The Gold River Project on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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The Gold River Project™ invites you and your friends on an open world camping trip gone wrong. Alone or together, you must explore, craft, build, and survive the increasingly harsh environments of the Pacific Northwest wilderness as you uncover the experiment trapping you inside.
The Gold River Project is a early access, open world survival craft and multiplayer game
developed by Fairview Games Inc.
and published by Fairview Games Inc. and Sightline Games.
Released on January 23rd 2026 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 320 reviews of which 209 were positive and 111 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.3 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 24.50€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified The Gold River Project into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions)
- Processor: Intel Core i7 8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 6-core or better
- Memory: 32 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB / AMD RX 6800 XT or better
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 60 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Requires internet connection for multiplayer. Servers are player hosted.
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
absolutely loving this game 24 hours of playtime since launch and there's been 3 updates/patches which have improved the experience so much considering this game was created by a six man team they've delivered something remarkable the map is visually stunning. is it optimized absolutely not but this is there no.1 priority. definitely excited to see what this six man team will deliver next
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I played around seven hours on the demo (multiplayer, two-day limit) and have since spent a few more hours in the early access version. While the game is genuinely early access and still being actively developed and optimised, I’m already fully addicted. The development team has been extremely quick and responsive on the Discord channel, and that level of engagement really makes me feel like part of the journey. I haven’t encountered any major gameplay issues—only a few very minor glitches, all of which resolve themselves within seconds. Performance has been excellent, with strong visuals and a consistent 59+ FPS on aggressive settings (RTX 4070 Ti Super, AMD 7800X3D, 32 GB RAM).
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More refined review: Preface Yes - Why yes - I love Survival Games. Even the ones that are kinda weird. Early access reviewers that negatively rate games are scum of the earth. You know what you're buying. If you review the game and you give it a thumbs down, this screws with the algorithm and makes it where this game will never get fixed because no one will buy it. If you buy this game based on my recommendation, you need to understand Early Access and not be a TWo-wATt bulb when posting your review. This is fun but also annoying - because early access. EARLY ACCESS review: The game is basically "LOST" the game. Weird underground bunkers, a similar village to LOST, and other vaguely related "LOST" themes. This is very much a "mystery box" as the story unravels. If you like survival games, this may be for you. Gameplay: There's a walking simulator feel until you figure out how many secrets are hidden in plain sight. That's when the game really starts becoming fun. There are tons of hidden caches to find. Lots of exploration involved here. Issues: Controls and UI are janky. Sometimes the UI fails to function. Sometimes you'll have to unstuck because you can't ascend a ladder and it sends you under the world. Broken Engrish in item descriptions. You learn recipes from reading recipe pages or right-clicking an item and clicking "Learn". This works sometimes. Compass - The compass appears to be broken when you attempt to look at it and you can't see it. This isn't it's function. It just shows up when you're holding it at the top of the screen. I would prefer it work like the watch - if it's in your inventory, it shows you the direction you're heading. Map - There isn't one. So you rely on campfires for location markers but if you don't reload the game, placing one will destroy your current campfire. This gets old fast. Would prefer a marker system (similar to the signs you can save at) that way you don't risk accidentally nuking your camp. Reloading appears to fix this issue but... see above. Environmental shading breaks sometimes (common Unreal Engine issue) The environment is beautiful until the shaders break and then you get strobing like Icarus had at launch. Broad and gradual learning curve. Guns are rare until they aren't. Need a prompt for "are you sure you want to drink from the river?" Hit boxes on environmental objects are MASSIVE. This makes targeting mobs beside objects difficult and things that fire back have a huge advantage as they can see you before you can see them when you're peaking around corners. Enjoy save scrubbing due to this. Fatal error crashes since newest patch. Again, a common issue with Unreal Engine. Upon reloading, items respawn inside boxes. I'm fine with this. But you have to rebind your hotbar. Persistence/savestate for this is a big issue. Also, having to replace the fuse in the radio tower every reload is annoying. Would be cool if this was persistent. If the above issues are fixed, I would 100% recommend it. This is an exploration game so far. Looking forward to more story aspects. Performance - On a 12900/64GB RAM/Samsung Pro NVME/3070TI, it's hit or miss. Sometimes it's smooth as butter, other times you get weird janky shading that sends you into epileptic seizures. Please allow foliage and shadows to go down to 0. This fixes this issue without having to go into the config file and unscrew this. Update - Current update, I'm getting fatal error crashes every few minutes now. Crafting - Crafting is oddly broken instead of the way it was in the demo. Lots of duping when you cook, which is fine because I like lots of soup, but getting 16 soup from 1 piece of meat and 3 veggies might be pushing it. That being said, that may not be far off. 4 bowls of soup with 4 servings might come out of that. Crafting is weird and there is a lot of "what is going on here" related to crafting and what tables craft what and where they're located. It seems like Crafting is an after-thought instead of a central leg of the gameplay table. Crafting should be the priority followed by fixing shaders/performance. Why you should buy this game - Support the developers if you like what they're doing. The demo was ridiculously restrictive, but it should give you a general idea of if you like this game or not. Play the demo first for the love of God.
