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f13.net General Forums => But is it Fun? => Topic started by: Samwise on January 10, 2018, 06:50:20 PM



Title: Astroneer - System Era - PC
Post by: Samwise on January 10, 2018, 06:50:20 PM
So it's kinda like Minecraft and No Man's Sky had a baby.  You're marooned on a planet and you have a gun that digs and you need to find resources and build things so that you can find more resources and build bigger things.  The more things you build, the more you're able to explore, and the more you explore, the more things you can build.

Unlike No Man's Sky, there's actual shit to do that's interesting.  Unlike Minecraft, you can't build freeform structures, but you can deform the fractally-generated terrain in interesting ways, either digging out caves or extruding bridges to help you get from point A to point B.  Resources are buried in the dirt, and you can use them to craft useful technologies.  Mineral extractors let you synthesize rare resources from large volumes of dirt, making you less dependent on lucky strikes of valuable ore.  When you begin you can't go very far from your escape pod without needing to run back to refill your oxygen tank, but soon you'll be able to craft "tethers" that cover the landscape like a spiderweb of life support, and once you can craft vehicles you're free to roam around at will (just don't drive too far underground in a solar-powered buggy).

I've sunk a good few late nights into this and would recommend it to anyone looking to scratch an explorer/builder itch.  Once I got to vehicles I could feel my interest plateauing a bit, as I started running out of real novelties to discover and settled into a "grind research to unlock more tech" mode.  So it might not have legs, but I had a fun week or so with it and that's more than I get out of most games these days.

Rating: Rent it (i.e. buy it when it goes on sale for cheap).