I don't know that I would say the game has 'endless possibilites' as it claims, as most elements of the game are static and will be in the same place if you play through a second time or more, but it does have a different flare to it than seemingly adjacent games like Space Engineers or Satisfactory. You have resources to collect and widgets to build with their own upgrades and category classes. The way you are monitoring progress numbers gives this game shades of Cookie Clicker in that you are typically working to to make make those numbers climb in various ways. The game has steady progression and rewards, and your focus will change through various stages of terraformation, but at nominal settings the difficulty will only really spike when you manage to die from asphyxiation, dehydration or starvation while you're far afield, because you'll either spawn back at your base with a bunch of stuff dropped out of your inventory, or the last place the game saved, which can leave you stranded with little to no air when you revive and scrambling to make a quick shelter to breathe and get back your stuff. Depending on where you are that can decently challenging and provide a moment of Oxygen Not Included survival horror, if just briefly. Otherwise the game is rather casual and a good exploration adventure to unravel what's going on on the planet and what happened before you got there, or so has been my single player experience. I only knock one star off because the game is rather rough in several categories, looking like something that would fit well in the Xbox 360 era, with some world design jank and questionable physics, but that also means that it loads up near instantaneously. Could definitely use a bit more polish, but the dev team may get it there as they seem fairly dedicated to post-launch polish. If you don't mind a game looking a generation or so out of its time, you'll have a good experience here
I can't recommend this game enough if you love the exploration and unfolding aspect of the Metrovanisouls genre. This game is like an intricate paper envelope that unfolds differently to everyone it is handed to. Every time I read about someone else's experience, they took a completely different progression path through the station/game environment. So, your difficulty spikes come with deep valleys as there are several areas that accomplish being suitable for early, mid, and late game. Every good souls game teaches you consider and hinge your whole play style upon things that other games simply tack on as a mechanic. Hellpoint tasks you with two things: Always be mindful of where your feet are and look up I was a fan of all of the environmental traversal of DS1, which is funny because that game's control scheme is absolutely not suited to platforming, and the devs knew it, and they loved setting up uncomfortable and clench-worthy paths and perils. Hellpoint takes that idea to extremes while giving you the agility to work with it. Irid Novo (the space habitrail you're running about in) is a big middle finger to OSHA, but every stupid, peripheral smiting worthy platform path has something at the end of it. You will be hard-pressed to find an area you can reach that they didn't intend for you to get to, no matter how obscure. Yes, there are a lot of points where you will wonder why they didn't finish the design of an area from one angle or another, but I think it gets overlooked just how great the draw distance is in this game, especially when you consider the verticality of some of the areas across the station. Mobs will be walking about seven floors below you, light sources are visible and casting shadows from all distances. The darkness in this game is everywhere and it works really well so long as you've got your contrast settings keyed in. Git Gud Spawn
Under its skin this game has a lot in parallel with Metroid Prime, moreso than Hexen or Heretic I would say. Paths are unlocked with new equipment, the whole setup (at least first area) is an interconnected hive of shortcuts that pull the puzzle together. There's lore to scan for, and things you do have continuity. Set up an explosive barrel for an opportune attack but didn't have the need for it? It will still be sitting there later. Pickups you didn't need will still be waiting the next time you pass through, but /most/ of the things you broke will be too, so there are things to consider and manage. Break everything now and pickups for equipment you get later won't drop, but you can litter an area with health vials you can depend on being available later also. I like that areas don't simply respawn everything the moment you look the other way or exit the area. I only give it four stars now because we aren't looking at the final product yet and everything can change with one update or another. It's still early access, so that's to be expected. But it is worth keeping an eye on. Two if you can spare them
I see there are a lot of mixed reviews and I don't understand the low ones. Ran well, plays like a PS1 game, has a bit of challenge and a lot of variety in the campaign. Trick mode is fun. I definitely suspect this fits under the 'designed for playthroughs on Youtube' vibe, like Guts and Glory, Among Us, Super Inefficent Golf, and the like. It's not a racing game, it's more of an obstacle course with ever increasing speed, with a dash of Blast Corps thrown in where destroying buildings is concerned
I love everything about this game, from the visual style, the hopeful setting of people recouping peacefully after a worldwide catastrophe instead of Mad Maxing it. It's a farm game in the guise of building game, with a handful of play directions you can go to fit your style. They're still adding things, and it's all fun. Sits well on the shelf with Harvest Moon, Staxel, Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper, and the sort. Enjoy. (I got it first on Steam through Humble, and wanted to buy it for someone else who likes this sort of game without having to tie them to the platform, for those curious about the title)
