BLASTRONAUT
Mine resources! Upgrade your gear! Make Profit!
It is a dangerous but lucrative job. Explore this vast procedurally generated world with your jetpack. Extract the minerals with an explosive gel. Expand your mining platform. But most importantly: stay alive.
The game offers you:
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Mining and selling resources for profit
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Exploring an infinite procedurally generated world
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Upgrading your gear
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A lot of explosions
The depths of the planet hide many unique biomes and treasures, but also dangers. Every biome has its own way to harm you and having the right set of gear will make your life much easier.
On the ground, you can build your base of operation. Different machines allow you to process and trade the resources that you have brought from your last mining operation.
Read More: Best Sandbox Exploration Games.
Breakwaters
CLOSED BETA/EARLY ACCESS REVIEW!
So I was lucky to be one of the people being able to play around with the closed beta and even though we didn’t have access to all the EA content and even though we ran into quite a few bugs at the time (most of whom have been fixed or being worked on right now), I had a ton of fun playing this.
It’s a relaxing survival and exploration sim with many things to explore, craft and build.
The water physics are amazing. You can basically manipulate the water to do anything, if you know how.
– Real player with 32.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Action-Adventure Games.
Got an early review copy and was excited to try this as it had been on my radar since seeing the trailer earlier this year. Unfortunately the flaws became readily apparent pretty quickly.
Pros:
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Looks nice
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Water mechanics are interesting
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Gathering resources and crafting are easy
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Armor and weapons don’t lose durability
Cons:
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Movement feels really off
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Even after lowering the sensitivity the camera is still way too fast
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Combat is not good at all, there’s no blocking, dodging or rolling and enemies have very basic attack patterns
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Game Master Engine
I would rate this programme. It is obviously still in Early Access still and I am a new dungeon master (DM) which means I am probably bias with how flashy this comes across.
I DM online (with a group of friends that are located in different cities) and primarily use this as a world map “top world/view/map (can’t remember what it is called)” and use the “battle map” for creating townships and combat arenas. I definitely do not use the bulk of the functions and the availability of models (animals, certain races etc) is still limited. I use the screen share option on Discord because this is what we use for our DnD group voice and text channels. It appears that the Dev’s are working on a multiplayer update but I probably will not use this function anyways.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Tabletop Games.
It is important to keep in mind that this game is in Early Access, however I can confidently say that this game (“program” is a more accurate term) has an infinite amount of potential. The controls are currently quite clunky but with some playing around you can get the gist and begin to compromise. As a DM for 5 years this program has already helped me create our world as a 3D model and my players are ecstatic to see the alternate world they’ve been living brought to life. I still have some playing around to do but I have a few suggestions thus far:
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game
Main Assembly
If you have a creative drive or artistic eye, this game is great for allowing you to express yourself through your builds. The controls are a little wonky to start with and the building “flow” seems un-intuative at first. But it doesn’t take long to figure out how things work. If you have any experience with 3d animation or model building, this is definately in that “wheelhouse”. This feels more like working with clay, than sticking blocks together. There’s a decent amount of additional add-on pieces like hinges and servos, as well as pistons and specialized tools like the suction cup or drill head. The physics in-game are decent as well. Although, to me, the atmosphere feels thin. When taking off in a flyer, it feels more like your breaking the surface friction, than pushing yourself through the air resistance.
– Real player with 74.1 hrs in game
Poorly designed and poorly made. Does not feel like a 1.0 game. Most controls can’t be rebound, and the input system is super buggy. Most controls can’t be bound to controller. The vehicle chase camera is awful, requiring constant hands on the controls just to see where you’re going, and like most badly designed things in this game, it’s not adjustable. It’s especially heinous in the space parts of the game, where you can end up upside down relative to the camera, which is just stupid. The game has very few options. There isn’t even a “reset options to default” button, so if you break something, which is very likely, you’re SOL. Multiplayer is a disaster, with horrible lag and desync making any kind of interaction or collision impossible. The challenges mode where you unlock parts and cosmetics is half interesting and half miserable. I ended up getting an automatic collectible grabber bot from the workshop because the sandbox levels with 45 stars were such a chore.
– Real player with 40.8 hrs in game
Outworlder
Outworlder, you have travelled wearily from some far-flung corner of the galaxy, across countless light years through the black expanse of space; now you find yourself crash-landed, your ship torn apart, your body cold, your stomach hungry, and your eyes searching for your destiny. From these desperate beginnings, an open-ended sandbox awaits.
Survive Harsh Planets
This isn’t Earth. You’ll battle changing weather conditions while trying to establish your new life. You may even have to go underground to escape blizzards, radiation storms, and more in randomly generated worlds!
Gear up through Exploration
Want to do more than survive? Seek out unique resources to research new technology and equipment, and take control of your planet. Maybe you’ll build rocket boots, or advanced survival clothing. Expect to face fierce resistance from raiders and wildlife intent on stopping you.
Thrive with Colonies
You’re not alone. Save other survivors and build a colony together. Assign tasks and orders to NPCs and create a place to call home in the stars. Manage their needs and they will help you go from survival to expansion.
Expand with Friends in Multiplayer
Feel like braving a planet with friends? Try one of the multiplayer modes and get everyone involved! Whether you want to have a peaceful cooperative colony, or cutthroat factions dueling for planetary dominance, it’s your multiplayer experience.
Castaway Paradise - live among the animals
I’ve had my eye on this game for a while, given it’s so much like Animal Crossing. In fact, that’s what people are constantly comparing it to. I was excited to get it on sale for like five bucks, but…that excitement didn’t last long. I had most of the island unlocked within a day of playing, and after that, things get very repetitive.
