Look, it isn't horrible, but it is missing a bunch of QoL stuff that you find in many of the mobile match 3 games. For example, in Candy Crush, at the end of the level you can skip all of the "bonus" stuff, however in this game you have to sit there and wait for it all to play out. Because of that, and other issues, there just isn't enough incentive for me to justify playing such a game on PC, even if I had it on my Steam Deck I'd be wondering why I'm wasting the battery playing what appears to be a mobile game on it.

Sure, there's some light crafting, some light base building, etc., and if this were on my cell phone I'd likely be tempted. However, this isn't on my cell phone and it is lacking some QoL things, so I wouldn't actually bother. This is BEFORE you add in all of the time-gating mechanics built into this, mechanics designed to slow you down and tempt you to spend actual money.

I get that some people don't mind these types of games, and I'm not against them when they're well done, but this just seems like it needs a tad more polish. However, with that said, it still wouldn't be for me.

Know thyself...

Not quite two hours yet, but I'll keep it. It isn't Satisfactory, a game I love, but it also isn't 3D Factorio, a game I love a tad bit less than Satisfactory. It does remind me of both of those games, and several others, such as The Planet Crafter just to pick one.

Yes, it is Early Access, and yes, the game has some issues - building jank, slight performance issues, lacking QoL stuff, etc. You can read all about that in the other reviews though. I personally am not having any major issues so far though.

As of right now, I'm enjoying the game, which is really all anyone needs to know. Already it is better than many others I've purchased, only to see them abandoned or development taking a turn for the worse, and for $15.99, I can't really do much more than hope they continue to improve it going forward.

I'd love to wholeheartedly recommend this game, but sadly I can only somewhat recommend it at this time. There's two reasons for this:

1) Apparently the latest update broke some things that impact quite a lot
2) The ever-present danger of an EA game never being finished

Hopefully, the latter won't be an issue, while the game-breaking update is something else entirely. Complaints have ranged from worse optimization, to items disappearing, to fully broken games where people couldn't progress.

Obviously, if you purchase an EA game, you essentially signed up for all the bumps and warts, but if you're unsure at this time, I'd say hold off. The game has some serious atmosphere going for it, the progression isn't hasty, and who doesn't love solving a mystery (what happened and why). I did restart, as the demo save wasn't compatible with the update that pushed, but there is a LOT you could miss, so a second playthrough of the beginning wasn't a bad thing.

Also, I've seen some people complain that there's a bit too much in the way of horror in the game for them, and they're not overjoyed about that. Yes, there are some "jumpscares" and some enemies that aren't your typical mobs, so just be awere of that.

I'm personally enjoying the game, but haven't encountered any of the bugs so far - however, the one bug (disappearing items) I'm looking out for only appears to happen after you've left the starting dock, which I'm just about to do now. Guess we'll see what happens, but either way I expect the devs to fix that soon.

The demo allows you to play until you set sail from the starting dock, and go a certain distance away. Give it a go!

Beat this way back in the day before there were achievements for it, also back when completing a game was easy to do because there weren't as many games to play...and the backlog was smaller.

Keep in mind that the original was released in 2011, and it doesn't seem that they've done much to this remaster other than optimize it for newer hardware - no new maps, no new fx, no new enemy behavior, etc. If you're looking for a modern remake - this ain't that.

Essentially, there are only two reasons to buy/play this - nostalgia and achievements. Well, if you've never played it, there are some things that were novel at the time that I'd like to see in a more modern game, but good luck with that...