EDIT: The game is great now and way better than it was in early access. Would 100% recommend.


First off, I really like it and think it's a lot of fun and generally an improvement to The Forest in pretty much every way. However, there are a few decisions that I dont quite understand. (I'm aware this is early access and a lot of things could change in the future)

Starting off with what I like:

The graphics, base building, combat, new weapons, the caves and the map.
Visually the game looks 10x better than The Forest and for me at least, also runs really well most of the time.
The new building system also works incredibly well though it does take some time getting used to it, but you can pretty much build whatever you want now, whether its a tower, a church, or an entire castle, you can build it.
The combat might seem quite samey at first, which it is, but the reworked enemy AI, the fact that they have armor, locational damage and the new weapons that have quite a lot of variety, make the combat feel a lot more satisfying than before.
Lastly, the map is now ~4x bigger than before, looks better and has a lot more variety. The same can be said for (most, Ill get to this later) caves, which now feature entrances to huge underground facilities, with lots of stuff to discover.

Now the things I don't like:

The lack of certain items and blueprints, the lack of caves and points of interest on the map, the fact that you cant change the difficulty mid-game.
There were a lot of items and blueprints like the log sled, the water collector, the old traps etc. that seem to be missing for no apparent reason. They could've just updated the textures and re-added them exactly the way there were in the old game, but chose not to and I don't understand why.
The lack of caves / camps etc. on the map is also quite a letdown. While the map is a lot bigger, there isn't that much more content to discover, which makes it feel a little empty at times and some of the caves, even those that are marked on the map, were just a single room with a couple crates in them and nothing else. They'll most likely flesh these out in the future, but I was a little disappointed.
(No I don't care about the story, apparently it's bad but I haven't finished it yet)

Overall I really like the game and would recommend it, despite its flaws. If you keep in mind that it's still early access I think you'll have a lot of fun with this game.

EDIT: The game is great now and way better than it was in early access. Would 100% recommend. First off, I really like it and think it's a lot of fun and generally an improvement to The Forest in pretty much every way. However, there are a few decisions that I dont quite understand. (I'm aware this is early access and a lot of things could change in the future) Starting off with what I like: The graphics, base building, combat, new weapons, the caves and the map. Visually the game looks 10x better than The Forest and for me at least, also runs really well most of the time. The new building system also works incredibly well though it does take some time getting used to it, but you can pretty much build whatever you want now, whether its a tower, a church, or an entire castle, you can build it. The combat might seem quite samey at first, which it is, but the reworked enemy AI, the fact that they have armor, locational damage and the new weapons that have quite a lot of variety, make the combat feel a lot more satisfying than before. Lastly, the map is now ~4x bigger than before, looks better and has a lot more variety. The same can be said for (most, Ill get to this later) caves, which now feature entrances to huge underground facilities, with lots of stuff to discover. Now the things I don't like: The lack of certain items and blueprints, the lack of caves and points of interest on the map, the fact that you cant change the difficulty mid-game. There were a lot of items and blueprints like the log sled, the water collector, the old traps etc. that seem to be missing for no apparent reason. They could've just updated the textures and re-added them exactly the way there were in the old game, but chose not to and I don't understand why. The lack of caves / camps etc. on the map is also quite a letdown. While the map is a lot bigger, there isn't that much more content to discover, which makes it feel a little empty at times and some of the caves, even those that are marked on the map, were just a single room with a couple crates in them and nothing else. They'll most likely flesh these out in the future, but I was a little disappointed. (No I don't care about the story, apparently it's bad but I haven't finished it yet) Overall I really like the game and would recommend it, despite its flaws. If you keep in mind that it's still early access I think you'll have a lot of fun with this game.