Recent reviews by animeotaku

Back to back boss battles with a limited reserve of healing is waaay to difficult. Especially in early game.

Game is always built around the enemies favour, and is poorly balanced as a result.

Very good game. That's all I can say with my tired mind. I'll make a more in depth review when I am not too tired.

The game is not fully baked, there's often issues with traffic, and the game likes to crash at least once per session.

Update: 20/12/2024:
It now regularly crashes more than once per session

Fascinating story with a range of endings from the outlandish to the most soul moving I ever had the pleasure of reading, definitely worth the 5h played.

I will buy the art book and sound track when my next paycheck comes in.

My reviews tend to be a bit longer than this, however, there's not much I can say, and my heart is still recovering from how enjoyable the story was. I couldn't even think of any headers, or any further improvements. What I can say is that the story grows as you explore each ending, or at each opportunity, and often gives nods to endings you've already encountered, or to endings you've yet to approach. The story-telling was delicate, intricate and powerful, and is definitely enjoyable.

I'll probablies revisit the review in the future, when I'm less tired, but damn Beacon Pines is something that has left a massive impression on me.

Well found an endless loop in the book...

The game so far is lacking lots of features, furnishing options and more.


The game has most certainly refined how construction, design and placement works, it's easier than ever to create a unique aesthetic without delving too far into modding the game. It also looks like modding the game will be more approachable, as a lot of the mechanics are modular, however as I'm not a mod developer, I can't say for certain.


The game is new, so a lack of some content is to be expected, however core mechanics from the previous game is severely missing. Before/After photos, mini-map, Photo Mode and wall filling are all missing.

Some of the current game mechanics are also not quite fully done. Brick laying (when making walls) and painting could have a combining pathway, for example, where the wall automatically applies a lick of paint when the wall is assembled.


Aside from the issues outlined above, it's clear the game wasn't quite ready for release, and could have done with an extra couple of months of full-time development.

I do like this game, but please bring back adding fruits to porridge, IRL I put things like jam in my porridge and many people put fruits in it as well.

Do I recommend this game yet? The answer is no. Not in it's current state at least.

If you enjoy playing games in various stages of development, providing feedback to developers and guiding a game to perfection, this game is definitely for you, but if you prefer an easy ride and a smooth gameplay experience, play it later, maybe even years from now.

If you're some one in between, then read on as I describe the current state of the bugs in this game.

What is this game to me?

This game feels like it will be a more advanced version of the popular sandbox game, Minecraft. It has the beginnings of a tutorial, and story, but lacks a good flow and lore, and has a great idea on where to start with materials.

What is missing from the game so far?

In the story TL;DR;

It really lacks in advanced materials, such as object, lore and the tutorial needs to be re-ordered to be more logical and to improve the players knowledge.

In the Tutorial stage;

One area of the tutorial that needs serious restructuring is the factory tutorial. It is the first part of the tutorial that requires you to use a Blueprint, and doesn't so much as explain how to create a build area, vital if you want to make a larger factory to produce more parts. If a tutorial is under development, it would be nice if there was a line to say so in the current tutorial, and to describe, in basic terms, the mechanics at play, even if the full tutorial isn't ready yet.

In terms of tutorials, whilst the warehouse first approach is good, the second tutorial should be the factory, as it demonstrates the more advanced mechanics at play, whilst offering more customisation options for the player for the next part of the tutorial.

For more advanced mechanics, a skippable explanation on what they do would be ideal. Examples of advanced mechanics would be Interactive Jobs (such as taxi driver, for the Taxi stand, or the mechanic jobs in the warehouse) This can take place during their part in the tutorial. For tasks that require a building to be there, an auto-generated village, town or city could be generated for the purposes of the tutorial (and players would be able to customise what, where and if they generate thereafter.)

The tools should be explained at some point in the tutorial.

