The game looks great, the idea is really cool, and I actually really enjoyed the first 5-6 hours. However, that's where you really hit a snag if you try to play solo. The game doesn't scale well at all. As the game progresses, so do the costs of upkeep (fuel, repair, materials for new buildings), and with a zombie attack every other night you just don't have enough time to do it all. Any exploration that you do becomes a frenzied rush to find a blueprint as fast as possible so you can get back to grinding basic resources. The world is beautifully crafted, it's too bad the game doesn't let us enjoy exploring it.
Also, who the **** thought that damage over time for core components was a good idea!?
Another thing, the durability on tools and weapons is a joke. You can't go anywhere without spares clogging your inventory or you'll end fighting zombies empty handed when your club/sword brakes. Durability should be at least doubled. You shouldn't force players to craft higher tier tools by making the lower tier ones break when you so much as look at them the wrong way, we should want to craft better tools/weapons because they do more damage or are more efficient at gathering.
At the moment I can't recommend this game, but since it just launched I'm not going to refund it, instead I'll revisit it in a month or two. With a little better balancing this could be a really fun game.

I think it's *Okay*. Put about 3 hours into it so far and the scenery has already begun to loop. Not a complaint, just stating how far things go.

I blew up some rocks, opened a giant door, blew up a zombie fortress, and built a bridge.

Building that bridge was absolute agony. It was so annoying. But once you're through that, the scenery loops and you can just focus on what the game should be about.
Building on the machine.
However by that point I was totally burned out by the lackluster combat and annoyed by the amount of weapon degradation there is. Sure, stone swords are weak but.. I'm stuck with them until copper (I assume) and I haven't even got a forge yet.

Also this game uses AI Voiceovers, that was not disclosed on the steam page. It gets annoying *Real* fast, and I just skipped the intro movie entirely because of it.

Rating it a thumbs up because I've got hopes for it later. I like the idea of a Raft-like build-a-fortress defence game.
Just got a long way to go, I feel.

I am going to review it on three levels, general, solo, and multiplayer

GENERAL
If you ever played Raft, this is the same, but with more stress. Raft was the original "limited build survival" game and this does the same, but instead of a shark attacking you every ten minutes, it si a horde of zombies. The problem is that this horde is way more devastating than a shark who just takes one bite of your raft. In a way it is Raft matured to a horror game... if horror was PG.
The game forces you to explore away from your base, not doing so will cause you to find the game limited, saying this, the game is already limited in that the explorations sites are randomised amongst a slim selection of options (hopefully this would be expanded upon on final release).
The learning curve is good, with a generous tutorial system to help you manage the game. If anything, it is overly generous, making it a good game to wean younger players into (I have had my 10 and 12 year old play as well).

SOLO
This game is reasonably standard and nothing special to phone home about. The zombie attacks can be difficult on solo without adequate preparation. i likely would not buy if only playing solo simply because it lacks huge depth, yet is not casual enough.

MULTIPLAYER
The game is definitely designed for multiplayer. There are quests specifically designed that progress requires all players to complete before continuing, and zombie attacks are significantly easier with more players, yet still challenging. The starting area is obviously designed for 4 players, but having played 3 player, it was not a problem.
organising your team is a bit difficult as there is lots of exploring to do and you can find people left behind if not organised verbally, but it is not terrible. In the games i played, it required chatter to make sure you were at least reasonably organised (we are playing withing metres of each other, so chatter was done acoustically)

Final determination:
I bought it for me (M43) and my kids (M10, F12) because "the family who slays together, stays together". However it did not feel as unified as Raft did. There was the need to be coordinated, yet also too much freedom. As such we were only coordinated when the zombies attacked. This was the "bring it together" moment. If not for that moment every two days, then it would not be a good multiplayer game. i thin the idea is good, but requires a much larger story and essence to bind the players together.

It is in essences, a multiplayer game, trying to allow people to be solo players... and this makes both lacking.
I recommend, with the hope future development as they approach release and beyond is better.