[h2]Stonehearth: a game filled with amazing potential, that was ultimately abandoned…[/h2]
…and my heart still aches about it!
I got thinking about Stonehearth after writing some reviews for other games I'm conflicted about.
Stonehearth is a warm and cosy colony sim with simple but satisfying building tools, great ambience, and just enough variety in craft and furniture to prevent boredom but avoid overwhelming menus of stuff. Establish a settlement of hearthlings, assign jobs from carpenter, to cook, to knight, build your town, collect resources, improve your hearthlings skills, and protect your people from anything from the surrounding wildlife, to orc invaders!
[b]To this day, I am still gutted that such a promising title was left behind in a completely and utterly busted state.[/b]
I haven't been able to get it to work with ACE, even though I'd like to, and while that may also be down to my impatience with it all… I shouldn't [i]have[/i] to set up mods to play a game for longer than an hour. Why does it feel like every other game I take a fancy to needs me to sit down and spend an age just getting it to run well?
[hr][/hr]
💖[u]Yay:[/u]💖
[list]
[*]The vision of the game itself is wonderful, and if you're a fan of city builders and sandbox games where you can just potter about building for your sweet little hearthlings to live and work in, you'd enjoy the 2 hours of gameplay you get before a crash.
[*]Style is adorable.
[*]The music is chill and pretty cute.
[*]There's a little bit of combat and story in the game to add a bit more depth to the gameplay, but nothing too intrusive.
[*]Credit where its due, there has been a lot of graft put in by ACE to get it working for folk. Maybe you'd have more luck than me getting it functional? Because it is, admittedly, a cracking game when it works.
[/list]
[hr][/hr]
💀[u]Nay:[/u]💀
[list]
[*]If you're like me and simply could not figure out, or could not be bothered, to get it set up properly with mods / system adjustments, you'll get about 2 hours of playtime before you need to reset everything because you've got errors coming out of your nose.
[*]We're never going to see the game in a polished state.
[*]The tools, while simple, can get finicky to use for more complex builds, and it can be hard to adjust your camera to see what you're doing.
[*]You'll probably regret spending the money eventually.
[*]You'll forever wonder about what this game [i]could[/i] have been, which is the worst position to be in as a player.
[/list]
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Stonehearth's development, or lack thereof in the end, was a hot mess, and the game reflects as such now. Sometimes, I wish I'd never have discovered it![/h3]
I've sequestered this game to a folder called 'Broken', so that every time I get even tempted to try again, I get a reminder to my future self about what I've got to look forward to once I build something grander than a 4x4 house, or when I dare to invite an extra hearthling into my settlement.
[b]I cannot recommend trying this game, even if you're willing to put in the time with mods. It will never be what it could, and [i]should[/i] have been.[/b] 💔
