Developer:Pathea Games
Publisher: Pathea Games
Price: $24.99
Platforms: PC, Mac, and Linux Only (for now?)
Release Date: Early development
Get it at these trusted shops!: Steam, Direct
Coming off a very successful Kickstarter, featuring elements that are both refreshing, and safe designs for the game play format. While it is still in its early stages, this review will be conducted with the benefit of the doubt with most issues I discuss. With that in mind I will say as it is, it has the potential of being some very big. Off the bat you think to yourself ok, another Minecraft clone, right? Well you would be right. It takes elements of the sandbox survivalist genre and tosses it into the basket without a whim. However it adds more then just plan chip away at terrain and build a dirt house. With this build we are going through it has a story mode to help new players get accustomed to what the heck is going on. Along with voice over dialog in some chunks of the content, I was told clearly, hey I want you to to get me some water, here is a cup, go fetch. A sense of direction. However before I dive into my experiences let me break down the brief footnotes of this story mode. “In Planet Explorers, it is the year 2287, one of the first colony ships sent out by Earth arrives at the planet Maria, in the Epsilon Indi Star System. During its landing sequence, something appears in front of the massive ship that causes it to lose control and crash into the planet. Some of the colonists survive in lifeboats, but what they find is an unforgiving land filled with creatures ready to outlast the visitors from Earth.’ You are tossed up on a alien planet, where you, as well as your shipmate are near your now destroyed space craft. The atmosphere is large covered with animated terrain. Where just about everything is salvageable. Like Minecraft’s crafting system you can make and create a ton of items, including your own custom works via creator. Which this feature alone is flipping awesome.
Adventure mode is practically the offline twin brother to the online part of this game. You are placed into a generated town or colony, with some NPCs who start you off with purchasable items, such as axes, shovels, and armor. From this point on, you are on your own to go out, find resources, and make stuff. As well as survive. As a mode on its own, its fine. However the Story mode, and Multiplayer is the bold underlined aspect to this game I felt while experimenting around with each mode onwards. However I budded up with two NPC characters you use as hired help. I wondered around some desert, found a four armed giant with an axe. Kicked the crap out of me, and my help. Lets just say, I will send that big oaf the medical bill. I built myself a house, out of some minerals, such as stone, and shacked up in it until day. Or went to bed in game if I decided to skip crafting some more items for the trek wondering around.
One element in which is completely welcomed is the fast travel(requiring you Meat depending on the distance.) Let me tell you that reduced me to tears discovering this while running around. So much time saved revisiting locations. So lets say Gary the builder wanted you to go half way across the planet to get skin from a goat with fifteen arms and legs. Well once you have done that you can simply pop back to him via fast travel. Giving that element that Bethesda is known notoriously for there open world RPG games. All I can say to the developers is THANK YOU! You saved me hours of getting lost.
Graphically the game for its early stage uses elements like sun glaring, as well as shadowing. Where nighttime compares to realistic standards. To test out lighting in depth I used the provided flashlight and noticed only a small aspect of light. When I finally made some torches I was able to plant a few, then within a few moments they died out. Leaving me in the dark as I tried to find Tin for some quest. Which toke me a good two hours to even notice no success in the creator in the quest I was in to find any at all.
The overall story of the game is simple enough to follow. Locate and find other survivors, then learn how to make this, or how to farm that. Not its strongest suit, but enough to bring you along for the ride. Which personally I felt is perfect for entry gamers who barely touched a game such as this. At least until they access the online features to the game. Where I think this game shines the brightest. It had its typical points where connectivity here, and there was faulty, not granting me access if the game was open, and had other players. After refreshing the browser a few times, retrying I managed to land into a game, naked. Do not ask me why, but I was in my bikini, must have been a summer party. So I decided to crack open my own server and host a game. Within a few moments of setting up my stuff, I was able to host with out a delay. A friend of mine who also owned the game logged in to help me test it. There was no latency at all. We then hopped on voice chat browsing the surface of the forest biome out of the several others optional to begin your online session in. We were given crates which started us with Meat (the in game currency to trade for materials, blue prints to make items, etc.) Then within the town we figured out which npcs offered what, such as weapons and tools. We then set for adventure for ten minutes until a weird beetle like rhino alien thing chased me down. After kiting it around and my friend crafting bullets for his pistol to shoot down the monster. We claimed our prize of seven hundred meat. Preparing for world dominion. The experience was incredibility fun. Straight roots to survival. Another aspect, which I hope more hair features gets added as the character creation screen. Such as long hair, braided hair, long wavy hair, Dreadlocks, or even tied back hair. I know of many fans out there who personally have long hair as myself. And would like to try to emulate there facial features along with there scalp. From skin, to hair you are allowed to pick any color you wish for your body. I picked a pinkish red female with long purple hair and blue eyes. My friend picked a fro-hawk male with completely black skin with red eyes.
We then explored the community created content, being tools, weapons, and even vehicles. The creator in this game alone is worth its weight in gold.
I have seen some items such as Captain America’s Shield down-loadable. Exploring a very creative community, I was overwhelmed by some of the potential you can receive for your own experience if you are less creative as the rest. With each item, you can build them in your own game with a simple to follow recipe. Consisting thirty of this, or that. I hope in the future more defining environmental structures such as ore pockets in the earth, or stone walls.
The more I played it, the more I felt like I was playing Skyrim. The map itself is pretty massive. I was impressed with the variation of wildlife, and hostile enemies per biome. I discovered massive elephant like bug creatures who weren’t hostile, to flying big bat like thing that was red coming after my backside. I was both excited and intrigued finding new things about the game. Your choice for the game is this, you can follow the story, or dont, and do what you want.
The enemy AI, are not remotely hard to mess with, or to fight. Simply spam your attack with a sword or your gun. Collect the meat, profit. As time burns on, I will say this game will gain a massive amount of traction for its sole sandbox elements. Along with that Minecraft meets Garys Mod vibe. Once the game is fully released, we will conduct a follow up, comparing more of our experiences with the game. As well as core improvements. The actual story was not as strong so far, but still held a good aspect to the adventure through the single player mode. The multiplayer while was a solid aspect could only build into something better and better. Perhaps taking a seat next to Second Life for the modding community to get there hands dirty. I would say wait a little while longer for more production for this game to blossom. However whatever I said sold you in its gameplay, then I implore to snag a copy, log in, or play offline and enjoy the fruits of this work in progress.
9.0
“If Gary’s Mod, and Minecraft had a love child. It would be this. ”
