Water is life and death is permanent in this tense, laconic, $3 sci-fi adventure

pcgamer.com:

I was immediately intrigued by It Comes In Waves(opens in new tab) on seeing its screenshots and early gameplay on developer Antonio Freyre's Twitter(opens in new tab). It has a dusty, analogue, desert sci-fi setting reminiscent of Dune and Star Wars' iconic ripping-off of Dune. After playing it, I'm happy to say I can heartily recommend this brief, creative exercise in tension and dread.

Freyre's previous outing was last year's Undetected(opens in new tab), a retro revival take on Metal Gear Solid. I found the two share a similar philosophy on interrogating videogame violence, as well as a throwback presentation halfway between the first two PlayStations, but otherwise It Comes In Waves is its own beast.

You play as an unnamed wanderer who has done something… unspeakable. The game begins in an Anchorhead-style village in the desert, full of inhabitants giving you the cold shoulder. «Forgive yourself first,» one tells me, while another says «No amount of specimens will change what you did.» This disconnect between your knowledge and everyone else's reminds me a lot of how everybody hates your amnesiac guts in Planescape: Torment. A nearby land speeder takes you out into the deep desert, with an ominous message that you can never return to town again (at least until you die).

It Comes In Waves is like a roguelike without the randomization, with failure requiring a full restart of the game, and you're charged with carrying your «specimen» through the desert to a locked sanctuary. The doors won't open until you've found enough specimen-growth promoting collectibles scattered through the desert, and you have to balance this objective against a constantly depleting thirst meter.

I was high on the hog at the start, killing