Circle around their hut screaming "let me in let me in let me in let me in let me in" over voice chat.

Survivalist games are in right now, and the online post-apocalyptic world of Rust offers something a little different. Shelter, food and fighting off or reasoning with other players is your only way to survive.

Developer Facepunch Studios (founded by Garry's mod creator, Garry!) is a team of 11, and describe the game as being inspired by the likes of DayZ, Minecraft and Stalker. The difference is - there are no zombies (well, they are in the process of removing them). They're trying to zero in on what makes DayZ so great - that tense feeling of surviving against the odds.

You start with a rock. Your first hour is pretty much a rock carrying simulator. Eventually you work out you can bash it against trees and rocks to gather materials and build your first tools and a house. The first thing I did was bash another player with my rock in a rather awkward fight. I felt pretty bad about this, especially after spending more time with the game and realising how hard it is to stay alive. When night falls, you start to freeze and without a house, your options are pretty limited. Night seems to last quite a while, and that can be a little dull if you have nothing to do in your house.

This is alpha, so there a lot of work still to be done. Even so, I found myself in frantic fights with other players who had bows and one even had a machine gun. Bears and wolves chased and trapped me up rocks. There's also something quite eerie about wandering through this land and seeing lots of little homes peppered around the place. You know that someone lives there, they build it and are probably quite proud of it. And scared you'll ruin their work, when you circle around their hut screaming "let me in let me in let me in let me in let me in" over voice chat, which is what I like to do the most.

My main criticism is the world itself. There aren't very many land marks, so it was impossible to find my friends making for a pretty solo experience for me so far. But I think for fans of the genre, this one to keep an eye on - especially as the crafting side of things becomes more balanced and evolves. I predict this will be a game of stress and cold murder. The player with the best materials will be the one with the biggest target on their head.