Dustborn and Dreamfall Chapters developer Red Thread Games is expanding beyond its usual boundaries of narrative games with Hello Sunshine, a survival RPG that the studio's creative director acknowledges isn't their usual beat, but is excited to bring its own narrative-focused spin on this desert survival game.
Ahead of the studio showing off Hello Sunshine during the PC Gaming Show today, I got the chance to check out a hands-off presentation given by Red Thread Games' creative director, Ragnar Tørnquist, and game director Jonathan Nielssen, showing a bit of gameplay and talking about their vision for Hello Sunshine.
Hello Sunshine puts you in a dystopian desert world where, thanks to corporations like Sunshine Industries (of which you are the last remaining employee), the planet is starting to resemble Arrakis, which is to say that the part of the world you'll be exploring is entirely engulfed in sand, and the sun is a constant threat. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like there are giant sandworms about, but there are small (and sometimes quite large) robots that have you doing your best Aloy impression with a bow and arrow at your disposal and a slew of arrow types to craft to help you take down every kind of rogue metal beast, big or small.
That said, combat isn't the core challenge to the experience; the challenge is to survive. You'll need to constantly search for resources to keep yourself alive and manage your time in the sun so you're not collapsing from total dehydration. And you'll need to do all of this while constantly moving forward, because you have a big, giant, walking tether with you at all times. A skyscraper-sized robot that not only keeps you alive, but is your best friend in this downtrodden world.
And it's your giant robot friend that makes Hello Sunshine an interesting prospect as a survival game. Survival players are used to managing resources and ensuring that they are not exposed to the elements for too long. And if your year has been anything like mine, you've also sunk a good chunk of hours into Dune: Awakening, where keeping yourself safe from the elements is key to your survival more than your ability to fight off enemies.
But in Dune: Awakening, I can stop under a rock and rest a while, waiting for the sun to pass. Hello Sunshine's continuous day and night cycle does mean you'll get the space to rest, but during the day, you can't stop moving because the robot won't stop moving.
The robot is constantly moving forward, driving the momentum of the game, and because your survival is tied to staying in the robot's shadow, your looting and exploration time is always limited. I think it's an incredibly interesting way to frame a survival game, especially one with a narrative slant, because survival in life is all about moving forward, about not being stagnant and losing track of where you're going. Hello Sunshine forces you into a constant state of motion while asking you to manage all of the other regular survival elements, which I think is an extremely interesting premise for a survival game.
Your robot pal does sit down and charge every evening, which gives you respite not just from the sun but from the game's forward pacing. You also don't have to stay entirely glued to the robot the whole time, and certain procedural elements can allow you to stray from the robot's path for longer than you would in a clear day, like sandstorms that block out the sun, letting you wander a little further on your own. You'll also earn upgrades deeper into the game that mitigate your reliance on staying glued to the robot, but leaving its side is always a risk. Even at night, you'll freeze to death if you're not near the robot, as it releases all the heat it collected from the day.
Corporations like the one you were still working for when the world ended may have been the planet's downfall, but what's left behind by them is also your salvation. You'll craft upgrades and improve your character's survival chances at resting stations set up by Sunshine Industries while your robot buddy sits down and charges for the night. A 3D printer takes all of the scraps and resources you collect during the day and turns them into whatever you need to prepare for the day ahead.
These rest stations are also where your relationship with the robot begins to build. During the presentation, Red Thread Games describes your relationship with your iron giant friend as that of our general relationship to ants - we don't notice them unless they make us notice them. While the robot charges for the night, the Sunshine Industries rest stations are also where you can upgrade the robot's capabilities. Slowly but surely, the robot begins to pay attention to you, and your relationship with the robot evolves.
Tørnquist also likened your relationship with the robot to that of a child-parent relationship. Kids grow up in their parents' shadow, and it's up to them to walk out of it into the light, and how that relationship evolves is at the core of the narrative for Hello Sunshine.
As for how Red Thread Games approaches telling that kind of story, the team will let players experience it for themselves once the game is in their hands. They wouldn't go deeper into the story, but described Hello Sunshine as a game where its mechanics are the muscles of the game, but its strength is at its heart, which is the story. The studio also didn't delve into the co-op gameplay, but did say that Hello Sunshine's co-op "reframes the story" and that you won't actually get "the full story" without playing both solo and in co-op.
As with every hands-off preview, we'll have to wait and see if Red Thread Games is able to pull everything off. It's stepping outside its comfort zone, but you'll never accomplish anything staying in your comfort zone. Hopefully, whenever Red Thread Games is ready to release Hello Sunshine (which is still without a release date), its time straying from its own giant robot comfort zone will have proven fruitful.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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