Crea is a sandbox procedurally-generated crafting game with really nice graphics and interesting mechanics.
If this review is too long for you, I suggest you to only read the first paragraph about the game's content and the final verdict at the end.

The principle is the same as in most other similar sandbox game: you have to kill monsters, gather resources, explore, craft and other things all in order to survive and make progress. Since there are many other similar games of this genre, the quality of the game is really important in order to beat the competition and this game certainly has the potential to do so.

• Graphics | The first noticeable thing is of course what this game looks like. It sure does look nice, I especially liked the little windows for crafting, researching and inventory. Also, when the night comes, torches emit warm light which truly looks amazing.
  
• Leveling | For most actions, you get some experience points and, after a while, you can level up in the action you were performing. For example, chopping down a lot of trees gets you a higher level of Gather. You also get a point to spend on your stats, such as Intelligence or Stamina.
  
• Researching and Crafting | Before you can craft anything, you have to research it first. I found this really enjoyable, since I got that "what am I going to get now?" feeling every time I was going to research something. This also adds another great thing, which is uncovering the items gradually and this helps the player get familiar with them at his own pace. When you feel like you need some more items, you just do some research and hopefully, you get something you like.
  
• Two Modes | So, you basically have two loadouts: one for fighting and one for "friendly" activities, such as gathering resources and placing items. In my opinion, this is a really good idea, since in some other games you have to switch to specific items manually and it can be quite confusing, but here it's as easy as pressing a button (literally) to be ready for a fight.
  
• Exploring | There is a surprising amount of content waiting to be discovered in this game. There are portals, hidden chests and a lot of other things. This is another one of those things that make this game better.
  
• Singleplayer and Multiplayer | You can play alone, but if you ever feel like you need some company, you can find yourself a server and play with others. Both are good.
  
• Steam Integration | This game has Trading Cards and Achievements. It also has Cloud and Workshop support, which is really awesome.
  
• Availability on Different Platforms | Crea supports all three major operating systems. Nothing else to add, it's just good to see that devs are actually caring about that.

• Lack of Dedicated Servers | There aren't any "official" servers in existence right now, so you have to do some work yourself to find a community-ran server you can play on. This should be fixed, since not everybody has enough patience to find a server manually.
  
• Unfriendly to Beginners | You don't get many things explained in this game, you mostly progress by discovering things yourself. This can be really hard for some people (read: me) and it may present quite a barrier for people who are trying to get started with Crea. This a common problem with games of the same genre, I guess they just assume that we know everything from similar games.
  
• Resource Usage | This game really requires a long time to get itself started. I can sometimes hear my computer struggling. However, I have never seen any lags or FPS drops, so I'm not sure what to think about this.

Crea is most certainly a wonderful game. It looks good, it's very interesting and really entertaining. Although it may be hard for some people to get started, the enjoyment afterwards certainly exceeds the hassle at the beginning. If you like sandbox games, to give Crea a try, in my opinion it's worth it.

With love,
BirdCute

Note that my copy of this game was obtained for free for reviewing purposes. However, this did not affect the quality and objectivity of this review.

[b]Crea[/b] is a sandbox procedurally-generated crafting game with really nice graphics and interesting mechanics. If this review is too long for you, I suggest you to only read the first paragraph about the game's content and the final verdict at the end. [h1]What is happening in the game:[/h1] The principle is the same as in most other similar sandbox game: you have to kill monsters, gather resources, explore, craft and other things all in order to survive and make progress. Since there are many other similar games of this genre, the quality of the game is really important in order to beat the competition and this game certainly has the potential to do so. [h1]Pros:[/h1] [list] [*][b]Graphics[/b] | The first noticeable thing is of course what this game looks like. It sure does look nice, I especially liked the little windows for crafting, researching and inventory. Also, when the night comes, torches emit warm light which truly looks amazing. [*][b]Leveling[/b] | For most actions, you get some experience points and, after a while, you can level up in the action you were performing. For example, chopping down a lot of trees gets you a higher level of Gather. You also get a point to spend on your stats, such as Intelligence or Stamina. [*][b]Researching and Crafting[/b] | Before you can craft anything, you have to research it first. I found this really enjoyable, since I got that [i]"what am I going to get now?"[/i] feeling every time I was going to research something. This also adds another great thing, which is uncovering the items gradually and this helps the player get familiar with them at his own pace. When you feel like you need some more items, you just do some research and hopefully, you get something you like. [*][b]Two Modes[/b] | So, you basically have two loadouts: one for fighting and one for [i]"friendly"[/i] activities, such as gathering resources and placing items. In my opinion, this is a really good idea, since in some other games you have to switch to specific items manually and it can be quite confusing, but here it's as easy as pressing a button (literally) to be ready for a fight. [*][b]Exploring[/b] | There is a surprising amount of content waiting to be discovered in this game. There are portals, hidden chests and a lot of other things. This is another one of those things that make this game better. [*][b]Singleplayer and Multiplayer[/b] | You can play alone, but if you ever feel like you need some company, you can find yourself a server and play with others. Both are good. [*][b]Steam Integration[/b] | This game has Trading Cards and Achievements. It also has Cloud and Workshop support, which is really awesome. [*][b]Availability on Different Platforms[/b] | Crea supports all three major operating systems. Nothing else to add, it's just good to see that devs are actually caring about that. [/list] [h1]Cons:[/h1] [list] [*][b]Lack of Dedicated Servers[/b] | There aren't any [i]"official"[/i] servers in existence right now, so you have to do some work yourself to find a community-ran server you can play on. This should be fixed, since not everybody has enough patience to find a server manually. [*][b]Unfriendly to Beginners[/b] | You don't get many things explained in this game, you mostly progress by discovering things yourself. This can be really hard for some people (read: me) and it may present quite a barrier for people who are trying to get started with Crea. This a common problem with games of the same genre, I guess they just assume that we know everything from similar games. [*][b]Resource Usage[/b] | This game really requires a long time to get itself started. I can sometimes hear my computer struggling. However, I have never seen any lags or FPS drops, so I'm not sure what to think about this. [/list] [h1]The final verdict:[/h1] Crea is most certainly a wonderful game. It looks good, it's very interesting and really entertaining. Although it may be hard for some people to get started, the enjoyment afterwards certainly exceeds the hassle at the beginning. If you like sandbox games, to give Crea a try, in my opinion it's worth it. With love, BirdCute [quote]Note that my copy of this game was obtained for free for reviewing purposes. However, this did not affect the quality and objectivity of this review.[/quote]