Just a phenomenal experience that continues to reach even greater heights. It's incredible that such a small studio is responsible for this game. No Man's Sky had a rough launch, although I still had some fun with it at the time. But since then the game has been entirely transformed with heaps of FREE updates. Great to see in a world of microtransactions and DLC. At its heart the game is about exploration, but there's a lot more in there. Seamless transitions from ground exploration, to space flight, to space stations are incredible. You can focus on documenting new worlds. Or finding and upgrading ships. Or building bases in planets, belle the sea or within your space freighter. You can act as a trader, making money on trade routes. Act as overseer for a settlement. Battle your way through as a pirate and smuggle illicit goods. All of this in a universe with billions of star systems. The time-limited expeditions are also a great way to experience the game, with specific objectives and a unique spin on things. PC performance is pretty good. The game is an unexpectedly small download, and it has a lot of decent graphical options (including things like DLSS and FSR). I've found it to run well on both a beefy GPU and the integrated graphics on a recent AMD laptop CPU. It looks good as well, but it's definitely a stylised game. The game may not be for you if what you value most is tight story and characterisation. While there are stories and characters, they mostly take a back seat to exploration, emergent gameplay and the huge sandbox. But I'd encourage anyone to give it a go.
A beautiful little game. Lovely setting, characters and aesthetic, and some enjoyable platforming. I wuold 100% recommend to anyone looking for a heartwarming game about a mushroom.
I'm a couple of hours into this, my thoughts so far: --- I'm a huge fan of stealth games of a variety of different flavours, in particular the Metal Gear series, from the simpler, methodical sneaking of MGS1 to the beautiful stealth sandbox of MGSV. For that reason I was very excited for this game, which is clearly a love letter to the series, with a tense atmosphere and geopolitical plot. Considering that this is clearly an indie game from a small team, I'm astonished at the quality of the presentation. The designs, music and voice acting are all top notch, and the gameplay feels very polished. It most closely resembles MGS1, with a more stripped down gameplay, overhead camera and wonderful PS1 inspired graphics. Like its inspiration, stealth gameplay feels more like a puzzle to be solved than anything else. It's important to watch guards and plan your approach. The game takes a pacifist approach - no murder runs, and so sneaking past like a ghost is rewarded. There are definitely some frustrations that come from a slightly archaic design (limited camera control, no movement in first person etc), however these feel like a deliberate choice. This game is a tribute to an earlier era of gaming, warts and all, and it honestly feels just like playing MGS1 again. Just bear in mind that it may take some getting used to if you're more accustomed to the fluid control of modern stealth games. Amazing stuff, and one I'll keep playing!
