Space Trader: Merchant Marine

Space Trader: Merchant Marine

Space Trader Merchant Marine is that strange situation where two very different genres have been combined together in the hope of hitting that once in a lifetime combination that everybody agrees is pure genius, like Vampires and Teenagers, or Ninjas and Cheerleaders. Space Trader doesn’t quite hit that special recipe however.

Space Trader is a combination of a numbers trading simulator and a first person shooter and by far and large the biggest problem is that playing the game you have trouble telling which of these two aspects feel the most tacked on.

Real player with 82.7 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim FPS Games.


Space Trader Merchant Marine was released in Oct 23, 2008. It boasts a score of 89% from a review by GameFocus saying, ““One of the best indie games of 2008. An innovative and addictive experience. Addictive, very fun and innovative are the best words to describe the game and the bottom line is this is a welcome addition to any gamer’s library so buy this game and enjoy it.”

This is very akin to the how ‘reviews’ reflected Bubsy 3D on its own packaging, to those that remember.

The game is broken down into four different areas, exploration, trading, time management, and fighting/bounty hunting.

Real player with 21.3 hrs in game

Space Trader: Merchant Marine on Steam

Founders' Fortune

Founders' Fortune

So, 40 hours in, and I think I own this game a review, As an avid Rimworld fan, I’m always on the search for colony building/town building type games. It was hard to know what to expect from this game, but the videos looked promising so I took a chance. My expectations were a Rimworld game, smaller scale in terms of pawns to control, with a 3d world, but many of the same aspects. After a few short runs of the game, it turned out to be not what I had expected. In fact, I was downright disappointed with the game. The survival aspects are very simplified, the crafting isnt as deep as I thought, some of the aspects like that storage piles dont do anything other than take up space and distance to build seems to have absolutely no bearing (no hauling).

Real player with 115.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim Base Building Games.


I fell in love with this game pretty quickly. Hours pass by in a blink of an eye and my sleeping schedule is even more ruined since I bought it.

I’ve seen it described as a mix of Sims and Rimworld (which is what made me buy it, on top of my Sims 4 having gamebreaking bugs and fuck EA). It is.

Let me just say that this game gave me very strong Sims vibes for a non-Sims game. I’ve been looking for a Sims alternative for ages, and while this isn’t quite it, it fills that void in my heart better than any other “Sims-like” titles I’ve played.

Real player with 54.5 hrs in game

Founders' Fortune on Steam

Beetle Uprising

Beetle Uprising

  • Very cute.

  • Very relaxing.

  • The evolution system is realistic.

  • You can feel the power growing.

  • Kind of dislike the fact that we must kill our own beetles.

  • Don’t be too boldy. It is a relaxing game. Not a “Conquer as quick as possible” game.

  • You end up with a mess on the floor.

  • Decorations are useless and lack of potential.

  • Kind of annoying how the inventories work. Lack of organization. Annoying to navigate.

Conclusion :

I am really not sure if this game is supposed to be beautiful or efficient…

Real player with 22.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim Real Time Tactics Games.


While at this time it is still in early access, this title has a lot going for it even with some of the drawbacks.

Its a nice little management game with some real time tactics for the combat, that grows in depth once you start playing around with the genetics to improve your combat abilities. You go from simply looking at your highest stat numbers and trying to combine them, into looking at the genetic tree of your particular units then breeding based off that to improve on your entire gene pool, which does lead into one aspect of the game that needs some work in my opinion at this stage as you spend a lot of time just sat there, combining genes then throwing the inferior beetles into a blender to make room for the next set.

Real player with 21.3 hrs in game

Beetle Uprising on Steam

Catizens

Catizens

Herding cats is easy! Said no one…ever

Your main job in Catizens is to build your town around the personality traits of its inhabitants. Just like in real life, cats require personal attention and special treatment. Combinations of different personality traits and moods affect their proficiency and obedience. Catizens form relationships with each other and will occasionally issue personal requests, so you will need to learn what makes each cat happy in order to stay on their good side.