Pros:
- It is a lot like Animal Crossing, which is nice because it’s a familiar gameplay mechanic. You run errands for the other villagers (quests,) catch bugs and fish to sell (or donate to the local museum,) and scavenge fruit and washed-up shells.
– Real player with 31.6 hrs in game
Pretty fun and addicting.. being a fan of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon games I’m thrilled to see a game like this come to PC.
The game has room for improvement, yes, and it may not be everybodies ‘thing’ but I’ve been hard-pressed to pull myself away from it.
There’s something about Facebook and Mobile games (not calling this game one) that I like;
sounds weird but I always liked the ‘feel’ to them, but at the same time I hated the microtransactions.
So this game is perfect for me because it has that feel but without me needing to worry about spending any (extra) money haha.
– Real player with 22.8 hrs in game
Starbound
Starbound is a game i’ve spend alot of time on, especially back in 2017. It was to me, like minecraft was to others. An open world sandbox i knew nothing about, a world i hadn’t seen on youtube and as such, a world i explored. And explore it i did. Either alone or with friends i went from star to star, planet to planet, looking for all the wonders in the galaxy. And for a while, i found amazing things, grand temples, great walled castles, razed cities. But after while, i began to see the pattern. Though the combat stayed fun, the weapons cool and races interesting, the places where i fought, talked, ate and slept became stale, the limits were showing. And so i jumped into modding, adding more and more content to continue that grand adventure i started so many playthroughs ago. But i never got it, that sense of wonder and excitement, i changed my race, my combat, added enviroments, i scoured the worshop for anything to get me that fun i had. But, as was to be expected, i didn’t find it. And so i stopped playing. I’ve returned every now and then but it’s always the same old Starbound.
– Real player with 580.4 hrs in game
- The only thing this game does really well is it’s pixel graphics and it has lot’s of cosmetic changes between races,
for example the ships and armor sets are different from race to race.
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The intro and the missions are kinda fun.
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Once you’ve repaired your ship there you can ignore the main quest line.
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Mech’s (once you’ve unlocked them) are only useful when you’re beaming into space, enemy/ally ships, and asteroid fields and you can ignore its progression since they are not useful on planets. There is a way to mine with the mech’s but it’s so inefficient it’s preferable to mine without it (for planets i mean).
– Real player with 340.3 hrs in game
Core Keeper
Drawn towards a mysterious relic, you are an explorer who awakens in an ancient cavern of creatures, resources and trinkets. Trapped deep underground will your survival skills be up to the task?
Mine relics and resources to build your base, craft new equipment, survive, and power up the Core. Defeat giant monsters, discover hidden secrets, farm crops, cook new recipes and explore a procedurally generated underground world in a mining sandbox adventure for 1-8 players.
Explore a vast underground cave of endless resources. Mine resources, discover hidden crystals, fossils & trinkets and survive a procedurally generated underground world.
Expand your base from humble beginnings to a vast homestead. Build workbenches and generators to craft new equipment and technology, create your base, and power up your Core.
Customise your explorer and craft new items, armour and equipment to venture further into the cave. Craft a pickaxe to mine walls and resources, build bridges to cross underground lakes, and place torches and bonfires to light up the darkness.
Plant seeds and nurture crops to grow food, or combine ingredients in the cooking pot to discover tasty new recipes with unexpected buffs.
Explore living biomes and fight cavernous creatures in a simulated underground ecosystem. Defeat giant beasts to claim their crystals and continue the adventure.
Survive alone or play online with up to 7 other players. Visit their caverns or invite them into yours, working together to mine resources, fight, farm, craft and survive.
Find massive bosses in an infinite, procedurally generated world with endless gameplay and resources.
Logic World
Looks like a good start.
The first thing I would mention, is that this game is about building logic circuits, using logic gates. If you don’t know what an AND gate is, you probably need to do a bit of reading /videos before playing.
My “hello world” (first project) suggestion for new players, is to build a half adder circuit. A half adder is one of the first multi-gate circuits you learn when learning digital electronics. If you understand how computers add, you understand quite a lot more than many people about how computers work.
– Real player with 276.9 hrs in game
LogicWorld is a boolean logic simulator in 3D with “game” marketing/usage controls.
So pack your backpack with some knowledge or a lot of curiosity.
And in time, we will also get built-in tutorials about boolean logic - looking forward to them.
It is also early access!
Means yes, there are a hell lot of bugs! But that is normal for most indie games.
And you can rely on the developers to fix the bugs within reasonable time.
The game has an awesome community (mostly on Discord). If you ignore some slang, it is very wholesome and helpful.
– Real player with 241.8 hrs in game
Vantage: Primitive Survival Game
This is creation from around 2004 of lone programmer (sometimes with help of artists).
I was seen this around 2010, with just singleplayer, nice world editor, spear-fishing and short decay of bananas.
This is like old good Wurm Online, but even more hardcore in crafting and inventory management. But not such pretty, there’s still feels of “programmer’s art”.
Interface can be quite hard to understand. Especially folder-tree inventory.
There’s only two hands to carry two items, unless you tug out enough grass or cattails to twine the cordbelt for carrying bunches of lightweights. Or crack and eat out the coconut cup.
– Real player with 237.8 hrs in game
Vantage Review
(Early Access)
Rating 2/5 - Good Idea, But … Room for Improvement.
Vantage gives you the opportunity to act out the life of as a prehistoric / nomad early human around 250,000 B.C.E. It encourages crafting, learning, hunting and fighting to survive, Gameplay is rewarding and makes you earn all of your progress, but think twice about tackling that Mammoth solo. Gameplay, at the time of this review is limited, and incredibly slow, but has a lot of potential to be improved into a co-operative online multiplayer experience that would encourage players to band together, and war with other tribes.
– Real player with 48.1 hrs in game