there; we will see how we may stair-step our method up.
“We’re not shutting down,” she assures me. “I do suppose there’s the directional shift I discussed earlier – can we focus each inch of our consideration on making the sport extra aggressive for extra gamers – that wasn’t what we have been doing earlier than, and that’s going to change into true. It is a North Star for us.”
However the gaming sphere, in the mean time, is probably probably the most chaotic it is ever been. In over six years in editorial, I’ve seen tendencies come and go, however it appears like day-after-day brings one thing new. I would argue that extends exterior of simply videogames, with infinite new issues continually being served to us throughout each different leisure mediums and social media. How does an indie recreation like Supervive, with rave opinions and a devoted participant base, survive the onslaught of ‘newness’ when even the mighty Hole Knight Silksong already appears like yesterday’s information?
“It is a very unpredictable setting,” Nam muses. “The quantity of funding right into a ‘without end recreation’ is quite a bit. Having the ability to be ok with your option to put money into that recreation issues greater than ever. After I give it some thought from the angle of a youthful participant that is selecting their subsequent recreation, wanting on the market at the entire choices of what [they] can presumably play – that has modified drastically. It is occurring day-after-day, each minute. I really feel like that is true about all of leisure proper now. I’ve heard this continually within the anime trade. Whenever you’re confronted with that a lot alternative, you need your option to really feel good, and also you’re studying, researching, getting flooded with TikToks; you are seeing your social feeds populated with no matter, after which on prime of it, there’s the influencer layer. How do you even presumably select? I feel that is in all probability the most important distinction.
“Any aggressive without end recreation is confronted with that actuality; there are new inputs being shoved into your mind continually. Silksong got here out simply a few weeks in the past [at the time of this interview], earlier than that Donkey Kong, earlier than that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, earlier than that Blue Prince. Nobody’s even speaking about them anymore, and so they’re nice video games! I do suppose there’s this want and nervousness that hits folks the place they’re like ‘I’ve obtained to try to keep afloat and maintain observe of this, in any other case I do not actually know [about the topic].’
“I feel that is an enormous, large reality about deep aggressive video games and what they’re going through; I hear it from my different trade buddies on a regular basis. Video games that they weren’t nervous about earlier than fear them now as a result of there’s all the time one thing new that deserves consideration. How do you fight that? That is our problem to determine. I feel, as a substitute of being the recent new factor day-after-day – I do not suppose any type of leisure can realistically try this – it is about going again to your area of interest and specializing in the individuals who actually, actually love and assist the sport.”
So provided that Supervive may be very a lot alive and kicking, what comes subsequent? There’s, in fact, the aforementioned directional pivot, however what about new content material? “We’re going to have a brand new season with a brand new Hunter that we’re very enthusiastic about. There are new gadgets to discover, a brand new battle cross, and new cosmetics. We’re additionally occupied with exploring new prototypes for ways in which extra gamers might be aggressive,” she tells me, grinning. “I am struggling as a result of I am attempting to attract the road [of what I can tell you], however we’re excited to maintain occurring this journey.” And actually? I am excited, too.