Create unique cats and design the perfect home

Pick from an assortment of facial and body features, as well as personality traits to create cats with distinct looks and temperaments. Design a place just for them by decorating the interior of their home with pieces of furniture, plants and other items. The better furnished a house is, the happier your catizens will be. So get creative!

Build and manage your settlement

Catizens can learn a variety of professions – from farming, to blacksmithing or offering protection from local wildlife. Different building types unlock depending on the traits and professions available. There’s no need to micromanage the entire settlement when it gets large. Invest your time and attention in a few outstanding cats and let them become town leaders.

Explore the wilderness

Develop your settlement, complete objectives and expand to areas with different environments that offer new adventures. Carefully examine your surroundings to find the best fishing spots, hidden treasures and quirky characters that may offer a quest.

Catizens on Steam

Sheltered 2

Sheltered 2

There is a good game waiting to happen here but right now it is still a product that should be in Early Access.

There are TONS of bugs and features that simply don’t function well and the game balance is pretty much non-existent as it stands.

Bug example:

Your Shelter (which you have painstakingly expanded and built onto) is breached or invaded. You use the very rudimentary control scheme to position your survivors right in front of the door as they are cutting through, ready for COMBAT!!!! Then, nothing as the collision detection fails utterly and every invader literally clips through your survivors to go on and loot whatever they want.

Real player with 111.4 hrs in game

Hooked on this game for a while. Plenty of bugs back then. But a lot of issues have been fixed, although there’s still few remains but worry not, they always working on the game! Beginning part of the game has always been fun to me, as you get used to it. its get easier later unless you are playing on harder diff cause breaches could be brutal if you aren’t careful enough. Overall, pretty chill game to spend few hours in!

Real player with 98.7 hrs in game

Sheltered 2 on Steam

My Neighbor Alice

My Neighbor Alice

My Neighbor Alice is a multiplayer builder-game where players build and create their own virtual lands, interact with neighbors, perform exciting daily activities and earn rewards. Anyone can join the world by owning a virtual island and participating in various activities such as farming, fishing, bug catching and beekeeping. Activities, shared quests and competitions bring valuable rewards and upgrade players’ status in the game.

Key Features

  • The game is free to play but will contain in-game purchases

  • My Neighbor Alice includes a variety of in-game features designed to advance and upgrade users’ gaming experience.

  • Players can trade their land and other in-game items, such as houses, fences, animals and plants in the virtual in-game marketplace.

  • Virtual islands are important elements of the game infrastructure. Players can purchase plots of land from Alice after the onboarding or in the marketplace.

  • Avatars are used to represent players in the game. Players can customize and personalize their avatars with the help of cosmetic items and modify it by installing different assets to it.

  • Players can collect and trade various in-game items, such as houses, fences, plants and animals in the in-game marketplace.

  • My neighbor Alice will have a reputation system that rewards players as good landowners with increasing benefits.

  • My Neighbor Alice will enable various possibilities for players to work on a shared goal and join resources to complete fun activities. For example, the game will enable community-created events where players will participate in activities and competitions.

My Neighbor Alice on Steam

Exodus H

Exodus H

As it stands this is not a game, maybe you’d call it a foundational engine for one. The videos are misleading, all the demonstrated functionality seems to be missing or at the very least fundamentally broken. I reported a bug that was fixed and patched in a few hours though, so there is hope I might have cause to change my review later. I considered getting a refund really as it seems that no one is actively testing the game before releasing, but that last patch made me choose not to. I might regret that choice later if there is not enough patches and improvements in the next couple of weeks.

Real player with 0.2 hrs in game

Exodus H on Steam

CryoFall

CryoFall

I HAVE mixed opinions with the game, on the one hand it seems to me an excellent game with very good mechanics in most cases (not all, some are grossly absurd) I like the customization of the character that is not extensive but for a 2d game it is good, a large map that invites you to discover it, but now come the negative points that unfortunately are many:

1 / some mechanics do not make much sense, things like artificial firewood logs have a relatively high cost in the early game phase for the small amount and the time they last to burn, in terms of the medium, wild creatures with absurd damage, A javali takes 1/4 of your life with a tier 4 armor, armor and durability system too short, I understand that it is a game that encourages crafting but they pass in terms of the durability of weapons, armor and several other things.

