Wayward attracted a fair amount of attention back in 2013 while it was still in very early stages of development. Tom played the top-down survival game and said it had "echoes of Ultima Online, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft". It's now in Early Access and developer Unlok has announced that it will add multiplayer in the next update, which should increase its longevity.
The base game is all about surviving on a procedurally generated island. Movement is turn-based on a system of grids, and the emphasis is on crafting and a free-form skill system in which you improve individual skills by practising them (not dissimilar to what happens in Skyrim).
The multiplayer will be slightly different, in that everything will happen in real time. Like the main game it will have permadeath by default—or respawning in a Casual mode—and PvP that you can simply toggle on and off.
"Players will be able to join Wayward multiplayer games through their friend's Steam profile, their Steam friends list, or through an in-game menu. There's also several new multiplayer chat commands available, like a handy "/kick" command for players that like to start fires under your feet," said the developer in a Steam post.
The beta update 2.5 will also overhaul the UI, add new lore and fresh crafting materials.
It's currently £5.59/$7.99 on Steam.
