Post-apocalyptic survival horror game Fade to Silence, which was just announced at The Game Awards last week, is already out in early access, along with a new trailer that teases its very chilly, monster-infested world. It sounds largely similar to a lot of other survival affairs, though there are a couple of twists that do sound a bit intriguing.

You’ve got you typical survival boxes getting ticked: crap weather, ferocious enemies, limited resources, crafting and scavenging---you know the drill. But here’s the interesting bit, from the new store page:

“In order to survive and overcome all challenges, the player needs to attract followers, bringing them into their refuge. Each individual skillset and character traits grants access to higher tier resources and gear. Without such advances, the player character can scavenge only the barest necessities, crafting makeshift tools and weapons.”

There’s a lot of “build your own communities” in multiplayer survival games, but I rarely have time to invest in these big multiplayer endeavours, and building a town that nobody else is ever going to live in can feel a little pointless. Transposing that over the a single-player experience with NPCs sounds a lot more like my cup of tea.

Followers also create an extra wrinkle: you’ll need to decide who joins you and who is left to starve or freeze to death out in the wilderness. There’s not enough food or room for every survivor. This additional layer of responsibility has been experimented with in some survival strategy games, but in Fade to Silence you aren’t playing some omnipresent overseer but another character, the leader of the community: Ash.

Fade to Silence is out now on Steam for £22.49/$26.99.