Edit: 12/14/24
Do not recommend, game is abandonware.
Original Review:
Before I continue on with my review of this game. I will give some context that I believe needs to be heard. For starters I am biased to this product. I watched it be developed for a handful of months after hearing about it on Reddit when I was still searching for a true camping simulator style game, and while this game still isn't exactly what I wanted, I still think it's a well thought out title. So while I don't think you should discount my opinions on the game, I do believe you should take them with a grain of salt.
The Good;
-Smooth & Clean UI/UX
-Smooth animations
-Foundation for addons and improvements is there
-Not very buggy (just basic Unity engine bugs which can be fixed)
-Graphics fidelity is pretty good
-Controls are good
-Overall audio design is good
-Game is fun for some melancholy vibes
-Devs actively work to fix the bugs
The Bad;
-Mouse movement is like a slide, it continues to move even if you stop moving the mouse
-Not much choice for certain settings such as editing keybinds, changing audio options, etc
-Some minor bugs (as mentioned earlier) such as super jumping if an object is removed or place on-top of your position, you constantly move to the left if you press A, etc
-Small game (not much content) there's about two levels, a few upgrades that are spaced out by expensive pricing, while this is relatively okay for a start up title, there needs to eventually be more to do in terms of more levels, bigger playable spaces, more camping activities or random events, etc
The Ugly;
There is none, at least not really. Some of the assets feel as if they were from the unity asset store but I assume they will be replaced with custom ones later on. This game is more of a "Tech Demo" so to speak. It shows off what it can do and the idea of how it works. It's not outstanding by any means and needs work done to it to be a "near perfect" title but it gets the job done and hopefully with some added sales, development can continue to make it that near perfect camping game.
The main takeaway is that the game is fairly good and has a reasonable price. However it is very shallow and there's not much to do and the gameplay loop can get very boring as there's a lot of padded time elements to the game but not much to actually do. Once you complete the side objectives in your match, you're done. You have no reason to stay at the campground other than sleeping and packing up. I'd like to see more variety in what can happen at campgrounds. I;E having more things to do to help with spending that time waiting on midnight to roll around. So this last part of the review will be my suggestions to make the game better in my own eyes.
Suggestions;
-More activities to do while you wait on midnight to roll around. Maybe add in certain types of animals that have a chance of spawning in that you could take photos of using a camera, or a gopro headstrapped camera for "walking down trails" and the like, more vistas to explore and stare at, maybe running into another camping vlogger and having a little dialogue session with which boosts your income, have different types of mushrooms that can spawn in, some good and others inedible and if you place a inedible mushroom in your meal pot maybe it causes you to get sick which means you now need $24 to buy medicine as a negative cost when completing the match. Allow us to forage for additional ingredients for our meals or allow us to buy spices in the shop menu that we can add to our meals to boost their flavors and or "reward" us in extra money, etc.
-Create a in-game patreon clone and replace it with your current earnings system, where you would be able to see messages left behind by your fans, you could then have a "thanks" title card that scrolls down for randomized usernames and "fake" real names that speed through as if you're thinking them all by name, some of those randomized messages could even be actual voted upon messages by your real patreon supporters. More or less your fans create your income, instead of being rewarded for "Making a big fire" you're rewarded because a bushcrafter fan of yours enjoyed seeing you build that big fire, or even a small fire, and rewards you a set amount of money in a patreon donation ranging from current price to $30 depending on how well you fit their likes. It adds more of a personal connection.
-Create events where you may get sick if you come ill-prepared, such as if there's a snow map but you didn't pack warm clothes and a more high quality sleeping bag, getting sick from eating the wrong mushrooms or other foraged plants, maybe you under cooked some shrimp and caught a case of the runs, or even you bought a beer and got so drunk you blacked out which causes you to lose some fans, more money not delivered and overall not good to do.
-Have entirely unique fans that reward you with big money for doing strange requests like staying up all night until morning, not eating for that match, finding specific mushrooms, picking up all of the trash on that map, etc.
-Above all, fix the current bugs as you see them and as they're reported to you, then add some new content!
