Project Winter is a multiplayer co-op survival game with secret murderers

Co-op survival games, as the name suggests, generally require players to work together in order to avoid the grim specter of death. Project Winter is a little bit different. The cooperative angle is there—eight people have to pull together to gather resources, repair structures, and complete other tasks to stay alive in the midst of a ferocious, freezing snowscape and ultimately make their escape—but two of them are actually conspiring in secret to murder everyone else. 

The "traitors" in the group will start the game in a relatively weak state, so they won't be able to immediately go to town on everyone else. But they'll gain strength as the game progresses, and more importantly they'll be known to each other from the start, so they can more effectively coordinate their mayhem.

All players will be able to communicate through proximity-based voice chat and private "radio" channels, as well as text chat and emotes, which will facilitate survival and murderous duplicity in equal measures. And trying to sneak away and escape on your own won't get you far: Even if the traitors don't gank you once you're safely out of sight (and the proximity-based chat means you can forget about screaming for help), the harsh environment and dangerous wildlife will. 

"Unlike other survival games which you must stay alive to win, in Project Winter you require the cooperation of other players to help you make it out alive," Other Ocean Interactive boss Ryan Hale said. "In-game player communication is a key element to playing the game, in which no one can be trusted." 

Project Winter is expected to hit Steam Early Access early this year, and an open beta is also on the way. Find out more at projectwinter.ca.