Nature meets AI in ‘Light of Motiram’

In Light of Motiram, players battle, befriend and raise various mechanical beasts (mechanimals), while rebuilding civilisation. Announced last month, the game is an open world multiplayer survival game lets players ride AI animals into battle or use them for activities like logging, farming, and crafting.

Over 100 unique mechanimals can be levelled up and customised, offering versatility in combat and exploration. These creatures play a pivotal role, serving as mounts for land, air, and water travel while also assisting with crafting.

The world of Motiram features multiple expansive biomes, each with its own resources to gather and enemies to defeat. Landscapes include plains teeming with life and deserts that stretch out towards snowy mountains – all of which are almost always dominated by the enigmatic Eye of Motiram, a structure of unknown origin and purpose.

The game features a freeform building system that builds on the many predecessors in the survival genre. The system consists of physics-based simulation where each beam or brick is subject to the forces of nature. Trees need to be carefully cut down otherwise they can collapse upon players, buildings must be ventilated before lighting a fire so as not to choke, and lightning may strike if players are caught wearing metal in a storm. These details can be used to players’ advantage, as for example lightning damage can electrocute fish and make the process of fishing much easier and faster.

Setting up a basecamp won’t be enough in this savage land either, as enemies will push into players’ territory and threaten to destroy their settlement before it has a chance to thrive. Online co-op and multiplayer is available.

Monstrous bosses serve as milestones for player progression with each encounter requiring planning and mastering the art of dodging, blocking and counter attacking. Players’ mechanimal companions come into play here, too, as each boss has an elemental weakness that can be exploited.

These boss encounters unlock new recipes and materials required for players to progress and craft new tools and weapons, but also uncover the story of how the world of Motiram came to be.

Where to play?

Light of Motiram is currently in development, with plans to release as a free-to-play game on console platforms and PC (via Steam and Epic Games) in 2025.

* Visit the ‘Light of Motiram’ website here.