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I like what is here right now, I like what the game is trying to do. This is not going to be a rush and beat game, this is going to be a methodical game where you follow the game's rhythm instead of trying to do it your way. It's fairly immersive, but where it takes things a little too far in some sections and not far enough in others. Immersion issues: If I craft an item it falls to the floor? How is it that being I am crafting it, that I am going to clumsily drop it to the floor for myself to pick up after? If I have room or a slot open, it should automatically equip/fill because that would be the natural state of it. If I craft a backpack and I don't have one on, it's because I want to put one on, so let's just jump to the next step. On the other side, eating, if I want to eat a single blackberry? Lo and behold a giant bowl will come out, from which I will consume one black berry, which takes up THE ENTIRE BOWL, somehow. All things aside this is pretty nitpicky on my end. So much potential here, what I'm really looking forward to is: 1. Graphics optimization to make this more accessible and playable, right now on my 3070ti I'm sitting at 60 fps on 1920x1080 on all low. It works for me right now because I don't really crave those ultra realistic graphics, but I'd love to at least get back to native 4k. 2. Ambience is a bit of a miss, it's not quite loud enough to really feel like the woods it just felt silent for awhile and then the occasional bird. 3. There is a lot of interaction QoL that probably needs to be added, clicking to use something, quick loot from bags to take all, stuff like that. Right now everything takes a long time to sift through and that can get annoying. 4. I haven't seen any animals in the forest, what's a forest without animals? 5. Please a character creator, love the premade ones but in a game like this I want to be me. Wish list items (dreaming here): 1. Controller support and steam deck verified. 2. Maybe a bit more story set up, right now it's kind of hey I'm going to this place and we don't really understand a why. All in all, still recommend, I am hoping that the ideas here don't die on the vine.
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Alright Let's start off with this, I hardly ever write reviews, and this comes from a 70 minute gaming session. From the 70 minutes I played here's what I got. Pros: Graphics: The game started to run great after I turned on NVIDIA performance mode, besides this the graphics were very beautiful. Nature looks like nature? what can I say? The Clothing system: I do think this could definitely be improved on, having to manage what clothes you wear for storage or for warmth, (Similar to DayZ) but overall a very good feature. Looting: I enjoyed the sense of going to new cabins and ransacking them for scraps, finding clothes, sleeping bags, and whole ass tents. The looting to me feels decent, of course with early access this can be improved on. Cons: Now for the cons, SOUNDS: Sound design was good, when the game had sound. Characters barely make noise, Nature doesn't play tons of sounds, climbing to had no sounds. Sound design just needs a little more. Character Creation: This is just a pet peeve of mine, I enjoy games where I can create my own characters, not to say I don't like the preset ones, just personally I like making my own character to be more immersed into the game. Levels???: I leveled up sometimes throughout my playthrough, they all seem to have the same description to them "Who likes short shorts" not sure if this will be improved On, didn't see to much of this to give a clear answer. Nature: I saw a total of ZERO animals (besides the fish I caught) I didn't seem to see a single bird, boar, bear, frog, or a butterfly. Maybe I was I just super unlucky. Animations: (To clarify I played mostly in FIRST PERSON) The animations are just alright, holding the torch though is by far the worst, you can't even see it (in first person) It goes off the screen and it's just a stick with light. The fishing minigame isn't great either, it just kind of gives you fish for free as long as you can read. Animations do need work. Building: Sometimes won't let me build a sleeping bag, and I'm not sure how to remove old buildables, couldn't for the life of me get rid of a campfire and bed. I Understand this game came out today, and I understand that not everything is perfect, that's why I'm still going to recommend this game to people, I liked the 70 minutes I played, and will play more soon. I want to see this game succeed, and will hopefully follow it's journey. Good luck devs and other players! Mod support would also be cool to add!
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Gold River Project is currently priced at 24.50€ on Steam.
The Gold River Project is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 24.50€ on Steam.
The Gold River Project received 209 positive votes out of a total of 320 achieving a rating of 6.26.
😐
The Gold River Project was developed by Fairview Games Inc. and published by Fairview Games Inc. and Sightline Games.
The Gold River Project is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Gold River Project is not playable on MacOS.
The Gold River Project is not playable on Linux.
The Gold River Project offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
The Gold River Project includes Co-op mode where you can team up with friends.
The Gold River Project does not currently offer any DLC.
The Gold River Project does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Gold River Project does not support Steam Remote Play.
The Gold River Project is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Gold River Project.
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The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 31 January 2026 08:08 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 31 January 2026 12:03 |
| Steam price | 31 January 2026 12:25 |
| Steam reviews | 31 January 2026 15:45 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Gold River Project, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Gold River Project
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Gold River Project concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Gold River Project compatibility
Game modes
Multiplayer
Features
Developer
Fairview Games Inc.
Publisher
Fairview Games Inc.,
Sightline Games
Release
23 Jan 2026
Platforms