The Last Plague: Blightis an isometric survival game under development by Sergei Bezborodko at Original Studios. An ambitioussolo developerwith a passion for realism, detail, and immersing players in believable worlds, Bezborodko believesThe Last Plague’s unique characteristics may give it a better chance than most games of a similar ilk.
The Last Plagueis intensely realistic: if players want to boil water, they’ll have to craft a bowl from clay, fill it with water at a water source, and then carefully carry the bowl back to their campfire to heat it. This sim-like realism makesThe Last Plaguefeel much likeProject Zomboidand leads to every inch of progress feeling hard-earned.
Game Rant spoke with Bezborodko in an interview ahead ofThe Last Plague’s Early Access release in October. Here, he discussed how he researched real-world crafting techniques, the advantages ofThe Last Plague’s unique top-down perspective, and howThe Last Plagueappeals to hardcore fans of the genre.This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Last Plague Is a Hardcore Survival Game
Q:The Last Plagueis a truly hardcore survival game. What are some elements of the game you wanted to include that you don’t typically find in the genre?
Bezborodko:One aspect of these games I love is getting lost in all the details ofwhat the game allows you to do. I wanted to avoid streamlining things too much so that I could build a more immersive experience overall. For example, instead of having a simple “wood” resource where chopping a tree down gets you 10 wood, picking up a stick gets you 1 wood, and placing a wall tile uses 20 wood—I wanted the game to be very deliberate with the materials you find and their usage in the game.
Trees are felled first, then chopped up into individual logs, and those logs can be chopped up into firewood for better fuel efficiency. Longer sticks are used for shelter and structures and can be broken in two to be used for smaller crafts and whatnot. Basically what you’d use things for in the real wilderness.
Water and liquids are also something I wanted to make complex. You can boil water to make it safer to drink, but you need to carry a bowl from the lake to your fire, you can’t simply place it in your bag and expect the water to stay in it. Eventually, you can create sealable containers and waterskins, which you can pour one into another to combine various healing salves, soups, and teas to create the ideal on-the-go sustenance. I thought this functionality was really interesting and not something I’ve seen much of.
Q: How do you strike a balance between brutal realism and fun? Have there been moments where you’ve needed to compromise one way or the other?
Bezborodko:Oh yes, this has been a tough question over the years of the game’s development and alpha testing process. I’ve actually pulled back a lot on the realism after getting a ton of feedback since the first playtest sessions back in 2021.
I initially foundthe brutal realismenjoyable myself, but players and testers helped ground my design philosophy and make a few compromises here and there to make things more enjoyable for a wider audience, while still keeping the spirit of the game there. Things like an easier difficulty, a map that shows your location in the world, and reducing material requirements for structures to make things less tedious are a few of the things I changed that initially weren’t planned.
Q:The Last Plaguehas a unique premise. What inspired the idea of a survival game focused onBlight, and how do you feel it adds to the survival gameplay?
Bezborodko:Covid was a big inspiration for the existence of a disease in the game, and I really liked the creative freedom it gave me to add a silent adversary that constantly puts pressure on the player, like radiation ingames likeFallout, or sanity inDon’t Starve. It’s growing every day, makes foraging for clean food tougher, fighting enemies harder as they become more rabid from infection day by day and I love that natural difficulty curve that this adds. It also provides a possible goal for the game, an ability to figure out how to defeat the Blight and rebuild society which helps give a purpose to the game instead of just a “survive until you die” kind of gameplay.
Q: What led you to go with the unique top-down perspective? What advantages do you feel it has over a typical first-person perspective in a survival game?
Bezborodko:Playing games likeProject ZomboidandDon’t Starvepreviously was a huge driving force for this game to be a similar perspective. I think, for me, just seeing a top-down view of an environment with houses, rooms, and villages immediately draws my attention to the game. I also thought it would help my game stand out more withinthe survival genresince there seem to be so many first-/third-person games out there already.
A top-down perspective provides a really unique way to see your surroundings quickly at a glance, get a sense of your base/camp design strengths and weaknesses, as well as help you prioritize threats and targets around you more easily.
Q: Are there any games that have inspired you withThe Last Plague’s development?