More story Recommendations;

The sandbox genre traditionally has not had strong stories, and it is mostly still true to this day. However with the strong prevalence of item descriptions in games such as Minecraft, the idea of Lore in such games has enabled Sandbox games to have a bit of a story. This game has heavy RPG elements which could enable differing types of lore. Some ideas to throw around is, Who is the MC? Where did the MC come from? Why does the MC have starting capital but no loan? Is there variations to this story (IE can the MC come from different backgrounds based on Players-Choice, map or main activity)? Can this affect the gameplay loop (IE, if a player comes from a taxi background, do they get an advantage when they perform taxi duties, and start with less capital, or if the MC is the son of a Planning Office worker, do they get cheaper materials & higher starting capital but reduced rents and additional requirements for buildings? These are questions you should be thinking when developing a fun and interactive experience of the game in addition to the standard gameplay loop.)

Lore could also come in the shape of unusual objects and modifications to the available objects before the first factory is built. A Former Road Maintenance worker could have access to traffic management objects, such as temporary signs, traffic cones, temp lights and more, whereas a former factory worker could have access to lots of variations of whatever their background originally produced.

Building Mechanics;
Currently, there are lots of options for easing repetitive tasks, however there is a severe lack of starting objects.
It's to my understanding that the idea of the game is that the player produces what they need, however, with the lack of a full Factory tutorial, this is a difficult trial-and-error process, that could be eased with more default options. These options could act as inspiration for more advanced builds, but right now you cannot build custom billboards, unusual light options, or vehicle designs, because of the explicit reliance on "Real-World building". I recommend bringing this entirely into a UI element, rather than use the world to do it, which will reduce the complexity of the factory, and make building new and funky objects more accessible. It also could make the workshop scene easier for new starters and encourage people with difficulties to build without reservation. It also allows for a more dynamic approach to textures, as a user could wrap and shade the whole object, rather than just blocks of an object.

As it stands, the building new objects is too difficult, and will give casual players (A large segment of the sandbox market) a hard time as it stands.

Bugs and Problems;
Sandbox Mode;
You generate income, despite income playing no part in this mode. I recommend hiding income and balance related stats when in this mode. The performance impact of this should be minimal.
You clip through objects too easily in this mode, it causes huge issues on some more advanced builds (Such as my Oasis project).

All modes;
If you move a vehicle out of the build zone, it doesn't prevent it spawning when you make a new build.
AI Vehicles don't move around roadblocks, making it annoying.
No easy way to tunnel through mountains when you want to make a straight motorway, and no easy way to line said tunnels so it looks nice. (You could create a tunneling tool that has 2 modes, straight tunnel which clears 1-5x1-10x3-5 block(s) in front of you at a time without altering the first layer around the tunnel, and a tunnel and line mode, which alters the inner layer of blocks with whatever material you insert into it.)
It's difficult to make straight roads, it would be nice if there was customisable snapping options that made it easier to do 90 Degree and 45 Degree corners, roundabouts and more.
AI Workers and Blueprint UI, This would allow a user to manage blueprints, create not-in-world blueprints, transfer blueprints with friends. These blueprints could be made inside the UI using a simple 2d design of each side (front, back, Left side, Right Side, Top Bottom and 3d Preview) These could be used as a Lego-Like instruction manual in game, or prefabricate, for a more relaxed gameplay style. It could introduce the possibility for additional mechanics, such as x NPC really wants x type of housing. You could also introduce additional mechanics such as UK style housing associations (See this website for what they are; https://www.housing.org.uk/about-housing-associations), development sites (as in large areas of development for multiple dwellings, very common for greenfield sites), and prefabricated/pre-designed objects.
Needs more development site types, such as Shopping Centres / Malls. Ideal for Outdoor Shopping Centres (Known in the US as strip malls) and larger shopping complexes. You could designate a larger area as a shopping centre/mall and within the shopping centre you can sub-divide it into avenues (In the UK, the Metrocentre in Dunston is sub-divided into malls (Red Mall, Yellow Mall, Blue Mall, Green Mall, Platinum Mall, in addition to 3 major indoor areas, "The Village", "The Forum" and Metrocentre Qube. As well as 2 Outdoor areas (MetrOasis and Metrocentre Retail Park) and finally the transport HUB. Another example is Newcastle's Eldon Square which is made up of 3 larger areas. Old Eldon Square, Eldon Square and Eldon Gardens.) and then subdivide it further with stores.
More TBA later C L

Can' play it any more "hardware doesn't match, please re-run configurator tool" which I did and it still didn't work.