Everything we know about Meet Your Maker

Player fighting against player. In the current gaming landscape, it’s a common trend. Companies who want to create a truly innovative multiplayer experience must go in bold new directions, letting players interact with each other in unique ways. That’s exactly what Canadian developer Behavior Interactive is setting out to do with Meet Your Maker. The company, of course, is famous for Dead by Daylight as well as countless licensed games.

Many elements set this title apart, as it’s not as simple as meeting your opponent in the middle of the barren wastelands and taking them down. No, instead, you’re tasked with two objectives: build a fortress designed to keep your supplies from raiders, and infiltrate the buildings of other players to steal the materials within.

It’s truly a player-crafted experience, with deadly traps to be placed and avoided, enemies to be commanded and killed, and a goal to be protected and procured. It certainly intrigued me when I played the open beta during the Steam Next Fest event in February. Now, with the April 4 release date steadily approaching, let’s take a look at everything we know about Meet Your Maker.

It’s time for the harvest

In Meet Your Maker, you play as a Custodian, venturing out into a desolate planet in search of resources. Specifically, genetic material is the aim of the game, which you bring back to your center of operations after stealing it from the bases of other Custodians (or players). This genetic material feeds the Chimera, a disturbing sentient science experiment that claims that this cycle of robbing and feeding is the only way to save humanity.

Being that the game is primarily driven by building and raiding bases, there isn’t much in the way of story content. At least in the betas so far, that’s all been relegated to speeches from the Chimera and your operatives. They’ll provide upgrades to you, your weapons, and your base as you level up. If there’s an ultimate end goal that you’re meant to reach, we don’t know what it is yet.

The setting is a ruined world, with desert stretching out as far as the eye can see. It looks so inhospitable, and that’s likely why the only living beings you see out there are monsters — and, of course, yourself. Appropriately, it’s an uninviting place. But you’ll have to trod out there anywhere to invade the many bases others have constructed.

Tomb raider

One-half of the core gameplay of Meet Your Maker is raiding player-built bases. Every fortress in the game is constructed by a player and is filled to the brim with traps, monsters, and mazes.

Your end goal in each base is always the same: reach the genetic materials in the center and get the hell out of there. Thankfully, a lovely little robot pal called the Harvester can help show you the way. That is, if it doesn’t die from the trap or from the hands of a cruel or careless Custodian.

But of course, the base-builder isn’t going to make collecting the material easy for you. You’ll have to navigate their carefully laid out traps and guards that will strike you down in an instant if you aren’t paying attention. Dying resets you back outside the base, and you’ll have to start all over again.

As a Custodian, you’re equipped with a number of weapons to deal with all of this. Ranging from your trusty sword to a variety of guns, they can be used to kill enemies or disable traps. You only have a limited amount of ammo, however, which can be retrieved if you find where it landed. Otherwise, you’ll have to make do with avoiding traps and enemies altogether.

Stop them at all costs in Meet Your Maker

Invading other players’ bases is just one side of the coin, however. You can also construct your own fortresses of doom for other players to raid. These earn you resources passively as other players attempt to raid your bases. After enough players have done so, that map is taken out of rotation.

First, you’ll have to purchase plots of land, which come with different pre-built architecture and building limitations. Then, it’s into the comprehensive building editor to assemble your base. The building mode lets you lay down walls, traps, and decorations on a block-based grid system. Your base must meet a certain hazard requirement, and your Harvester must be able to reach the genetic material to be published.

Aside from the terrain and size of your plot, the only things restricting construction are the types of pieces you own. Otherwise, you can build whatever kind of building you want, whether it be simple or complex. The game encourages creativity, but if you want to go as simple as can be, that’s perfectly fine as well.

I’ve seen some go for the more artsy route, creating bases that go for style over pure gameplay. Others ramp up the challenge significantly. When you select a base to raid, the game classifies which are harder or easier based on trap layouts and player feedback. So you’ll know roughly what kind of fortress you’ll be wandering into.

Two heads are better than one

Meet Your Maker is primarily a solitary game. You can raid and build bases as you please without interacting with a single player. It’s only their creations that you’ll meet.

However, if you want to raid with a friend, Behaviour Interactive has included a co-op mode as well. You and a friend on the same system can dive into the same fortress together, working to dismantle traps and steal materials within. No matter which way you play, raiding bases is a fun time — but playing with a friend might make it even sweeter for some players.

Behaviour Interactive has clarified that Meet Your Maker is cross-content. Bases you build can be raided by players on any console or computer. However, cross-play and cross-progression will not be available at launch.

When and where will Meet Your Maker launch?

Meet Your Maker is developed and published by Behaviour Interactive. It will launch on April 4, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam.

Previously, Behaviour Interactive opened up the game in two beta periods so players could experience it firsthand. No word yet on whether there will be another one before the game launches in April. In the meantime, you can follow the game’s Twitter account for pre-launch updates and interesting statistics from beta players.

Are you excited about Meet Your Maker? What are your thoughts if you’ve played the beta? Let us know!