Great co-op game!
Pros:
- Pretty graphics (especially when terraforming goes up)
- No enemies, you can only die from lack of oxygen (in the very beginning stages of play), dehydration, starvation and lava/fire damage.
- Shared team progression, money and resources (e.g. most achievements trigger for everyone online, except for visiting secret locations) ~on this point I'm throwing shade at No Man's Sky where the multiplayer and base building is very individualized
- Unlocked recipes remain unlocked if you choose to start terraforming a new planet in your solar system
- You can make your own animal species
- You can get 100% achievements in one playthrough
- You can beat the game in ~30 hours (less if you already know what you're doing)
- You can decorate your base, albeit there are limited decorations
- The game mechanics are pretty user-friendly and intuitive
- Once you finished the game, you can keep terraforming 3~4 other planets in the solar system +2 dlc ones, that are not achievement tied and you continue with existing unlocked recipes from the first playthrough. This point goes for people who enjoy getting as many hours out of a game for their money.
Overall in the pros category, it feels like the devs really wanted to not be scums and prioritised the players' convenience and fun. What I mean by this, they made things more simple in the gameplay itself, allowing continuity without making you grind from 0 all over again. The achievements are also not too hard to unlock. so you won't start to hate the game or NEED to play more than one playthrough like other games.
Cons:
- Minor glitches through walls
- A little grindy in the early phases, ideally you want one person at the base focusing on setting up the machines and one person scavenging the map for resources and new items.
- The teleport would've been nice earlier in the game, once you finish the planet or are near completion it's almost useless to even wander that far on the map through teleporting.
Overall, not too much to complain.
Tips:
- In the game save settings when you choose a planet to start on you should tick the option to save your inventory when you die. It won't affect achievements and save you a lot of time and frustration carrying resources long distances.
- Early on when you don't have many things unlocked, grab the materials you need for one square room and a basic door for when you explore the map and wander off too far. You build the 'hut' as I call it, get oxygen and then deconstruct it and keep going forward. And if you find big shipwrecks, build it outside and leave it there (maybe a few chests inside of it) so you can fully clear ships. From that point it's easier to take things back to the base and have it all in one safehouse. If you keep these little 'huts' around the map, they're good pit stops of oxygen later as well and also helps you recognize where you've been before VS new areas, as a lot of them look the same. Of course, this is for earlier stages, and later on you can just teleport, use maps, etc. The huts also help you respawn in different map areas when you're gathering resources faaar away from the base.
