Recent reviews by sankro

Good

A bunch of stuff here got added or patched, still got some way to go.

Spoiler-free conclusion of review: The game in its current early access state is just not worth playing all the way through. I would advise against playing the game for the story at this time. Waiting for the full release with hopefully a better conclusion and build-up to the story will be much more worthwhile if you start playing the game "blind" with no idea what to expect. But if you don't care about the story at all and just want to play with some friends, go for it.

The new mechanics and island exploration are exciting at first but quickly wear off. The story definitely still needs some work, as currently it kind of falls flat. In my opinion, they should've just left it entirely out of the early access, excluding the backstory of the island, and had the game be more of a showcase of the survival, exploration, and building aspects of the game. Then add the full main story in when it is fully fleshed out at full release (more about this in the cons section). End off spoiler-free conclusion:


Pros and cons of the game, with some of the cons being a sort of wishlist for the full game.


Pros:

-Better graphics: The game looks really good at its highest settings. The atmosphere in the caves is vastly improved over the previous game. The forest itself has never looked better, and the changing weather and seasons make it seem alive.

-Enemy AI: The behavior of the cannibals seems so much more realistic. Depending on the player's actions, they can range from curious and nervous to aggressive and terrified. There's also much more variety among different types of cannibals. Some have better weapons and more armor, while some are fast but pack a lesser punch.

-Companions: Having Kelvin help with the more mundane tasks like gathering logs and sticks makes the game a lot less tedious. Virginia can also be of great help, as she can be armed with weapons. The AI seems solid, but it has a tendency to get stuck at times.

-Inventory: This time around, the inventory is much more organized. It isn't as cluttered as before, and the addition of LED lights is perfect at night or when you are in a dark cave.

-Building: I believe the building has improved significantly since the previous game. Instead of just filling in blueprints, the game lets you manually place logs to build structures. This makes the building process a lot more interactive, but it can also make building bigger structures a lot more tedious. 


Cons:

-Bugs: There are a lot of the same bugs that could be found in the original game. Logs bouncing in the water, clipping through the ground, duplications of items, and missing textures

-The "survival" aspect: There's no risk of dying from anything other than enemy mobs. Key survival items like water, food, fire, and shelter are nothing but small inconveniences to the player. Even if there wasn't an abundance of these everywhere, it would still only affect stamina and pose no risk of death.

-Hunting: Hunting also seems like a downgrade from the last game. It feels like there's no incentive to hunt other than to get food, which is already way too easy. Adding some more pelts and items you could craft with said pelts would fix this.

-Hotbar: Having to hold the inventory key and select the item you need from the backpack quick slots just seems unnecessarily tedious. This system seems like a downgrade from the previous game. A hotbar would just be a lot better.

-Story: Spoilers ahead :)Lastly, I'll talk about the story in its current state. Just like in the previous game, I like that the lore about the island is left up to the player to uncover through exploration and notes all across the map, but everything else is not really up to par. I'm guessing and hoping most of these next couple of complaints will be more fleshed out before the full release.

The "antagonist," aka the woman in the silver jacket, has currently no backstory or purpose in the story other than to shoot down the helicopter when we arrive on the island. You barely see this person throughout the game, and the times you do see her, it's just confusing. At the cafeteria where the Puftons are turned into monsters, you can spot the person in the silver jacket at the broken window jumping down with two other people that I'm assuming are the old man and his son from the ending. This kind of implies that the three of them are working together, but once you get to the bunker cutscene, the old man just gets shot by the lady in the silver jacket. So are they working together or not? Was it a betrayal, or were they not even working together? (Nvm it was just two of her "goons" at closer inspection) Then after this, at the ending, she just dies and transforms into a monster that does nothing.

Then there's the old man and his son. I'm hoping this is Tim and Eric from the previous game, and that they've come to the island to either find a cure for Timmy or because Timmy's obsession with these ancient mechanisms brought him here. Anyway, I really hope both of them get added as companions you recruit in the future. 

Another thing I would really like is a couple of boss fights like Megan from the last game. These could include a boss fight in the cafeteria against the transformed Puftons and one against the transformed silver-jacketed woman before escaping the island on the helicopter. It would also be cool to maybe add a mechanic where you somehow save the Puftons and bring them back to normal life using the golden box.

The last thing I really hope will be fleshed out more is this ancient civilization and the parallel universes. Seeing the city in the golden box was a cool reveal, but it felt kind of anti-climatic. Being able to just interact with the city in some type of way would make this moment alot cooler.

One of the best singleplayer games ever released. Beatiful open world with organic world events and a really good story. Bit clumsy mechanics, and we don't talk about red dead online.

I waited many years for this so i guess it is kinda good

Really good game!