Planet Crafter game review

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Another survival / exploration / crafting game - any good? Yes!

I've been really enjoying this game.

I want to first highlight some things I find annoying. These are just annoying; they're not massive issues, and they don't ruin the game. More than anything, they're just the weak parts of a good game.

  • The game's pacing is inconsistent. There were several times where I didn't have anything new to play with for several hours, while at other times I had 3 or 4 new things unlock within a few minutes of each other. This is partly due to how the "score" works, party due to some weird stretches between unlocks, and partly due to ...
  • Many useful unlocks are behind RNG blueprint unlocks. When you find a blueprint and bring it back to your base, you can "activate" it to unlock a random piece of gear/machine/etc. While the unlocks could come in an order conducive to what the player is going for, they also might not. And given that blueprints are only found via ...
  • Exploration rules this game. This very well may not be a frustration, albeit even slight as it is for me, for other players. If you love exploration, you'll have plenty of opportunities and will be well-rewarded in this game. I was slightly disappointed by just how much exploration rewards the player with progression, to the detriment of other gameplay options. Exploration is the only way to get blueprint unlocks - okay, fine. Exploration is the only way to discover new materials - yeah, makes sense. Exploration is the best way, by far, to get all materials - wait, what?
  • Some inconsistent interactions with items on the ground.

That all being said, those are the only things that pulled me out of the game at all. The map is huge and interesting, the machines look great. Progression feels good (minor caveats above). Unlocking new machines is very nearly always impactful and interesting. The player has a ton of freedom in how their build their base. The player has a lot of freedom in how they approach raising their "score". The game loads, saves, and quits extremely quickly. I've had no crashes, bugs, and maybe only a few stutters. There's a good wiki, a subreddit, and an official Discord.