The Planet Crafter – Review

8.5 hours of gaming later, I’ve reached the Early Alpha build’s “soft endgame” – the Insect level.

Here’s the reason why my impressions are a little iffy:.

No adversaries, no genuine hazards, and no deaths from asphyxiation or dehydration have occurred to me yet in the game’s standard difficulty option compared to Subnautica’s tranquil mode. If you’re expecting enormous factories or massive mining operations, you’ll be disappointed – all the materials are scattered across the landscape, and you’ll have to run around and mine them like you would in a game like No Man’s Sky.

The visuals and performance are out of this world; with all the water and greenery, I didn’t expect it to run at 60 frames per second on an RTX 2060. Just taking in the sights and zooming around on a jetpack was a big part of my free time.

When discussing the jetpack, of course. This is now the only method of transportation in the game that has endless fuel, and obtaining it made the game significantly simpler. Getting clipped into cliffs and other oddities was a lot of fun, too:D My preference is for an electric buggy with biofuel-powered jetpacks for balance, but with Alpha it’s not a problem at all.

In my opinion, the usage of scientific measurements as progress bars is a major flaw that I hope the developers will address in the future. Here’s a succinct summary:

During the Insect stage, your planet has around 2 Pascals of atmospheric pressure, 20 mK (0.02 k) of heat, and 10 ppm of oxygen in the atmosphere.

While these numbers don’t reveal much on their own, the following is a look at what we have on the planet today: Temperature of 293 K, pressure of 101325 Pascals, and oxygen concentration of 209460 ppm make up the total.

There is an atmosphere on our planet that is 50 thousand times less dense than Earth’s, with a temperature near absolute zero and an oxygen level suitable for a laboratory vacuum chamber. This is incomprehensible from a scientific standpoint, and it’s not even livable.

Even though the temperature was just -273 C (-459.7 F), I couldn’t help but giggle when I saw grass and water outside.

Overall, it’s something I’d suggest. With the exception of that one problem, it’s one of the better terraforming games out there. It’s addicting and fun to play. If you’re into it, it’s well worth a look at the demo or perhaps a purchase.