Smalland – Spotlight

The early access version of Smalland is fantastic. There’s a calm and regular setting, but I’d love to see more customization options added in the future. But if the pests are getting to be too much right now, you can always retreat to serenity. Only if you initiate hostilities will they respond with force.

When you die, you get a tombstone with storage space, and whatever you’re carrying when you pass away is yours to retain. If you die in this game, you won’t be left with nothing, and neither will your possessions if they tumble to the floor and disappear. If you keep dying with things, you can have many cemeteries.

The landscape is stunning, and exploring it is highly gratifying. You can choose to follow NPC quests or strike out on your own into the game’s more challenging regions before you’re ready to handle them. The game won’t prevent you from playing, but it’s not very exciting. NPC missions are a great way to upgrade your gear. The various ecosystems are fantastic.

Having distinct seasons and atmospheric conditions is fantastic. In the event of a severe storm, you will have plenty of time to either seek refuge or, if you live in the area, return home. You can protect yourself from the cold with a variety of armour types, and ideally we’ll get a heat mechanic in the future, at least for use in warmer climates. It may take some time, but fires provide sufficient heat. You can keep exploring because you can carry some warm foods with you. If the weather isn’t good, you shouldn’t begin a boss battle. A severe storm could occur.

The number of options available when making a character is respectable. Possibly, they’ll be adding on. Since you’ll be wearing armour most of the time, it won’t make a huge difference.

The lack of a pause button in single-player mode is my only true complaint. This is problematic because it forces you to re-cross the globe to get back to your starting location every time you log out. This is an actual problem for those of us who are easily sidetracked. I really need a pause button for single person games.

There are a wide variety of construction kits, weapons, and armour to choose from. As long as the longevity indicator is still green, maintenance is completely free. The more affordable it is, the lower it must go. You can fix things on the go thanks to how inexpensive and simple it is to build a repair bench, but in most cases it will suffice to do so at night.

Its beauty stems in part from the fact that not all of the vegetation experiences collision. No problem here. Small invertebrates are less dense than mammals. If you tried to balance on that leaf, it probably wouldn’t support your weight. In comparison to the fake greenery in Grounded, I much prefer this. When playing video games, I appreciate a game that appears good. The tiny “grass” that you see everywhere is actually lichen, in case you were wondering. It even has the spore-like projections at its ends.

This makes me feel very insignificant. You experienced the normal diminution to which you were prone. When you’re out in nature, you can be yourself, rather than appearing dwarfed by the presence of artificial human artefacts. As far as I can tell, the sizing is uniform and the work is well done.

This is a very simplistic tale. NPCs are primarily there to aid you in your quest and provide scant information. The emphasis on survival mechanics is acceptable with me, and the developers have stated that more NPCs are in the works. This is an excellent survival game if you’re looking for something different.

No, there is no swimming, but that’s because there’s no point in having it. There are no facilities for useful research down there. Because you wouldn’t have to parkour across or locate that log bridge, the game would be simplified if you used it to cross the “rivers.” There’s no need for early game swimming, and it would actually detract from the experience, so maybe they’ll introduce a water skimming mount later in the game.

The grid should be challenging to walk around in, though. It adds realism to the surroundings and increases the value of a tame that can aid in travel. To reach the first tree root, you must use parkour to ascend. The more difficult the setting, the better, in this game.

Improvements to tames are planned for the future. Still enjoyable despite the requirement for more life or armour. Just use caution around them. Put them to better use as transportation and secure havens rather than weapons. This time, at least. There is currently a limit of 1, but once stables are built, you will be able to store more. The tamed creature spawns in a new universe whenever the player does. It would be embarrassing if there were too many of them. The stable will let the base’s tames reproduce naturally.

Overall, a solid survival experience that will be improved upon in the future. The team has done a fantastic job of listening to feedback and incorporating it into the game.