Real player with 380.8 hrs in game

Short version

A pretty polished game for an Early Access title. PvP are pretty much a full-fledged game at this point, PvE however still needs some late game contents. Download the demo and try it for 8 hrs and judge it for yourself.

Long version

GRAPHICS : I gotta be honest, my first impression of Cryofall is not that great. The character and animation felt kind of “cheap”, like the type of designs you often sees in Freemium mobile games. There’s a variety of avatar faces to choose from, but they all have the same default “idle” expression. They’re by no means “ugly”, just a tad bit uninspired. The environmental, structure and creature designs however, looks great. You can tell the artist puts a lot of time and effort into it, plus the character design started to grow on me after a couple of hours of gameplay. So, eh. It’s alright.

Real player with 334.6 hrs in game

CryoFall on Steam

Diggles: The Myth of Fenris

Diggles: The Myth of Fenris

Very surprised Diggles/Wiggles has appeared on Steam, but VERY happy it did!

This is an unique game; nothing really compares to it then (20 years ago), and since then no game has been published (to my knowledge) that comes even close to it. So i almost immediatly bought it (again).

Didnt play Wiggles for years as the original sadly wasnt compatible with ‘newer’ Windows-version. (Could play the official Demo a bit longer though.)

Although graphics is a bit outdated and gameplay is quite slow, the game concept is so good, it was and still is the best game i ever played.

Real player with 310.5 hrs in game

WTF!?! Who’s feet do I have to kiss for finally bringing this game to Steam!! If you ever played and enjoyed, Oxygen not Included, and the new early access game, Hammerington, then you will like this game as well. I even purchased those aforementioned games in the hopes to fill the hole this game left in me decades ago. While a bit dated on graphics (released in 2002), the game still has its same charm and is still very playable. By the end of the game, your dwarves will be riding around on hover boards, and brandishing light sabers. How can you go wrong with that? Thank you

Real player with 48.2 hrs in game

Diggles: The Myth of Fenris on Steam

Ragnorium

Ragnorium

This game is a gem in the making. Standard EA gripes apply. Unfinished content, which gets added regularly, lack of colonist micromanagement, bugs (although not gamebreaking and most of them get addressed pretty quickly). The developer is very hands on and takes care of your problems quite fast if you take the time to send your save files or crash logs. For me, it scratches a few itches. It’s a colony builder/manager, with leveling up your colonists which you get every few days with new launches from the mother ship, where you choose which colonist clone to create and send to the planet. You can equip them, take care of their needs to make them happy, which in turn earns you points in the CUDS panel - basically a place to order resources for “likes” and “happy pills” for “dislikes” your colonists accrue. The game advancement comes in cycles called research, which is currently waiting for your colonists to accrue research xp passively and getting “influence” by doing quests which reward those points. There are 2 game modes, one with 3 daily randomized events in intervals of 12h, 17h, 20h - they can add good or bad stuff to the game, depending on whether you want to spend the influence you obtain to choose a better event. Getting influence also speeds up the separate research you do when launching a new flight to get colonists/resources, which can include unlocking the radar, getting more advanced clones, getting access to special ship parts like water tanks to bring water or gear modules to bring clothes and so on. Currently the game ends it’s research driven play after 5 or so research cycles and you’re left in freeplay mode, but it’s a nice amount of play to get there and it’s well worth the price. If you want to influence how the game develops by adding suggestions which the dev always takes into consideration and often implements quickly, get it early.

Real player with 114.8 hrs in game

This Rare Gem, has so much too offer.

With many survival elements, building your primitive colony base, hunting creatures of the wild, Fighting other enemy tribes, setting up work stations for each type of main resources, like clothing, weapons, medical and cooking. Setting out your colonist on quest / objectives to gain research point to unlock new items/objects/technologies. The list goes on and on.

Theirs a big learning curve, which might require you to restart the game a few times, and with each restart you learn from your previous mistakes/failures. But its totally worth it, knowing your sequences of steps/actions/quest taken, insured your colonist stayed alive another day.

Real player with 108.2 hrs in game

Ragnorium on Steam