Here I will leave the cat, whoever pass by can pet it and give it a thumbs up (I need Steam Points)
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　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ
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　| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__)
　＼二つ

Over the course of about 5 weeks of weekends (75+ hours), my co-op partner and I worked through the game together, from scratch, no previous play on my part and a little pre-island hopping on theirs. I like exploring and experimenting, and they like decorating and fighting, so we didn't rush through it. We are both marble-mouse + keyboard players, so read on if that affliction applies to you too.

The game is about constructing your raft from things found in the ocean and on occasional islands - there are great descriptions elsewhere for that, so just in short: the game continually bounces you from repair, collection and construction, to emergency actions like defending your cobbled raft from sharks, or your meagre harvests from seagulls. Hotwire a radio together, and you begin the story.

By way of a narrative arc, there are "destination" islands, each of which adds information to the story and helps you find new recipes and blueprints to improve your raft and your gear. There are puzzles, some of them based on mechanics, and others on information. The game drives you forward at the mercy of a permanent current that carries you east towards the rising sun, but don't worry, the destinations will turn up again, even if you miss them the first time.

So across all of that, there's a lot of variety in the gameplay: it almost feels crammed full with every type there is in some ways, and that's one of the sticking points. It could be so much better finished. This is where the review gets harsh, but don't worry, it kinds kinder.

The inventory management is cumbersome and slow; the key mapping was done by someone who can't tell the difference between keycap and charcode; the generative destination islands sometimes bug out on top of you; co-op player sees objects in the wrong place and at the wrong angle; player and mob movement is incredibly primitive; camera obstruction; clipping errors etc. etc.

Up to the point of the final destination (Utopia), the game is mercifully free of boss fights, but the end requires you to engage in that laziest of game designer's tropes, and they leant on it hard and clumsily here. The control surface assumptions, and the usual clunkiness of boss fight mechanics that you find in games that start open world(ish), make it all so much worse. The lead up to the boss fight is straight up grind + console platformer, dolloped with the narrative hero's reductive and preening worldview. Its really hard to take.

Why play it at all? Well, it can be brain-bendingly intense, switching from routine to emergency tasks constantly, and somehow the early balance in the game makes that compelling and even in a little addictive.

There's something really right there, amongst all of the rest, and its worth some time and money to experience that frenetic distraction. Don't feel compelled to complete it, just enjoy it until you don't.

An absolutely recommended experience for those who love teamwork and creativity!