⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Saving the World... from Myself"

I started Eco with noble intentions. I was going to build a sustainable utopia, live in harmony with nature, and prevent an asteroid from wiping out all life. Instead, I ended up deforesting half the map, poisoning the rivers, and realizing I was the environmental villain all along.

Day 1: I cut down a few trees to build my cozy little house. Just a few! By Day 3, my cozy little house is a sprawling mansion, and the landscape looks like it was attacked by a herd of chainsaws. The local wildlife now gives me judgmental stares. Sorry, deer, I needed that lumber for my 14th crafting bench.

I tried farming to live sustainably. Turns out, I’m as good at farming as I am at impulse control. I tilled so much land that I accidentally triggered a dust bowl. My wheat field grew two stalks before the soil gave up and became barren. Who knew crop rotation was important? Certainly not me.

Then there’s pollution. Oh, pollution. I built my first kiln and thought, “What harm could one kiln do?” By Day 5, the sky was a brown haze of regret and the air quality was rated “lung apocalypse.” I swear I saw a squirrel with a gas mask.

And the asteroid? Yeah, it’s still coming. I was supposed to research technology and work with my friends to save the planet. Instead, we spent 10 hours arguing about where to place the outhouse. Priorities.

Multiplayer is a blast, though. Nothing says teamwork like accidentally polluting your friend's water supply or clear-cutting their backyard while they scream, “I WAS SAVING THAT TREE!” It’s like a group project where everyone is equally incompetent, but you still have to save the world.

But you know what? I love it. Eco is a perfect simulation of trying to balance progress and sustainability while slowly realizing you're the reason we can’t have nice things. It’s educational, it’s stressful, and it makes you reflect deeply on your life choices while you watch the asteroid get closer.

5 stars. I didn’t save the planet, but I learned to accept my inner eco-villain. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a forest to accidentally destroy.

I played this game a few years ago, initially I did not think it was a great game. It was buggy, professions seemed bare-bone, and the tutorial didn't explain any of the other game mechanics. Now, however, after 90+ hours of play, I can definitely say this is a game worth checking out. If you have an itch for playing a game where your actually forming a society with other players, this game is it. Nothing you do is easy, even building a house, which can take a lot of resources. However, you're a tailor so you need to buy the hewn logs from a logger so you can build your house to an appropriate level to use your specific crafting table. And the developers added a detailed guide in game that explained a lot of the unexplained concepts.

Something new players should know, this game required patience and dedication. I've seen too often someone getting upset over another player having a similar business near by. However, what people fail to realize, if one player is gone for two or three days, nobody beside the other person is doing that profession. That or they may be too far, because walking a cart over and back will take too much energy. And just like in real life, the economy can collapse if people drive their prices up too high, or if a product is made super cheap that it over satisfies the demand. The game works upon the flow of goods. A perfect example is creating a mint and charging taxes, and then setting up commissions on boards using the local currency you all created so people have jobs and aren't just sitting there.

There are a few bugs and connection issues but if you get stuck somewhere the developer added a "/unstuck" command to help. If you play this game, don't expect minecraft because of all the blocks. The logistics of this game far exceeds minecraft when it comes to relying on another person's profession. The game is still being worked upon, so I look forward to seeing future updates.

If you're looking for a substitute for doing actual productive things without having any actual fun. You've found it.