Recent reviews by Tinman

This is a hard one for me. I cannot at this moment recommend this game.

To be clear, the game itself is fun, Hagga Basin content is very good, the story is interesting and the world is engaging and fun to explore. Building your own little corner of Dune feels really good. The research progression and the manufacturing are solid and make sense, you enjoy (for the most part, grinding aside) gathering materials and building your gear/vehicles. It is a real sense of achievement to complete your personal goals. There is a lot to do in Hagga, which is good because you won't feel totally ripped off by the game description.

Now on to the bad.

The game states it is PvP optional. That is a downright lie unless you decide that the Hagga Basin content is the entire game and rule out ever getting the top tier of gear/vehicles. To do that you need to head into the Deep Desert.

The Deep Desert is huge, which might sound positive but it really isn't, it's mostly empty. Where you find rocky sections for materials you also find other players bases. Why is this a problem? They build over the very materials you are looking for, locking you out of gathering them. You can venture further into the DD, but that comes with risk. Why is this a problem? Well the designers decided that after your inital period of Hagga, where all your skills are centered around groud combat you will now primarilly be doing air combat which you NEVER encounter in Hagga. So enjoy the sudden pop in of 20+ Scout Ornis all firing rockets at you. The draw distance is like 5 feet so you can't ever see them coming until it's too late.

The designers hubris is destroying this game. Every day there are calls to remove the rockets from the Scouts, it is met with 'no, it's our vision, you don't get it' utter nonsense.

The griefing in this game is some of the worst I have experienced in gaming, it is just filled with bored players wanting to do nothing more than just ruin your progress. For no benefit to them. Even in the PvE area groups of players will force you to the ground just to call a worm and watch your Ornithopter get eaten. It might be the only one you have, might be the first one you made. Doesn't matter to these fools. And its completely allowed.

And lets not forget the cheating, it's is just rampant. Speed hacks, duplication hacks, the ability to steal your hard earned stuff in the PvE area, aim hacking for the aerial combat, the ability to steal your Ornithopter WHILE YOU ARE IN IT. There are more but this review has gone on long enough.

Raise a ticket for any of this and you get a copy paste response of 'have you tried doing it differently' to 'that's the game working as intended' regardless of your issue.

This game is dying and will be dead within the next couple of months unless there is a drastic change to the endgame and their response to the communities genuine issues and problems with the game. If that happens I may change my review but until then it will stay a negative.

One of the greatest games ever made, played through multiple times on PS4, completed the sequel and looking forward to that to come to PC

What a beautiful gem

I bought this game, like a fool, before release (stop the preorders!) and even at the start I didn't totally regret it, I actually had fun exploring the first planet, mining for minerals, fabricating things (somehow) and repairing the ship. As I entered orbit that first time I smiled, was this the game I had always longed for? Entering warp was cool, wondering what was on the other side, what challenges awaited me. Very little actually and thats the point. It's a survival game that doesn't try to kill you. 35 hours in and I died 3 times, to space pirates. Even on a sentinal controlled planet I survived for hours collecting high value elements.

I'm not going to go into the whole misinformation aspect as I have and still will defend that aspect to a certain degree, things said in production of a game are ideas that may or may not have been put into the game at that stage. What Sean Murray needed was a brain-mouth barrier, he certainly didn't help the hype train stay on the tracks of realistic expectations. The pictures above still don't really represent the way the game looks while playing.

After the refund period has lapsed you realise that the planet you're on looks very similar to one you were on not that long ago, and you suspect that you will see similar things again in the next system, and you do. I didn't reach the end of either story(?) arc, I got very bored, it needs more content. A lot more. I looked up spoilers on youtube about what happens. Only answer I will give here is meh, glad I didn't bother.

It's a game that wants to be everything but ends up being none of those things. Is it worth £40? Definately not. Is it worth £20? Maybe not. I recently picked up Elite Dangerous for half the price of this game and the difference is astounding. If your plan is to give a galaxy to a player to discover its secrets, actually have something to discover.

It is a shame after all this time I'm leaving this review and saying that as of right now do not buy this game, if the price drops to say £10 then ok pick it up, travel to a few planets, there's probably content for that value. If more content is added (very doubtful) then make a judgement based on realistic reviews of said content.

I do fully expect a sequel at some point (dont laugh) this game has made, for better or worse, a lot of money. If that money is invested in making the original vision a reality then I look forward to it. If a refund was offered however I would take my money back.

Edit: Hello games are one of the few developers out there that appear to actually care about their game, reputation and fan base. We are no on the second (free) major update to this game, and it keeps getting better. The galaxy now feels a bit fuller, no longer entering a huge space station to find it inhabited by a single alien. The ability to create a home base is really well implemented, you can travel as far as you like, land at a station and teleport back home to build more, finish a quest etc then teleport back and carry on with your journey. Latest update? Ground vehicles (so much fun!) I am actually looking forward to what is yet to come

Edit 2: What can I say, what an achievement this game is. As much as I am still against preorders I am very glad I did with this one. Congratulations Hello Games, you not only pulled this game out of the fire, you showed everyone else what to do with a broken game at launch. Other devs take note!