TL;DR: Pax Autocratica feels like a Warhammer-esque first-person RimWorld with a dash of Kenshi and a weird creature-collector streak. The combat is smooth and fun, but the colony building, soldier interactions, and emergent storytelling have been the real hook for me. It still has some obvious Early Access rough edges and systems that need fleshing out, but after nearly 10 hours I've had no major technical issues and still have plenty left to see. 7/10 so far, with a pretty easy recommendation for RimWorld fans.
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I went into Pax Autocratica expecting something like a mashup of RimWorld, Kenshi, and a survivor-like. What I actually got was something closer to a Warhammer-esque first-person RimWorld, with an oddly creature-collector-ish element thrown in.
And by creature collector, I don't mean obsessing over perfect stats. I mean seeing an enemy soldier who looks badass and immediately deciding:
"You're mine now."
Then imprisoning and indoctrinating them until they're part of my army.
The biggest surprise, though, is that the combat isn't what has kept me playing. I originally expected training soldiers and going on expeditions to be the main attraction, but I've spent far more time building my base, managing the people living there, and reading what my soldiers are doing and saying to each other.
That's probably Pax Autocratica's biggest strength for me.
Unlike RimWorld, where you're essentially an all-seeing god staring down at your colony, you're physically there with everyone. You're walking through the settlement you built, passing your soldiers in the streets, fighting alongside them, and occasionally seeing them talking about you to each other.
That simple change in perspective adds a surprising amount of personality to the colony-management side.
Some soldiers I love. Some annoy me. Some I couldn't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about. At first they can definitely feel like numbers on a spreadsheet that need food, morale, loyalty, fear, etc., but once you start paying attention to particular people it's very easy to begin constructing little stories around them.
The emergent storytelling isn't incredibly deep yet. I'd probably put it somewhere around a 4-6/10 in its current state simply because the pool of interactions seems fairly small, but what's already there gives your imagination enough to work with. I'm especially looking forward to the relationship and eventual marriage systems being expanded, because soldier interactions with both each other and the player are probably the area I'd most like to see developed further.
That personality extends into the base building as well. The controls are intuitive enough that it didn't take long for me to understand what I was doing, and I've had a lot of fun gradually turning the settlement into something that feels like mine. It can be a little janky if you don't plan things a step or two ahead, and the building system could definitely use some refinement, but nothing about it has seriously frustrated me.
The tutorial deserves some praise here too. It explains enough that I walked away feeling confident about what I could do and what the major systems meant without constantly grabbing me by the hand. I've only really had one notable moment of confusion involving a resource-mining structure, which is pretty minor.
When you do head outside the colony, the combat is smooth and enjoyable. I don't have an enormous amount of praise or criticism for it beyond that, which honestly isn't a bad thing. Movement feels good, weapons do their job, and once you get comfortable with everything you can zip around the battlefield wiping enemies out pretty effectively.
Upgrading your equipment also has a noticeable effect, and once you learn what different expedition encounters reward, farming specific materials becomes fairly straightforward.
Expeditions can get somewhat repetitive, although I've also spent basically my entire playtime stubbornly sitting in the first sector, so I'm partially doing that to myself. The battlefields change enough that it doesn't simply feel like cycling between the exact same handful of layouts, and repetition personally doesn't bother me much anyway.
The progression system also deserves credit for letting you take things at your own pace. I've never felt like the game was standing behind me yelling "GO TO THE NEXT ZONE ALREADY."
You can build, farm, recruit, experiment, and generally screw around for as long as you want.
Eventually you do hit a point where something you need simply comes from the next sector, at which point the game naturally gives you that:
"Alright. Guess it's time to stop screwing around, grind out the equipment I've been putting off, stomp the boss, and move on."
That feels a lot better to me than constantly being pushed forward.
Another area where Pax Autocratica has really impressed me is its tone. The setting takes itself seriously enough that the world feels legitimate, but it also knows when to be ridiculous. There's a very strong pseudo-Warhammer feeling running through the whole thing, yet the comedy never feels like it's undermining the setting.
That's a surprisingly difficult balance to get right, and so far they've nailed it.
Technically, my experience has also been excellent. I've had no crashes, noticeable FPS drops, broken saves, or NPCs doing anything catastrophically stupid. Visually it looks pretty good as well. There are areas that could use another layer of polish, but they're minor enough that I don't really think they're worth holding against the game right now.
My biggest personal complaint is customization.
I'd love more ways to customize my own character, but especially my soldiers. Being able to alter their appearance to some degree and create visual uniformity between different groups of troops would add a lot for me. Considering how much of the game's appeal comes from getting attached to individual soldiers, giving players more ways to make those soldiers visually their own feels like a natural fit.
And that leads into the main caveat:
It's Early Access.
There is already plenty to do, but you can absolutely see where certain systems haven't reached their final form yet. The building tools could be more refined, emergent interactions need more variety, customization is limited, and there are clearly features still waiting to be expanded.
Don't buy it expecting a completely finished 1.0 game.
At the same time, if someone had handed Pax Autocratica to me without telling me it was Early Access, I could probably have believed it was simply a smaller finished game until I started reaching the edges of some of those systems. It doesn't feel like one of those Early Access releases where you're buying a tech demo and a promise.
If what you've seen on the Steam page or in gameplay videos looks appealing, there's a pretty good chance you'll enjoy what is already here.
I'd especially recommend it to RimWorld fans. Kenshi players may find a lot to like as well, but after playing it I'd make the RimWorld comparison much more strongly.
As it currently stands for me: 7/10.
That score could easily change without the developers adding a single new feature, simply because I've somehow managed to spend nearly my entire first 10 hours ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around in Sector 1.
There's still a lot of the existing game I haven't even seen yet.
