I enjoy he game overall so far. It isnt really my kind of game because of the micromanaging, but I like the other aspects of the game. Very good characters so far, some are anoying..... others are cool. It is interesting to play a game that requires you to finess your way through the Alters and their emotions. In most games if a character annoys you you just boot them. The game forces you to make practical sacrifices to appease the other characters. Its a good game. I would recommend it to anyone.
The intro The introduction was very slow, and I kept feeling like I was doing rather mindless tasks meant to ease me into the story—things that required no strategic thinking, just following orders. I was almost ready to give up when the game finally picked up. The midgame was the best part, with the kind of resource management challenges 11 bit is known for, and a pretty solid atmosphere. The storyline is decent, although the dialogue and conflicts often feel stiff and forced.
But I completely lost trust in this game when I realized that player agency was taken away just to force a conflict. I’m referring to the quest where we have to choose how to cure the Alters: either using a corporate chip or a medicine made from the brain of the Tabula Rasa—who was supposed to be just an empty shell, no mind inside. But we witness him moving and screaming, and based on that, I decided no way—I can’t kill him and turn him into medicine. So I went with the chip, and the Alters ended up hating me for it.
What really struck me as a player was that I had no dialogue option to explain why I made that choice. Of course not—because if I had said, “Sorry, I couldn’t kill the Tabula Rasa because he’s a living person,” there wouldn’t have been any conflict. So they just took away that option, so the Alters could rebel against me. It’s really disappointing that instead of writing a better, more believable conflict, the studio took the lazy way out. Totally unfair to the player. After that, I just didn’t feel like playing anymore.was very slow, and I only felt I keep doing
the release version runs poorly under linux. you are forced to either only use a controller or run the game permanently in windowed mode.
i am not sure how windowed mode is related to the use of a controller, but opening any menu without both crashes the game hard.
story: interesting if you are into sci-fi with a flavour of philosophy. alters, as the name suggests, are a mixed bag, some you will love, some you will hate. anyone even loosely following the story, can see most plot twists from miles away.
visuals: for better or worse, default UE5. the game does not try to establish a distinct visual identity. in a few months only the look of the base "wheel" will remain in my memories.
audio: sound effects are crisp and distinguishable. music is fitting, but unmemorable. maybe i am spoiled by all the JRPGs i played, but most characters sound extremely indifferent.
gameplay: stranded on an alien planet, running around collecting stuff, managing resources, prioritizing tasks, basically everything you expect from an exploration survival. the maps have very limited randomness, but are beautifully handcrafted. subsequent playthroughs however, will become boring very quick. all the survival mechanics are just a stable of the genre, they did not reinvent the wheel (pun intended).
verdict: a nice filler, but no masterpiece by any metric. the game succeeds in being as inoffensive as possible, thus leaving an almost non existent footprint in players memories.
Really fun game so far. Fun base building, combined with exploration of an alien world and gathering of resources. The interpersonal drama between the crew and the mystery surrounding the game also drive the game forward.
