Because, as some of you know, I have a type when it comes to games.
So, an open world, crafting, base building, survival game.
I've been playing for a while now, got about 9 hours under my belt. I actually had to restart and reduce the difficulty because it IS geared towards playing cooperatively despite their being a single player mode.
Now, in terms of mechanics: this game does nothing that has not been seen before. You harvest resources, craft equipment and weapons, which eventually allow you harvest better resources and consequently craft BETTER equipment and weapons, and rinse and repeat till you reach end game kit and are functionally gods of war astride the land.
What this game does differently is application. You don't get a massive, randomly generated world to roam around in, you get a pre-generated backyard full of stuff. And the core concept is a love letter to the long forgotten 80's super science genre; "Honey I shrunk the kids" meets minecraft... or maybe ark...
The graphics are gorgeous (though I am looking into mods to remove depth of field, because the larger world you can see when you look... up... is always blurry even when standing in clear space.), the NPC's are varied, and since it's not a random gen map: they all have not only their own biomes, but their own routines and territories. The world acts dynamically, even when not active in front of the player. Ants go about their business, ladybugs trundle through the grass, and predators hunt at night. Because of this: there's a fairly sizable horror element just due to the random jump scares from bugs and arachnids sneaking up on you. The sound work is fantastic, the neutral and non-hostile NPC's all have their own, unique tell tale sounds and habits, and the enemies know the value of sneaking up on things, or horde charging. You wouldn't think that a wolf spider (for reference: the size of a VW micro bus.) could sneak up on you: but they do. They have their own calls and sounds: but generally don't make them when hunting! They only sound off when active close to their nests and hives. The most you might get is the click of exoskeletons, and the rustle of leafs as they stalk about, but if you're too busy trying to get a dew drop to stop yourself dehydrating, or line up a shot on an aphid so you can eat today... Well... you're spider chow.
Thankfully, the game is no less buggy than most such games, and the hand crafted, ridiculously varied terrain means it's often times easy to cheese some of the bigger threats by coopting terrain layout to your advantage.
There's also a lot the game DOES NOT TELL YOU. There are numerous resources which aren't just laying around to be grabbed, you have to "process" them first: like quartzite and clay. There is absolutely no outward indication that these rocks are different from the rest and can be harvested if you use the right tool first. But these are needed and useful resources to acquire. Clay is used for foundations for bases, and quartzite is used to craft and upgrade equipment. Quartzite is, as far as I have seen, also only found underground. So the myriad of tunnels, the ant hills and such are basically required delving... and terrifying. To make arrows (The bow being the superior weapon in each tier.) you need thorns, and I had to actually look up where to get them because... I don't know where to get them at this size. Turns out it was thistle: but damned if I know what that looks like at any size.
Yeah, the game is on PC, but its pedigree is console, and plays much more easily with the controller over the keyboard. Bring your friends and try to make it home in this lovely 80's nostalgia survival hell.
So, an open world, crafting, base building, survival game.
I've been playing for a while now, got about 9 hours under my belt. I actually had to restart and reduce the difficulty because it IS geared towards playing cooperatively despite their being a single player mode.
Now, in terms of mechanics: this game does nothing that has not been seen before. You harvest resources, craft equipment and weapons, which eventually allow you harvest better resources and consequently craft BETTER equipment and weapons, and rinse and repeat till you reach end game kit and are functionally gods of war astride the land.
What this game does differently is application. You don't get a massive, randomly generated world to roam around in, you get a pre-generated backyard full of stuff. And the core concept is a love letter to the long forgotten 80's super science genre; "Honey I shrunk the kids" meets minecraft... or maybe ark...
The graphics are gorgeous (though I am looking into mods to remove depth of field, because the larger world you can see when you look... up... is always blurry even when standing in clear space.), the NPC's are varied, and since it's not a random gen map: they all have not only their own biomes, but their own routines and territories. The world acts dynamically, even when not active in front of the player. Ants go about their business, ladybugs trundle through the grass, and predators hunt at night. Because of this: there's a fairly sizable horror element just due to the random jump scares from bugs and arachnids sneaking up on you. The sound work is fantastic, the neutral and non-hostile NPC's all have their own, unique tell tale sounds and habits, and the enemies know the value of sneaking up on things, or horde charging. You wouldn't think that a wolf spider (for reference: the size of a VW micro bus.) could sneak up on you: but they do. They have their own calls and sounds: but generally don't make them when hunting! They only sound off when active close to their nests and hives. The most you might get is the click of exoskeletons, and the rustle of leafs as they stalk about, but if you're too busy trying to get a dew drop to stop yourself dehydrating, or line up a shot on an aphid so you can eat today... Well... you're spider chow.
Thankfully, the game is no less buggy than most such games, and the hand crafted, ridiculously varied terrain means it's often times easy to cheese some of the bigger threats by coopting terrain layout to your advantage.
There's also a lot the game DOES NOT TELL YOU. There are numerous resources which aren't just laying around to be grabbed, you have to "process" them first: like quartzite and clay. There is absolutely no outward indication that these rocks are different from the rest and can be harvested if you use the right tool first. But these are needed and useful resources to acquire. Clay is used for foundations for bases, and quartzite is used to craft and upgrade equipment. Quartzite is, as far as I have seen, also only found underground. So the myriad of tunnels, the ant hills and such are basically required delving... and terrifying. To make arrows (The bow being the superior weapon in each tier.) you need thorns, and I had to actually look up where to get them because... I don't know where to get them at this size. Turns out it was thistle: but damned if I know what that looks like at any size.
Yeah, the game is on PC, but its pedigree is console, and plays much more easily with the controller over the keyboard. Bring your friends and try to make it home in this lovely 80's nostalgia survival hell.