stepped on snek
hurt his hed
he upset
now im ded

I picked this one up way back in Early Access when the story wasn't even finished yet, shelved it for a while, and just came back recently. The game has really come a long way and manages to captivate me in a way that other survival games just don't do. The story is great and definitely what sets it apart in the genre but more often than not I find myself just enjoying hanging out in the world, completely forgetting that I'm supposed to actually be doing something. Not only is the environment gorgeous, it's teeming with life instead of feeling like a bunch of empty space in between important areas.

The world is dangerous and frankly pretty frustrating at first, but that same quality also gives you a real sense of accomplishment as you learn how to deal with it. You'll go from dying within 2 days to barely clinging to life for a week before dying, then barely clinging to life for two weeks before dying, then something clicks and you're able to barely cling to life indefinitely as long as you don't do something stupid. Your mastery of the world improves and eventually you find yourself in good enough shape to be able really start exploring, taking risks, and progressing the story...which is when the real game begins and that's something I don't want to spoil.

All that said, nobody's perfect. Dropped items get lost under bushes or just fall through the ground. The UI design often favors immersion over convenience, requiring you to flip through notebook pages one by one to find the building you want or rearrange your entire inventory so you can pick up a rock. It's better than it used to be and it's certainly no worse than many other games, but it does frustrate at times. Of course, one could say it's quite realistic to be frantically flipping through your notes trying to find that one thing you need to not die :) Haven't tried multiplayer myself but plenty of other reviews detail the issues people have run into, so that's something to be aware of if co-op is your jam.

If you want a survival game that's super streamlined and basically just about making base get bigger and number go up, then this game probably isn't for you. If you're looking for a survival game whose world demands you pay attention to it, where survival is never a trivial task no matter how much you learn or how many resources you gather, that really compels you to explore deeper and figure out what the hell is going on in its weird story...well, this might be right up your alley. Just remember no step on snek.

*UPDATE 4/23/2023* Finished the main story, now working on Spirits of Amazonia and loving it even more. I've even been dipping into multiplayer a bit (still no dedicated servers for better or worse, if that's something you care about) and been having a blast with that as well. This game is honestly worth twice the $25 asking price.