After my initial post about the game I've since been way more 'into' it. Once I'd reached the limits of the Prologue I wondered how so many players were progressing further. Screenshots on the Steam community pages were filled with buildings I'd not seen and a greener planet then I'd reached. It seems the Beta branch is open to all so of course I jumped on in; And it's been great.
To get the Beta access....
Go to your Steam Library and right click the game and select properties.
Click on BETAS and select the box that says 'None'; Then select 'development – development branch'.
The game will then update and once done start the game, load your save and Terraform on!!
For a gamer like me its got a massive amount of compelling game-play value. As I've said it's gamplay just like Minecraft or a planet based No Man's Sky. Gather, build, survive... Craft, store and sort items.
The game has a really good technology unlock system as you naturally progress along it and Terraform the planet. Mix in survival for food, water and oxygen and your continually occupied and planning. Small things in progression feel rewarding. Larger ones like your gear upgrades 'feel' epic. There are messages that show a narrative that's interesting. The most interesting of those for me was that of a fellow planet crater that's in need of resources...
Going forward I hope that the game doesn't let down furthering that element of the game and that there's a way to help... And a broader narrative without explaining too much.
Progress in terraforming is itself a somewhat regulating thing. The more you progress the more you can do and do better.... The better you do, the more you create, the faster the teraforming goes and the more you unlock. That's not to say that things are super fast. I like that I had to pause at times. waiting for the planet to catch up with my progress. It gave me time to explore more. I've never felt rushed by the game.
A blue Sky turns to clouds and then rain, the progression feels impactful. The next thing you know your not just making water from ice, your collecting rain and gathering lake water and then filtering and drinking from lake water directly...
View of the old base from the new, work in progress before the creeping 'flood'.
The secret that everyone knows is that the initial landing site, with your 'starter' escape pod is an area that gets flooded. It's easy to see why a player would build a base up around that pod but if you leave it all there and the 'water' phase starts, you'll not have that much time to relocate and restore your assets. Especially if you have a lot. It's not game ending but motivation indeed; I'm glad I had a heads up about that! I'd have hated to have a lot of work be undone if it was quick and devastating.
Even with relocating I got a bit of a panic when my even bigger relocated base was looking like it would be more than just a waterfront property.
Poor pod, o7
Crates! Golden crates!! Golden crates with their golden statues is a driving force to check all nooks and cranny's for items. I've found 5(top of wreck, 2 in caves one in ice columns and the other at the spike region).
I even found a golden pod.... Something to remember the flooded version.
I do have one complaint. When the teraforming reaches a certain level and liquid water is on the surface, Ice is removed. Ice is needed for Vegetube T2's. So for using them with flowers like in the pic above(on the left) can no longer bee done as Ice is a component in its making. That said my only reason to create another one (internal only item) was for aesthetic reasons. But still it would be nice to have a reverse mode in the item creator where water can be turned to ice and not just vise versa. Minor thing and completely ungame-breaking, but for me it would have been nice to have more flowers in the old habitat.
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