Once the game begins in earnest, it doesn’t give you a goal, or even the beginning of a pathway. Unfortunately, despite my praises of both the art style and the mechanics, Astroneer has one near-fatal flaw that comes to be pervasive throughout the experience: it doesn’t give the player any real direction.
There are minor issues with both the camera and inventory management, but these I can put down to cramped environments underground (the camera) and my own haphazard and devil-may-care attitude towards being organized. I found that to be incredibly refreshing, and a new take on survival mechanics in general. You begin the game with the beginnings of a base already made, and will be more concerned with building a high-tech furnace and research station, rather than engaging in fisticuffs with a tree to make a pickaxe. Base construction is simple and precise, there are no glaring issues with moment-to-moment gameplay (the resource gathering and movement are, again, simply made but done very well) and, in a fantastic design decision that I cannot complement enough, Astroneer skips the usual “acquire basic tools” sequence that kicks off most exploration games.
#Astroneer review full
Mechanically, System Era Softworks has reworked and improved a number of Astroneer’s features for its full release. System Era Softworks has created something incredibly beautiful, something that truly appeals to the sense of wonder that drives exploration. The planet you start on has a bright colour palette that is visually striking, and it provides a stark contrast to the harsh but still eye-popping palettes of later planets.
The game ran well on my system (GTX 1070, 16GB RAM), and I must admit, the landscapes and art style are beautiful. It’s a tried-and-tested formula that we’ve seen in gaming before, but as is the case with many tried-and-tested formulas, it works.įrom a technical standpoint, Astroneer is well-designed the procedurally-generated landscapes keep exploration fresh, and lead to some interesting arrangements of flora and geometry (see the photo below featuring colossal mushrooms growing deep underground). I’m no stranger to these types of games, and love them dearly, but I had a much harder time with Astroneer than other games of the genre.Īstroneer’s premise centres around exploring an uncharted system, dropping players on a lush, but entirely unexplored, planet and immediately leaving them to gather resources, construct a base and explore the planet on their own time before they jump into their newly-built rocket ship and do it all again. There’s nothing quite like kicking back, relaxing and exploring the unknown by yourself, often accompanied by ambient music and the sounds of an unfamiliar landscape.
#Astroneer review simulator
On the surface, System Era Softworks’ space exploration and survival simulator Astroneer – a recent Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview graduate – is a game that ticks all of my boxes: it’s got space, it’s got exploration, and it’s got comfort.
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