This game has potential to be so incredible after the necessary tweaks and updates are made. As of my current review, this game is in an early access state! If you read up, you'll find that more is to come such as more scenery (water sources, mountains, seasonal flowers and blooms, etc). There are going to be seasons, a day cycle, CO-OP!!!! I'm so excited for co-op. Mark my words, this game is going to be absolutely amazing once it's finished.
In it's current state, just be aware that there are bugs and things that do need to be fixed, but the dev has been working super hard to take make the necessary changes, even giving us an update just a couple days after release. That being said, here are some things I found needed a little more work while playing:
- The larger predators like the foxes and wolves are idle until you come within range, making them much less of a threat. I dont know if that was the intention, but it would be easier to run into them if they had some pathing events and could spot you if you're not being sneaky enough!
- Currently, attacking bunnies does not work, nor does attacking foxes or wolves (to my knowledge), but I could attack the one rat and frog I had found! I was never sure if I was doing any damage since there is no real indication up until the actual kill, so that might be helpful to add, too!
- The hunger does still go down quite fast, and since I had only found one rat and one frog through my hour played and bunnies were unobtainable, my only food source was the apples. This is just a mere suggestion, but i think adding other wild fruits or vegetable; such as berries on some of the bushes, could be really beneficial. Having a wider variety would be amazing. I do think the hunger should be tweaked even more though! And maybe you could add some damage indicator? I had a few moments where I hadn't realized I was losing health from low hunger. So some kind of indicator would be super helpful!
- Build mode is a little confusing and slightly janky! The rotate didn't work for me and while I tried to put some rocks and sticks together, I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing. I know you're supposed to be able to build traps and shelters, but I was at a loss without a little guidance. It was kind of hard to place the items I was holding since the movement was a bit wonky, maybe there could be some sort of build mode where it's just free camera building with the items you have? Lastly, the walking animation while holding the materials is quite slow, so if I'm trying to gather a bunch of materials for different builds, it takes a very long time to bring one item back to my chosen build area, and having to go back and forth at that pace is very demotivating.
- I am personally very directionally challenged and get lost a LOT, especially in open world environments like this. This is just another suggestion based on something that is hard for me, but I would very much so appreciate a navigation system! Even just as an option. A map, a mini map, maybe markers?
With that, I'd love to tell you a few specific things I loved while playing!
- While your camera is facing the direction of the sun, standing in the shine of the rays illuminates the fur of the raccoon so beautifully. Moving your camera away from the sun changes the angle of it and facing the camera directly away removes it entirely. I thought that was an amazing detail. The visuals in this game are stunning.
- You can press X to lay down and SLEEP! Literally the cutest thing I have EVER seen! I think adding more little interactive actions like that would make this game top tier, honestly (if there aren't more already, that's just the only one I had discovered).
- The details/attention to detail is so impressive. I love the way the foxes will stalk you before chasing to hunt and the wolves will enter a little stance before pouncing and chasing. I can't wait to see more wildlife added.
Overall this game has such great potential. I highly recommend purchasing this and trying it out, even if you choose to wait for a few more updates to come. Once it's finished, it's gonna be my favorite game hands down, I can just tell.
