Population Zero has provided details on their 168-hour cycle and account progression. Here’s the scoop.
The press release and Steam post provide details on how time will issue a challenge. Here’s how. A single-player tutorial is up first, which throws you into an instanced drop zone. In general, the game cycle will last 168 hours, or roughly 7 consecutive days. During this time, you’ll be able to finish off the main objective, explore, build, gather resources. You can also craft, fight mobs, or fight against other players.
As far as rewards go, you’ll be rewarded during each cycle with account experience which you can then use to unlock new modes and mechanics. Here are some ways to finish a game cycle,
- complete the main objective and survive
- fail to make it in time and lose
- get turned into an alien monster and die: frequent respawns increase colonists’ mutation level which will eventually lead to a complete character transformation - the very first death in the form of an alien creature ends the session
- deliberately end the session
The press release provides some additional clarity on the decision for a 7 day cycle,
“Having taken these points into consideration, we included 7-day cycles and meta progression into Population Zero. The 7-day time limit does not imply that gamers have to play all week long without taking breaks.”
The team views time as an obstacle mechanic which you’ll have to learn to overcome. No doubt, this will be brought on by experience.