Bezborodko:As I mentioned above,Project ZomboidandDon’t Starveare big ones, but alsogames likeThe Long Darkwith its more realistic approach and similar silent adversary (the cold). I wanted the constant pressure and walls closing in on you feeling ofDon’t Starvecombined with the more realistic survival aspects ofProject ZomboidandThe Long Dark.
The Last Plague Crafting is Based On Real World Techniques
Q:The Last Plague’s crafting system is incredibly deep. What’s your process when developing crafting items, recipes, or even cooking durations? Do you do a lot of research?
Bezborodko:Yes, so much research! The main question I ask myself during development is “How would this feature/process work in real life?”
I’ve looked at countless Wikipedia pages and YouTube videos about the history of metalworking and what it was like in the medieval period, tanning leather, herbs and horticulture, agriculture, pottery, geology, and more to figure out how to add something to the game that makes sense in the time period and abilities of the character in the game. Of course, some processes have overly many or incredibly intricate steps to do that just aren’t feasible in the game’s format, so I do have to simplify things somewhat to get the essence of the thing there but also a reasonable undertaking in the game.
Q: What would you say are your design pillars forThe Last Plague? What is most important to you to get right?
Bezborodko:Realistic and immersive experience, going very in-depth on every aspect of the game, and always providing a sense of imminent danger are the main design pillars I have for the game. I really want to make sure the game continues to stay true to my original vision of a realistic living and breathing world that sucks you in and makes you feel like you could be the character doing all these tasks.
Q: What has been the most challenging part of developingThe Last Plagueso far?
Bezborodko:Given that this is the first real game I’ve ever made, by far the most challenging part has been designing it to be intuitive for new players to get into and start enjoying. Watching others play the game through videos or streams has been extremely eye-opening as it has shown me time and time again that things I assume are intuitive or obvious are anything but!
All the complexity was made harder by all the various challenges the game threw at the player right at the start. I needed to iterate a ton on reducing the difficulty curve in the beginning and improvethe initial tutorial tasksand overall UI to make things more clear. It is still a bit clunky today but has definitely improved immensely over the course of development. Being able to separate myself from my own closeness to the game and put myself in the shoes of someone completely new to the game has been a tough skill to learn.
Q:The Last Plagueseems to appeal to genre veterans. What do you feel a veteran survival game player might appreciate about the game?
Bezborodko:I think the game will appeal a lot to players that enjoy the very in-depth mechanics the game presents rather than the more streamlined and simplified mechanics found in most other games. A lot ofsurvival games are more challenging in the beginningbut become easier as you progress and obtain more resources and items, but I want the challenge to evolve even as you build up your camp and weapons so that it always feels like you have to think a few steps ahead, and I feel there is a group of survival game players that really appreciate this style of gameplay.
Q: With so many games focused on being easily accessible, do you feel like there’s also a place for uncompromisingly challenging games? DoesThe Last Plagueneed an “easy mode”?
Bezborodko:Yes for sure! Although I feel it’s easy for a game to fall into the trap of being too challenging andbecoming outright frustrating, especially if the beginning experience has too much trial and error, having a game be overly challenging just for the sake of it is something I want to avoid. I want the challenge to be purposeful, reasonable, and not frustrating. Every setback or death in the game has to be explainable and a learnable experience, not just due to bad luck or processes outside of the player’s control. This has been very difficult to get right and is still an ongoing process.
The game does actually have difficulty selection with two options “Standard” and “Easier,” after feedback from quite a few players that wanted a slightly more forgiving experience. The Easier difficulty setting reduces hunger and thirst rates and reduces the enemies, but doesn’t touch the rest of the game, which I feel is a fair compromise. In the future, I want harder difficulty options like “Hardcore” or similar that restrict saving/loading and that sort of thing.
Q:The Last Plagueis about to enter Early Access. What are some of your main goals for the Early Access period?
Bezborodko:The game is going to be fairly substantial for the initial EA release but I’m really excited about the sorts of features and new content that I’m looking to add to the game before a full 1.0 release and beyond. I love the genre because of how open-ended the development process can be and all the potential things that can come to the game in the future. If the game succeeds enough for me to hire more people, then I can speed up some of the development towards the 1.0 release.
The main story in the game won’t be complete at EA release time on October 3, but it will grow in various phases/updates during the EA period and get to a more “complete” state by the time of the 1.0 release. By that point I want there to be a rebuilding phase added to the game where you trade and work with other survivors.
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